KIA Motors
Reviews and Complaints

Mexico may 8th. 2017
president & ceo of kia motors
dear sir:

my name is vicente garcia. I live in mexico. I have a forte 2016 bin num knafz4a73g5587100, bought in march 2016.

I am writing this letter because i request your help.

As i told you when i bought it, the first required service was made on september 2016, i piked it up, and the next day arriving home it had a total leak of antifreeze and burning smell so i requested the kia assistance and it was taken to the santa fe dealer on a tow. It was there from september 25th to september 27th. It was supposed the i had a rental car after 24 hours on the dealer. But didn’t get that, because they said it has no failure. Only the radiator cap was no fully closed. (i have the information from my documents of kia assistance that i deserve the rented car).

I had the second service on march 28th. And every thing was reported ok.

On this second time on abril 21st 2017 coming back home from a trip. On the freeway passing trough mexico city the car became presenting failures like no air conditioning. Later passing about 100 yards in front of the santa fe kia dealer i felt a lack of power. That was the time to go and have a check to see was going on. Because i was far away from home and the dealer was right there.

I stopped across the street and the only indication i had was a rise on water temperature, and later, like a false contact, the temperature went totally down.

When i got there they told me it had no antifreeze and the oil was a little low. So i told them it is the second time but no smell and so the engine had a defective problem.

At this time the car was running and when they dicided to turn it off they couldn’t start it again and that the car had to remain on the service for a diagnose.

They couldn’t give a diagnose the firsts days because they couldn’t start the car and had to wait instructions from the plant.

At that time i called kia assistance for a rental car and that they will take care of that.

I called the dealer several times to see what was going on. This diagnose and tests took until the may 2nd.

After they gave me the diagnose it was until may 5th, they told me that there was bad news.

“the waranty doesnt’ covers you” it was your fault (negligence) no to call for the tow, even as i said i was across the street. Also kia assisstance, just today, said the same thing. I don’t agree this because when i used the first time the tow, they didn’t give any car. For this second time that i didn’t request the tow because as i said was across the street from de kia dealer and my car didn’t have any visible leak, smoke or noise.

I know not much about cars. Only saw a no reliable indication of high water temperature with out smell or smoke. That was why i went to the dealer for a check.

Up today i don’t know what are they going to do for the repair.
They want me to pay just the parts with no labor cost.

What it realy bothers me is that “kia is world wide recongnized and well qualified”, and here in mexico are not doing in this case the things right.

So as you can see, i have a this time no attention from kia dealer or kia assistance.

I said this because i have in texas a sorento 2013, so very happy with the attention that i have there, as so, i came and bought my forte 2016, with out looking for any other car.

Thanking you in advance the attention and help for my request.

Yours truly:

vicente garcia
[protected]@gmail.Com
cell [protected]

cc: woo yeal park, ceo kia motors mexico
jang won sohn, president and kia kma
michael sprague. Executive vice president
horacio chavez managing director mex
global team pr, south korea

We have a 2012 Kia Optima Sx that now had a blown motor. With no notice at all, regular oil changes and check ups, the car just started knocking, no engine lights or anything. After having the car towed, it was determined that the engine is now blown due to a restrict of oil flow to the rod bearings. The car has a thrown a rod and locked up. I am aware that their is a current recall, but our car is not showing in this recall as of right now. We can not afford to buy a new or used motor and we still owe on the car. We are praying that some way some how Kia will make this issue right.

I have had 3 replacement sets of alloys for my Sportage and every time the alloy has bubbled under the lacquer on the alloy. Clearly there is an issue in production during the process where either oxygen or some other element is causing a reaction with the metals used.
These have all been refurbed however it is difficult to understand how you can refurb when the alloy itself is the issue.
I have requested a different style of alloys as the ones I have have a consistent fault. I have been told this has been refused by Head Office. i cannot understand why as Kia has not been able to supply me with 'fit for purpose' alloys since I got the vehicle from new. Please could you resolve this as soon as possible? I have been a Kia owner for over 14 years along with other members of my family and have always found service good. It will make me seriously consider other makes when I purchase my next vehicle.

