2002 Kia Sedona ex from North America - Comments

We had the car a few thousand miles and the windshield cracked. It appeared to be a stress crack and started under the black windshield trim. We had the windshield replaced and now at 7000 miles it cracked again. The crack once again started under the black trim. As we are waiting for the new windshield the current one has cracked for a second time in a new area.

We live in a mountain area and the car climbs the mountain with no problems. The power of the vehicle is great.

Over all a very good vehicle for a family of 5.

I hope that I have just had bad luck with the 2 windshields and windshield number 3 will be O.K.

I recently bought a 2002 KIA Sedona and after a trip from my home in Las Vegas to California, my windshield cracked at the top under the molding just to the left of the mirror. I took the van back to my dealer and the service adviser proceeded to gouge a pen along the crack claiming to find four rock pits in a crack of about eight inches. They are not going to replace my windshield, but since I found this report I am going to return to the dealer and have him get with a representative from KIA. Hopefully this issue will be resolved. Please let my know if the other writer has had anymore problems since August.

Folks.

I could not agree more. I really like our 2002 Sedona.. runs great.. handles well.. BUT there is a crack in the windshied for the THIRD time!

I'm waiting on a call back from the KIA Consumer Affairs folks (1-800 225-3193) I got an answering the three times I've called over the last two hours, less than impressive.

Here's the story..

* Sept 01 (late) - Bought the Sedona.

* Oct 01 (~ mid) - While in MI, windshield #1 cracked. Could not get it replaced quickly, no "parts" in the system for a 2002; and although we had not made our first payment yet, Kia did not cover the replacement windshield (not covered in the bumper to bumper). We went through a windshield dealer, he too had problems getting a windshield, but as of 20 Dec 01 we had a new windshield, #2 for our Sedona and were about 450.00 poorer.

* Feb 02 - On I-65 outside of Louisville, windshield #2 cracks. A local KIA (Bill Penny) dealer offered to and did "goodwill" the windshieild (we were not about to go back to where we boughtthe Sedona based on our first windshield experienece). Again, it took a while to get one in. The Bill Penny guy whom we had bought our other two KIAs from informed us that the Sedona's have a windshield 'problem'.

* Apr 02 - Windshield #3 was installed.

* Mar 03 - Riding along I-565 towards Decatur.. windsheild #3 cracks (it was night and I did not see when it happend, the next AM, my wife found it).

On ALL of the above windshields the cracks started in the black area near to the rubber seam.

As I mentioned before, we have three KIAs (01 Sephia, 02 Spectra, 02 Sedona).. the other two have had NO windshield problems.

This is our fourth van over 15 years.. 1 Dodge, 2 Fords (Mini-Full) and this Kia. Of the other three, all have seen serious road time (Military family), the only other time we cracked a windshield was on the ALCAN (Alaska Highway) in 1990. One crack over 14 years, three cracks in 18 months.

Yes, I think the 02 KIA Sedona has a windshield problem.

BTW.. still no call from the KIA Consumer Affairs folks (first call 1220 - now 1502), that's less than impressive.

John Maney

(256) 885-7268.

Hello:

I came to this website looking for information on my cracked windshield. My 2002 Kia Sedona is beautiful, runs like a champ and is the best vehicle I have ever owned. One day the windshield cracked, about 6 long directly from the black rubber on the bottom left side. There is no impact mark, no dings just a large crack.

This morning I took it into Kia and the first rep ran his pen along the line and said.. "see here where the pen is.. that is a point of impact. There is no way Kia will replace this." I was so upset. There is NOTHING there. So I ask for a 2nd opinion and he couldn't see anything there and felt it was a stress crack. The Kia rep is there today and he too is going to look at it.

The only way Kia will replace the windshield is if the manager of the dealership AND the Kia rep agree it is a stress crack. Good luck there.

I don't want to turn anyone away from Kia. I truly am in love with my van and will get another one one day.

Keep in mind I am saving each and every comment I see posted about the cracked windshields. My goal is to collect enough of them to send a complaint to Kia.

Lisa.

This is a follow-up to a comment made eariler about the Kia windshield.

I finally got a call back from service this afternoon. The Kia rep agreed it WAS a stress fracture and actually gave an explanation.

The Sedona has the thick heater in the windshield that enables the wipers to warm up under cold temps. This happens automatically when the sensor detects a certain temp.

The windshield going from a cold temp to a warm one very rapidly is causing the windshields to crack.

I took this info with a smile on my face as I live in the Central Valley of California. It did happen in the early spring when it was cold here.. 40 degrees and yes, that is cold for us. The crack has since worsened from the extreme heat we have now.

I was also having trouble with the AC compressor which they are also replacing. Both parts will be in next week.

Yeah, it is so nice to have good news come out of such a headache.

Lisa Johns

MoradaMom@aol.com.

I own a 2002 Sedona and I also had to have the windshield replaced at 18000 miles. Now I have a heat problem.

But I love my Minivan.

We bought our 2002 Kia Sedona EX in Aug. 2002. Despite the numerous problems we've encountered, I do enjoy our van. My husband is a mechanic and seems to think the torque converter has a problem which causes the van to either stall when coming to a stop or no power when accelerating. We also have some might noisy squeaks coming near the driver's side windows as well as the dash glove box. The right side 3rd row seat also doesn't latch down all the way, which is a huge safety issue in my opinion. The Home-Link system never has worked despite the following of the directions attempted several times.

