SEOUL, May 14 (Reuters) - South Korea's top auto maker Hyundai Motor Co and affiliate Kia Motors Corp are voluntarily recalling a total of 478,000 passenger cars in the United States due to problems with a valve used to prevent fuel leakage, a Hyundai official said on Friday.

"We decided to recall several models which could cause a fire due to possible fuel leaks," said the Hyundai Motor official. "Replacing potentially problematic valves will cost $4 million to $5 million in total."

Hyundai Motor Co (KSE:005380.KS - News) issued recalls for 264,000 Sonata and Elantra models, while Kia (KSE:000270.KS - News) recalled 214,000 of its Optima and sub-compact Rio models.

The recall came just a few days after Hyundai's hot-selling Sonata became the first Korean model to take top spot in U.S.-based research firm JD Power's rankings of initial quality.

Hyundai's passenger car outstripped rival European and U.S. models in the mid-size entry market category.

The recalls represented 66 percent and 90.1 percent of Hyundai and Kia's U.S. sales in 2003 respectively, the official said.

Hyundai Motor has set a 2004 U.S. sales target of 450,000 units after selling 400,000 units last year.

Hyundai's shares fell by 1.6 percent to 42,800 won by 0251 GMT, and Kia's shares were down 1.9 percent to 10,300 won.

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