Summary:
Accident waiting to happen
Faults:
Have owned the car 2 months. Took it in at 3500 miles because the left front tire would lock up while driving for just a second and let loose. Go a little farther and it would happen again. Very dangerous situation, and am scared of the car.
The car was taken to the shop on 8/9/12, and as of 8/28/12 Kia has no idea what is wrong with the vehicle. I do not want the vehicle back, and am worried about the outcome of this issue. Sitting here in limbo, and don't know what to do next. This is a major safety issue that needs to be corrected before someone gets hurt.
Have been told it is now in corporate's hands to make a decision as to what to do next. Very scary to be in a car and have the wheel lock up while doing 65 mph. They have torn my car apart a few times, changed parts, ran tests, and they still don't know what is wrong.
General Comments:
Major safety issue.
Don't want the car back.
Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No
Review Date: 28th August, 2012
31st Aug 2012, 21:57
I can totally understand your worry. I'd be very nervous about the car too. However, it should give you some peace of mind to know that Kia generally takes good care of their customers. Years ago I had a 2006.5 Kia Optima that had a problem with losing power while driving. It was scary to step on the accelerator, and the responsiveness not be present like you expect. Kia took care of me though. They rented me a car while they kept my Optima. After 3 trips to the dealership, each time they replaced a component, they finally pinpointed the problem and corrected it. I hope they treat you as well as they did me.
1st Oct 2012, 15:16
I used to manage an automotive repair facility. I've seen a very similar situation before. It was a 2004 Armada. The problem was that the vehicle's front tires will lock sometimes when driving in AWD mode at a speed of around 35 to 40 mph. The lock occurs for a second or so, and then it will not repeat until you restart the engine. It was random on either the right or left front wheel. After long time diagnosis and some good trips to the Nissan dealer, no problem found!
So after a while of road testing with the scanner on, I found a faulty ABS/ESP sensor, but that wasn't the main problem! Actually what happened, was that the SUV had different size tires on the front axle that were accumulating rotation count errors on the front axle. The ESP light was removed from the dash and no code was reported. Problem solved since replacing 4 new tires.
Also, this happened to a friend driving a BMW 2009 330i. The tires on the rear axle had a different wear level.
12th May 2013, 10:05
Thanks for the useful info.
Moral of the story; keep an eye on those tires, especially on AWD vehicles!
18th Jun 2013, 20:55
I'm not a specialist, but it sounds like an ESP (electronic stability control) system failure. Check on Wikipedia. I think this system applies the brakes in an emergency situation. It seems like the system is applying the brakes on that particular wheel of your vehicle. If that is the case, I would quickly ask Kia to identify the problem.