I have bought a Kia k5 six months ago from Zarqa duty free area in Jordan
The car has Korean specifications
I have contacted your representative here in Jordan and asked them to provide me with a SD memory card for jodanin maps as the one that came with it is Korean
I was surprised when they refused to do so they were very rude and didn't provide any option on how to work the navigation on my care
Hence kindly advise how I can recieve an appropriate SD card that works in jordan
My name is emad
Email [protected]@gmail.com
[protected]

Hi
During a periodic car inspection by local authority in Tunisia I had my registration card confiscated as the manufacturer black sticker got partially damaged during vehicle routine clean up.
I visited the local KIA dealer that had me pay 100USD to get a replacement and they told me that the process of getting a new plaque (sticker with chassis number will take over 3 months, that mean that I cant use the car during that period.
in top of this Kia Dealer in Nabeul took a bad picture of the plaque that is not clear
can I request this plaque directely from Korea of from UAE as service in Nabeul Tunisia is slow and poor
thank you
Houssem.[protected]@halliburton.com
[protected]

Unfortunately, your product (Kia OPTIMA 2016) has not performed well, and your service is not that good here in IRAN. I bought the car for less than a month and there is problem in cylinder block !
First of all your service provider here wanted to fix it, after I insist they accept to change the whole block. I found it offensive when I understand it takes at least a month to do so.
As far as I know this model is from 23, 000 $ in the US and all around Europe, but I paid an amount of 60, 000$ here, i know this is our Government policy, but when i pay this money at least I need a better service.

the worst car maintainance agency i ever seen reason to the time spent to only handel the car and reciving by maintance team also, the time it take to be repaired and again the problems not solve and again not work. may be more than 2 weeks and still not done without have replacement car till complete.
i buy new car to enjoy it but i suffer too much as i faced many problems in less than 1 year ( engen low power, AC not work with leak, passenger door not open by remote)
i will never advice my friends to buy this car and will advice them not to buy it.
it is disapoint and i am planning to sel it and buy another brand.

I would like to thank KIA for punishing me for buying out my lease. I liked my lease vehicle enough to buy it over 2 yrs ago, however the back office never filed any paperwork to create a title. I guess, per the DMV, lease vehicles don't get a title done originally. Instead they get paperwork equivalent of a birth certificate, which isn't helpful for the DMV. Per the paper-pushers at KIA we never filed an odometer statement, which I know to be a lie. However, I believed that people would do their jobs so I didn't keep the original copies. I guess I needed to babysit this process, shame on me. I knew my registration was coming due at the end of April so I started this process with my lien holder (Chase Bank) in January. Only to see that neither company (KIA or JP Morgan Chase) cares how long this process takes, and at the end of the month I will have a vehicle I can't legally drive. I've redone the necessary paperwork and faxed and mailed it, but since they lost the originals I have little faith this will be taken care of without any more pain and hassle.

Dear sir
I have kia cerato td model 2012, I face 2 issues with its audio player
1- I need to set the random songs option to be the default selection, or at least not each time when any thing happen to car it return to normal even when I get phone call thought the bluetooth it return to normal mode and I have to select the random again, it is really annoyed thing,

2- the bluetooth mic quality is not good enough to make a normal phone call

I hope that there is any firmware update can help fix this issues
Thanks

Hello, I bought Kia cerato in September 2016, and in November my front lights were sweats and in winter, so I asked your official dealer in Kazakhstan, Astana city, to change it. But then I came to service center I saw they just turn on front lights and said that it's need just to dry this lights! And they said it's not a problem we will dry it that's all! Could you please help me this "amazing " service center.

Hello,

I am submitting this request to escalate the refund request. I little over a month ago, I applied for a car loan at Kia Motors in Molino, Bacoor Cavite. A couple of days after I was advised to settle a down payment to reserve a unit(color) of my choice and so I did on February 23, 2017. Since then, I still do not have unit nor a clear status of my application whether it is approved or declined. 1 month of application or approval process is too much considering that I already paid a down payment in the amount of 30, 000 Php. Frustrated with the process, I decided to get a refund of the money and was told that it will take 2-3 weeks to process. I was surprised to have been told of this after a month and not to mention that I was not told of the said refund process when I was making the payment. Please advise to escalate to expedite the process. Thank you.

