NHTSA Complaint #10607679 — 2012 KIA SORENTO

FOR SEVERAL WEEKS A NOTICEABLE CLUNK IN REAR AXLE. OBVIOUS AT INITIAL START AND UPON DECELERATION FROM SPEEDS ABOVE 30. WHEN DECELERATING RIGHT AT 30MPH A CLICK AND CLUNK OCCUR. TOOK IT IN TO DEALERSHIP IN BRADENTON, FLORIDA, SUNSET KIA. THEY KEPT VEHICLE OVERNIGHT. I EXPLAINED THE PROBLEM WAS NOT NORMAL AND HAD ONLY RECENTLY BEGUN BUT WAS CONCERNED SINCE A MECHANIC FRIEND THOUGHT IT INVOLVED REAR AXLE. I INFORMED THE KIA SERVICE REP THAT A LONG TRIP THROUGH DANGEROUS WESTERN US MOUNTAINS WAS TO BEGIN SOON AND IT MUST BE SAFE. THAT DAY THEY CALLED AND SAID THEY DID TEST DRIVE COMPARING IT WITH ANOTHER CAR TEST DRIVEN AND BOTH DID SAME THING. THEY CONCLUDED THE CAR WAS "OPERATING AS DESIGNED." THE NEXT DAY WHEN I PICKED IT UP AND STRESSED THIS WAS NOT "AS DESIGNED" BECAUSE IT JUST BEGAN TO ACT UP I WAS TOLD THAT THE TECH FOUND "SUBTLE MOVEMENT OF EITHER TRANS MOUNTS OR DRIVE AXLES." THIS WAS ALSO NOTED ON MY RECEIPT FROM KIA. MY GOD THEY ADMITTED THE PROBLEM THEN WOULD NOT REPAIR IT! WHEN PRESSED AS TO THE SAFETY OF THIS CONDITION I WAS INFORMED BY DUSTIN HOFFMAN "WELL THE AXLE COULD FREEZE UP BUT JUST PULL OVER." I PRESSED "HOW CAN YOU DO THAT SAFELY ON A HIGHWAY DOING 70?" UNBELIEVABLE!!! WHEN PRESSED ABOUT HOW THEY COULD LET ME, GIVEN MY STATED PLANS, LEAVE IN A POTENTIALLY CATASTROPHIC ACCIDENT WAITING TO HAPPEN THE REPLY WAS SIMPLY "THE TECH FOUND IT TO BE OPERATING AS DESIGNED." I NOTED MY OBJECTIONS ON THEIR BILL AND MY COPY. I ALSO NOTED THE TECH ONLY DROVE THE VEHICLE .02 TENTHS OF A MILE ACCORDING TO THE TRIP ODO. THE ONLY THING THEY FINALLY SAID WAS "THE TECH STARTED A SERVICE LINE." WHATEVER THAT IS. *TR