>Other manufacturers treat defects in their products by doing a recall and wearing the costs of their mistake.
No.
Other manufacturers treat defects with recalls after analyzing the fiscal prospect of doing so, and determining whether or not state/regional laws require them to do it.
Here's one of the "not that wrong" scenes from Fight Club to better explain[0].
Asking customers to pay for the actually-secure retrofit is certainly a choice.
I hope the small amount of money recovered was worth it, Hyundai/Kia just disappeared from my consideration for any future vehicle.