To whom it may concern,

I purchased my Kia Sorento in September 2014. I traded in my brand new Volkswagen Tiguan because I am a foster carer and had recently taken on 3 small children in car seats, plus my own son, and the Tiguan just was not big enough. As a single mum, i did a whole lot of research and test drives, to make sure that I was making the right choice, for such a huge investment, on my own. I have had no trouble with my Sorento, and in fact, have sung its praises so much, that I have talked two different families into also making the Kia Sorento, their car of choice. (Suffice to say, they both love their Sorento's, like I do!) I am the daughter of a mechanic, who has been in the trade for his entire life, over 40 years, and over the years he has made it very clear, the importance of keeping oil and water up to our cars, and this is what I have always done. Short on cash and being unable to work due to illness, late last year, i missed a service., I am fully aware that this is not the ideal situation for my new car. She has never skipped a beat.

But on February 18th 2017 at approximately 9:30pm, I was taking a friends young daughter home, when my car just stopped.
On a windy country road, in the dark on my own.
There was no warning light in my dash, the car was not driving differently or rough. It just stopped dead. I was stranded, in the dark, with limited phone signal, in the rain, with a dead car...
It would not even crank over. It was ticking, like the battery was flat. I called a friend, and about an hour later, now 10.30pm, they came and tried to jump start me, but it would not crank over. Eventually, it jump started and i drove to my friends house. Again, with no issues at all. No lights on in the dash, no irregularities at all. I stayed the night at my friends, as she did not want me driving home late at night in the rain, on dark country roads.
In the morning, I checked the oil and water, and neither were low, so i proceeded to drive home. About ten minutes into my journey, there was a slight knocking beginning to appear from the engine. I limped my car, slowly, home. (approx 21km)
That afternoon, I called Ferntree Gully Kia, where i purchased the vehicle, where they told me they would not even look at my car for at least three weeks...I called Southland and their wait time was slightly less, but i needed to get the car there. I finally called Berwick Kia, and they were able to look at it about 12 days later...after getting my car towed there, I was advised by Greg, that it would cost me $21, 000.00 to replace the engine. I told Greg that was out of the question as Im a single mum and still currently paying off my $50, 000.00 boat anchor. He called me back a few days later and said that Kia would do the job, but now for $18, 900.00 which is still no help to me.
I called Kia Australia, where I spoke to Lauren, who was very understanding and would talk to someone higher up and get back to me. Which she did, the same day, advising that she had spoken to Greg at Berwick Kia and that they were putting in a claim for "goodwill warranty"
This was rejected due to "poor service history" and I am now left with no car and theonly option is to spend $18, 900.00 on it. I have some questions.
How is this even possible?
Why did my car not have ANY warning lights on the dash? Absolutely nothing at all.
Why did it not drive differently, no lagging, no chugging, nothing.
I fully understand that it was overdue for service...but the brand new $50, 000.00 vehicle i purchased should not just stop.
I have asked for any error reports or codes from the car, but apparently, nothing can be provided to me...
How does a brand new car just stop? And Kia wipe their hands completely of this.
Had there been ANY warning light on the dash, there is no way I would continue to drive it. If it was driving differently, there is no way I would have continued to drive it.
Kia, how are you going to help me?

Dear Sir/Madam,

I hope my email finds you well .

This is in regard to my Sorento 2017 which I just received three weeks ago.
My story happened on Friday March 24, 2017, in this day I parked my car in a public authorized parking ( Alcott Mall's parking, Located in Kuwait/Fahaheel area) in this day unfortunately we faced a rainy day ( heavy rain ) so the streets overall were floated and once the rain got high till it covered my car wheels ; the driver seat moved to the steering side and the left back window door opened itself as well as the locked opened + the rear door, this helped the water to fill the cabinet with this rain ( NOTE : the car was locked and totally switched off + no one inside the car ), the electricity shut down automatically, as attached photos you will notice the level of water which came inside the vehicle.
After that I delivered the car on a Crane to KIA MOTORS service center in Kuwait/Shwaikh area, they received the car and told us that they will check the situation of the car as full check up and inform us with the damaged parts and how much it will cost to fix it, they told us also that fixing the car will not be cover by the KIA Warranty but after repairing it the Warranty will keep remain.
Next day (Saturday 25th of March 2017 ) they reported us that the engine and the gear are in good condition and they didn't effect with the water .
On 27th of March 2017 they called us again to come because after checking they noticed that one of the computers was damaged and need to replace with new one but they said its not available in Kuwait neither in Dubai and they have to order it from Korea and it will take 3- 4 months to deliver and they will quote it and call me again .
Today ( 28th of March 2017 ) Mr.Imad from the service center called me and he asked to come and take the car as it is ( in the same condition without repairing or reporting ) and his reasons are:
1- they are not able to fix the car and they don't know how to fix it .
2- they have no spare parts because it is new car and they must order those parts from outside.
3- they don't know how much it will cost because they don't know how to check and test the parts of my car to report and quote it ( we asked him to provide us a general report of the condition of the car and he refused) .
4- He said that what I have mentioned above is KIA Policies, and they are not responsible about the car anymore.