And last, but certainly not least, we now have a lovely 18 inch crack on the right side of the windshield that just appeared overnight. It, too, is stemming from the black rubber trim and I see no rock chips.

We will be contacting the dealer where we purchased the vehicle for the repairs. Wish us luck!

I bought a leftover 2003 Sedona EX 6 weeks ago. I ADORE it, but have a major issue with the windshield. The drive from the dealership to my home, 65 miles, left me with 5 chips in the glass. Clear weather, no sand on roads. Since then, I've got 10 more chips, and one 3" crack: all with less than 1500 miles on the van. It looks like I've driven thru a gravel yard! Spoke to a friend who owns a Sportage, and she's had the same problem. Their windshield glass is very poorly manufactured. When I spoke to the Kia service repair man yesterday, he says he's received NO complaints of windshield problems, ever. That was a lie, as this forum shows. Let's hope this problem resolves with newer models!

We have a crack in the windshield that appeared overnight, on the right side, coming out of the black rubber area. We called KIA Customer Service and they said they had never had anyone complain about a cracked windshield, but we would need to take the van to a dealership and have them inspect the crack. If the dealership considers that it is a manufacturer's defect, they will replace it at no cost to us, but now we are going to take all these reports with us when we do; maybe then they will do something.

We have also had problems that KIA does not seem to be able to resolve: keyless remote control works off and on; our battery (replaced by the dealership at 5,500 miles) has died several times; AC makes strange noises.

All in all, we have taken the van for repairs six times, with no resolution.

I'll make another comment on this section after we take it back for the windshield.

I too am having the Stress crack problem. Taking it in today to see what the District manager says. It is my third windshield!! All cracks have started (you guessed it) on the lower edge of the windshield. My husband talked to a body guy and he said probably a pressure point or broken weld causing body to twist.

Will keep my fingers crossed for replacement yet again!

I am a windscreen technician from the UK.

The "explanation" from KIA regarding the cracks being caused due to a wiper heater system that has heated the glass from cold to hot "too quickly"

Nonsense. Take for example the Ford Mondeo. They have a "full" heated windscreen and not just a wiper heater. When the heater is activated the windscreen is demisted. IF this was a problem regarding:

"temperature change on the glass caused it to crack"

Then nobody would make heated windscreens, especially FORD who have been mass producing Mondeos since 1993 and still to this day.

KIA on the other hand have body flexing issues. The Manufacturers windscreen from KIA sits on a hotbond from the factory that is installed by robots. There is no margin for flexing. This has happened for some other manufacturers too, but mostly, they accept the warranty element and keep everything quiet.

Customers who sound off regarding Stress related fractures have a loud voice as the windscreen is structurally an integral part of vehicle safety. Typically keeping the structural rigidity of the vehicle together in the event of an accident. Any stress fractures would significantly reduce the strength and tolerance factors and could be the difference between a fatality or an injury if the vehicle was involved in whatever kind of accident.

Customers who have little confidence in their Windscreen have the right to demand it be changed under warranty PROVIDING it is stress related and does not have ANY form of pit marks or impact marks. This would also include the unlikely scenario that a stone would hit the black trim or scuttle panel and this would or could crack the glass without leaving a mark. But lets be honest, if the dealers want to drag that scenario up, they would need to back it with proof of this happening, which won't happen.

Another point to mention is that after market windscreen companies would also try and secure the business by putting their expert opinion on a letterhead saying that the damage was caused by "stress" or "body flexing" and that the damage does not have any points of impact. This carrys lots of weight, typically a dealer wouldn't argue with an expert who has taken the time to put it in writing.

And finally, an after market "install" is FAR better than an original install. The PolyEurethane adhesive used isn't hot bond, its also applied by a human who will exaggerate his "line of glue" to ensure no leakages. Due to the bed of glue being a lot thicker and applied with a human hand, the glue isn't as straight as the robots, and its also applied heavier to allow a BED of glue to be formed which acts as a cushion.

Every Windscreen that I have replaced for KIA sedonas in the UK that has been subject to a warranty stress fracture has NEVER come back with another crack.

Get a professional Windscreen Technician to install it and not a KIA technician who also fits tyres, engines, gearboxes, bulbs, answers the phone, makes drinks etc. And finally the correct temperatures for a windscreen to properly adhere are:

23 degrees and 50% relative humidity. This would normally allow a reasonable amount of cure time and typically your vehicle would be driveable in about 4 hours. For vehicles with a passenger airbag, you should allow extra curing time as the passenger airbag uses the windscreen as a deflector and can push the screen out if it has not had adequate curing time. typically 6-8 hours or overnight.

Hope this helped.

I forgot to add my name.

Jason from the UK (jaybo@zen.co.uk)

Jason.

I own a 2002 Kia Sedona and have had the same experiences as all above. We are on our 3rd windshield (about 1 year 2 months old), but only the first replacement was due to the mysterious defect. The last was due to hail.

Question: Do you happen to know about the attachment of the rear-view mirror to the glass?

I went to adjust it since my wife usually drives the van, and it literally fell off in my hands with hardly any force applied. It left a dimple in the windshield the diameter of a quarter and about 1/8-inch deep (3mm). From the looks on the back of the mounting bracket, the glass is actually poured into the back. I know that these are usually glued to the windshield.

My wife went to the Kia dealership and they told her that the windshield would have to be replaced. Does this sound right at all?

Cheers, Rob.