Volkswagen said Tuesday, "There is a possibility of short circuits occurring on some Tiguan models equipped with panoramic sunroofs if water seeps into the LED modules of the ambient lights, and heat could be generated in the headliners."

The cars affected by the recall are the new Tiguans and Tourans manufactured and sold worldwide before July 5 of this year.

Volkswagen said it notified the Korean government about the issue and plans to recall affected vehicles. Around 3,000 Tiguan SUVs with sunroofs and ambient lights were sold in Korea. The German automaker plans to notify owners about recall dates.

The new Tiguan was first released in 2015 and sales began here in mid-May this year. A total of 4,480 new Tiguan SUVs have been sold here so far.

Volkswagen said the cars could be driven without any problems unless warning lights pointing to short circuits are flashing but it will recall the affected vehicles to fix the problem anyway.

Late last month, Volkswagen announced the recall of 124,000 of its cars after cadmium, a carcinogen, was detected in its vehicles, including those of subsidiaries Porsche and Audi. It said 0.008 g of cadmium was detected in battery rechargers of electric vehicles and hybrids. The affected cars were not sold in Korea.