Overall they rejected to serve us as a KIA agent ! And that is not acceptable at all because I own a KIA car and this is your duty to help your customers and support them all the time ! Am I right ?

Await hearing from you ASAP to help me :) !

My contact details :

Name :Fadi Qatanani.
Mobile # : +965 [protected]
Email : [protected]@hotmail.com

I bought Kia Sorento in Kazakhstan thru the official dealer and really enjoy driving it.

At the purchase I received a certificate of origin that the car is produced in the Republic of Kazakhstan, whereas I understand in Kazakhstan they only assembly some parts.

However, as written down on the VIN code plate, the car is "made in Korea" (see photo attached). Will it is possible to receive a certificate of origin for my car that it has been produced in Korea? I need it for the purpose of taking it out of Kazakhstan due to my relocation to another country.

I will appreciate your feedback.

Dear All,
To on 13 Mar 2017 at around 2200 hrs. when I was going for my dinner from my place of residence my find my car is in not get started .later on I came to about my car got jammed by company itself by means of GPS .

Day before I call from kia motors damman stating I have not paid my car monthly instalments from last 2 months .I went to finance dept. in Riyadh exit 26 meet finance manager enquired the problem get it resolved .I have reconfirmed with the manager itself confirm now everything is ok .he " all ok from his side took my docks scanned everything such as my Iqama, both payments slips every thing was ok from his side .

this all from my side .

I purchased a 2012 Kia Sorento when it was bran new. I have never had a problem with the car until a few months after the warranty expired.
On 02/25/17 I was headed to the Kia garagein Keene New Hampshire to have some recalls on the car fixed when my engine seized. My car only had 30, 000 miles and has always had the only changed according to the date on the sticker. When we told the garage it was the motor they said no it had to be the transmission and that those go all the time in the Kia Sorento. If I do not get a new motor replaced in my car I will fix it and go through another dealership for a new car. Jennifer Davis
[protected]

I am a very disappointed person with my kia sportage I had it on Nov 2016 and it is with GPS when I put the sd card in I found out that Malta maps does not have I went to the sale person and he told me that the company does not include Malta in the maps and I stacked with that answer. I couldn't understands how a car comes to a country with GPS with no local maps in it. Ironically the next consignment which came in Dec it came with Malta maps included when I went to the sales person again he told me to go to the service department. They told me to wait some weeks so that they can assign some one to do the update. When I went again they are telling me that they cannot do nothing, I went again to the sale person and even him is telling they cannot do nothing since the factory changed the unit and cannot be updated with new maps in it. I think this is unacceptable after paying thousands of euros for the car. Hope you give me a solution

My car kia cerato (Pma 5657), met with an accident at plus highway (Malaysian expressway). It was a major accident involving 6 cars and my car was right in the middle, sustaining damages from the front and back, it was hit by 2 cars from behind at that time.

My complaint is that despite that bad hit, the car's airbags never came out! None of the 6 airbags that were highly promoted to ensure customer's safety came out! Due to the impact, the passenger's seat was also flung right to the front and got stuck. We were not able to push the seat back again and due to that my co-passenger suffered a bad hit on the stomach and leg. He was admitted in the hospital for the injuries sustained. The same happened to me and I was admitted for leg and head injuries. We were both wearing safety belts at the time of the incident, yet none of the airbags deployed.

