The Lord has answered our prayers last week.
We bought a new 2002 Kia Sedona in February (2002) for my Birthday. Before we got 10,000-miles on the van it had been in the shop more than we had it on the road. The entire transmission was replaced before the first oil change.
The alternator continues to go out every 7,000-miles or less.
Our A/C blew a line off last summer (2003) -August. They put a new line on it and recharged it. 3-days later all the Freon blew out of the dash along with oil all in my face.
It was horrible. I was on the way to get my drivers licenses renewed. Called Kia and they said to drive it. They got it back and turns out to of been a defective valve in the system and a weak dash part that gave out. (8000-miles)
Drivers seat broke (8000-miles)
Drivers side door off track, sliding door, almost fell off, would not shut, I had to go back in Wal-Mart and buy rope to tie it up because I didn't have 2-hours to wait on Kia to send a tow truck.
A lot of other things have went wrong as well.
Our Prayers were answered hear is how.
It was about 9:45am last week and Kelly came running into my office and telling me that Security said a car was on fire in the parking lot. I never even thought it was mine. We walked out to see and it was my White Sedona. The fire started in the dash area and the fire department got it out before it took the entire van.
The insurance company considered the van a total loss and cut us a check for $17,884.
We tried to trade it in a few months before and all they would allow us at Honda was $11,100. We would have been so upside down that our payments on a new Odyssey would have been over $760 a month.
Not that it mattered, but I got to watch the security video from about 10-minutes before we started to first see a flashing light glare off the inside of the glass till I saw myself running over to the van after it was put out. We offered to show the tape to the insurance and Kia, but neither wanted to see it.
Maybe of you all run the heater on real high and then park it in the sun it will burn like mine did. The fire was ruled accidental.
Anyway my prayers were answered and I got out of mine for free and will never, never, never, never, and never, ever buy another Korean car for as long as we live.
Never again, no matter how cheap and how long that warranty is.
Never, Never, Never
Texas Family of four.
They are all pure junk. Kia looks good and feels good, but no quality.
We have got a new Odyssey now.
Never again, ever.
Good luck with the Honda we bought one a little over 2 years ago a 2002 model with power sliding doors (most of the time) and a 5 speed automatic transmission (that is until it reached 37800 miles) now it is a no speed. Honda is replacing it under warranty even though the warranty was 3 years 36000 miles. If you didn't take the extended warranty make sure your sliding doors are closed and rush back to Honda and sign up for as long of a warranty as you can get. The Honda van has been crashing transmissions since 1999. The new one introduced in 2002 with 5 speeds are no better than the older ones sad to say. Our van has 50% of the tread left on the original tires and the transmission is shot. Does this sound like a quality product or what? Once again good luck. I don't feel good about our prospects of getting a decent trade-in with the word getting out on Honda's transmission problems. This van has been maintained by only Honda since new with every service performed when due. We also don't tow or drive the van hard.
Sincerely,
A saddened Honda owner.
Should have bought a chevy.
Good luck with the Odyssey-your problems may or may not be over.
I would like to tell the world, or just a this web site about my 2001 Honda Odyssey. The engine light repeatedly went on, which cost $80 to shut off each time, and the sliding doors stuck open. Then the car needed Solenoids. Then a new transmission last year on Feb 28th 2004. At that time, the engine block was cracked, the Honda dealer felt bad for us, so they paid for one half of the cost of the rented car, and for the labor for the cracked engine block. The car constantly has no oil in between oil changes! I'm on my way to work 7:00 in the morning and the oil light goes on!! Bone dry! Then the car wouldn't pass insepection until the forth try. They told me it needed a catalytic converter. I brought the car in to the dealer Jan 29 th 2005, only to have them tell me there is no code to check the catalytic converter and that I should check the oil myself everyday, like I was driving an old Jalopy! Well, I took the car out of that dealer, and guess what, on Jan 31st, the car stopped moving in drive as I was going at about 40 miles per hour, I almost got hit from behind. The engine light went on and I somehow rolled over to the side of the road. I had to car towed to another dealer where it sat for a week getting it's third transmission! The 2nd transmission only lasted 11 months. Now this dealer says it still has a cracked transmission mount, and it needs front control arms, also a new oil pan. These repairs he said will cost $1600. The Honda people extended the warranty on the transmission, but not on these other faulty parts. The rental car cost $ 427 for the week, which I had to pay for, and maybe Honda will reimburse me. I've also had to replace the brakes every 6 months, also the rotors have to be cut and re-glazed each time. The Honda guy asked me if I brake a lot. I told him I'm going to start to stick my foot out of the car to stop it like Fred Flintstone!!! I had a Plymouth Voyager for 13 years which ran better than this Hunk Of Junk!!!
So did Kia ever admit fault? Did they ever determine why the fire started? I also had a 2002 Sedona that caught on fire, in the middle of the night! The horn started sounding, which is what woke us up. It was parked in our garage, and the firemen said that we could have lost everything if we had not had a fire extinguisher right by the door to the garage. The crazy thing is it had been parked since 4:00PM and was in flames at 1:00AM. Horn was sounding, lights were on and wipers were going, not even a key NEAR IT! Our insurance company is now investigating. I am very interested in what was said about yours.
Soccer Mom in Gadsden, Alabama.
Hmmmmm... due to this mysterious fire you are now 6k better off than if you'd part ex'd it at the Honda dealer?
I'm off to church tomorrow.
I'm currently suffering from Sedona syndrome, I can only hope this happens to mine soon. At least I know these things were built to self destruct I can now live in hope.
It doesn't seem right to ask God to start a little fire in your Sedona, but he did part the water for Moses and stuff like that. So helping rid the world of things like the Sedona may be a good thing.
Amen to that sentiment!
A wise man once said, "There are no good Korean cars." While I don't entirely believe that myself, that certainly seems to apply well here. That man's name, by the way, was Jeremy Clarkson.
High school student in Richmond, Virginia
7-24-2008.
I guess problems with the Sedona doors are not rare? I just had the passenger side sliding door fall off it's track today. How embarrassing was that?!?!? I was picking up my sons friend to stay the night and I went to shut the door and it kind of stuck, so I pulled on the door again and off it came at the back. The kid's dad tried to help me put it back on and after all that, we still had to bungee the thing shut to get home (it is Friday night, after 6). My Sedona is no longer under warranty so I get to take the thing in on a Saturday, and pray that the shop can fix it before work on Monday.
Note: A Comments RSS Feed is available. New comments appear in the Members Area before the main site