NHTSA Complaint #11523282 — 2015 HYUNDAI SONATA

My Hyundai Sonata 2015 built in Alabama in on December 13, 2014. I recently found out that a problem I've been having for the last five years with my driver's seatbelt not retracting when it is disengaged, was a recall issue for Hyundai Sonatas 2011 through May 2014. I also found out when I contacted the NHTSA, that an auto manufacturer has the discretion to determine which car models are anticipated to be affected. If you look at the complaint log for Hyundai Sonatas 2015 4DR FWD, this seatbelt retraction issue is specified at least 15 times dating from Sept 5, 2015 to April 3, 2023. Below is my experience with this same issue, which is still ongoing, and has affected my safety and confidence in my car. My car has less than 45,000 miles on it. Around 2018, my driver side seat belt started to periodically not retract automatically when it was disengaged from the buckle. I needed to start manually feed the seat belt back into its mounting or it would just lay on the floor. I brought the issue to the service tech at a dealership in March 2018 and the problem was not even recorded on the invoice and was dismissed as not evident to the service tech. It was also not recorded with other mechanical issues at all or honestly in my car's official service record.) The problem continued and started getting worse during in 2020, but I was not driving much due to the pandemic. I brought the issue to the attention at a different dealership in June 2022, during servicing for a recall campaign and a continuously lit check engine light. The seatbelt retraction issue was verified but I was told I would have to pay $700 to have it repaired. No effort was made by either of the service dealerships to address the safety issue experienced by Hyundai Sonata 2015 cars with the exact same issue identified for Hyundai Sonata 2014 cars or Hyundai Sonata cars manufactured at the same plant. Clearly, the problem is still not addressed.