I am extremely disappointed with what happened. We could have sustained fatal injuries that night. One of the major reason for buying a k3 cerato over other b segment cars was the elegant looks and safety features. The car with 6 airbags, which is the main selling point in the k3 cerato, which is highly promoted and also one major reason for me in choosing the k3 cerato over the other competitor companies like the honda, toyota and etc. It is such a let down to discover that the major selling point in the k3 cerato (Safety) which persuade me in purchasing the k3 cerato, did not deploy any airbags at the appropriate time.

I had brought up this matter/issue to the local kia branch and also sent several email regarding this issue. All the feedback and reply which I received was petty reason detailing on why my airbags were not deployed. The local kia branch and the local customer support only replied me based on assumptions on why my airbags were not deployed.

I went back to the workshop and did my own inspection on the car and found that the front airbag sensor was hit. My question is why didn't the airbags deploy? I was even told by the local staffs in kia, that if the car was driven at low speeds and sustained damage, the airbags would not deploy, without rapid deceleration. As a fact, I was driving on the highway at speeds easily over 100 km/h and rapidly decelerated before hitting onto the front car. I even suggested to the kia technical team, if possible to find out the speed in which the car was going before the accident.

I have already sent multiple emails to the local kia branches and customer service. Till now my emails have not been taken seriously by your staff. Now I have all my evidence and my research done. I also found that kia has previously experienced same airbag related problems with kia forte and kia rio. Thus, I suspect that this is no surprise to the kia staffs and personnel.in spite of the above, my complaints and issues are being seriously downplayed by your staff. Thus, now I am contemplating taking appropriate legal action towards kia and at the same going to go to the media, other automobile publications and even the social media and publicise my case with all my evidence and photographs.

It is such a shame that, kia cerato k3 being one of my favorite car due to its brilliant design and top notch safety features has let me down in this way. I look up to kia as one of my favorite companies with its innovative and brilliant design in cars. Kia has been growing substantially in malaysia for the past few years, ever since the release of kia forte.

It is extremely tragic that, I being a big fan and admirer of kia cars, have now lost my confidence and trust on kia cars, due to the unfortunate above incidentes. It is not in my interest to tarnish the name of kia cars, which you have worked so hard to build and establish in malaysia, not to mention the k3 cerato being the most popular model of kia in malaysia.

I believe it is unfair to tarnish the reputable name of the kia cars, just because of one safety malfunction. Thus, the reason I am writing this email to you. I hope you will review and consider my case carefully and make a very reasonable decision/outcome which satisfy both sides and avoid any disagreement. I have tried reasoning with the local kia branches and failed to receive any reasonable solution. Thus, as my final act, I am sending you this email.

Lasty, I would like to say that, I did not spend so much money (Rm 100, 000) to buy a
B segment car, for this to happen. I want to know what is kia going to do to compensate for this major safety malfunction.

I'm a loyal customer of kia and all I am requesting for is an appropriate response from your side as soon as possible. If I fail to receive any response from your side, then I would have no choice but to proceed with this case to the consumer court and also the media for breach of trust, safety issue and more.
I have attached photo's of the car for a better view of this issue

Thank you
Regards,

Dharshini sundram
(+[protected])
(+[protected])

Kia Eastrand serviced my Soul 1.6 in January and advised that a component on the steering needs to be replaced. A few days later I took my car back for the warranty repair. I was then advised that another fault was detected on the steering and would be a separate warranty claim – they would call me to bring my car back. Since 15 January, I heard nothing from this service centre. I traveled overseas and upon my return on 06 February I followed up. Nothing.

Finally on the 9th after 2 complaints to Kia SA on Twitter, I got a call from JP to say they know nothing about this additional fault detected and their technician who worked on my car is on leave. He’d like to personally look at my car. I advised that I can’t be without a car for a 3rd day as I use my car for work. He said as he doesn’t have a courtesy car available he’d call me to arrange for this week.

Today is Wednesday and still no call.

I am personally so fed up with the general lack of service from Kia. I’m traveling overseas again on Saturday and need this to be attended to as a matter of urgency. Your intervention will be most appreciated.

As I use my car for 80% business travel and have a 5 year old son, safety is paramount for me – not to mention that I bought this car for safety features and don’t feel at all satisfied that I am potentially driving with a faulty steering mechanism.

I’m in training today but will be available at 10:00 and 12:30 to take calls.

Kia Soul 1.6 - CS00LC GP

Patricia Ferreira
+[protected] or +[protected]