NHTSA Complaint #10967659 — 2011 KIA SORENTO

ON FEBRUARY 27, 2017, MY 2011 KIA SORENTO'S ENGINE DIED. I HAD ONLY ONE WARNING THAT THERE WAS A PROBLEM AND THAT WAS A LACK OF POWER. I WAS GOING UP A SLIGHT HILL AND I HAD TO FLOOR THE GAS PEDAL TO MAINTAIN 20MPH UP IT. I WENT OUT AT 830PM THAT NIGHT TO TAKE IT TO MY MECHANIC AND MY SORENTO WOULD NOT START. I HAD IT TOWED TO GORRING AUTOMOTIVE AT 1030PM. ON MARCH 1, 2017, MR. GORRING CALLED AND TOLD ME I WOULD NEED A NEW ENGINE. I CONTACTED CENTURY 3 KIA AND SPOKE TO THE SERVICE MANAGER DAN. HE STATED THAT I NEEDED TO BRING IT BACK TO THE DEALERSHIP TO HAVE IT LOOKED AT. I ALSO CONTACTED KIA CONSUMER NUMBER AND SPOKE TO ERIC. ERIC TOLD ME THE SAME INFORMATION AND I STATED I DID NOT WANT TO PAY FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AGAIN. I HAD MY SORENTO TOWED TO CENTURY 3 KIA ON MARCH 1, 2017. DAN STATED THAT HE WAS SURPRISED THAT MY VIN WAS NOT ON THE EXTENDED WARRANTY LIST. ON MARCH 3, 2017, DAN FROM CENTURY 3 KIA CALLED ME AND SAID THAT I DID NEED A NEW ENGINE. CHARLES FROM KIA'S CONSUMER NUMBER AND DAN FROM CENTURY 3 KIA BOTH STATED THAT IF I WAS THE ORIGINAL OWNER THEY WOULD REPLACE THE ENGINE AT NO COST TO ME BUT SINCE I AM THE SECOND OWNER OF THE SORENTO, IT WOULD BE MY RESPONSIBILITY. I INQUIRED AT THE COST OF LABOR AND WAS TOLD 15 HOURS AT $108 AN HOUR. I HAVE LOOKED AROUND AND FOUND THAT MOST ENGINES WITH ROUGHLY THE SAME MILEAGE AS MINE ARE AROUND $2,500. THE TOTAL COST WILL ROUGHLY BE BETWEEN $4,500 AND $6,500 TOTAL WITH ALL THE FLUIDS AND OTHER PARTS NEEDED TO RETURN MY SORENTO TO A FUNCTIONAL STATE. I PURCHASED THE SORENTO WITH 53,857 MILES ON IT AND HAD IT FOR ONE YEAR. I PUT 12,000 MILE ON IT ROUGHLY. MY SORENTO HAD ROUGHLY 65,500 MILES ON IT WHEN THIS HAPPENED. I HAVE DONE SOME RESEARCH AND FOUND THIS TO BE A COMMON PROBLEM WITH THE 2.4L ENGINES. IF THIS IS TRUE, WHY HAS KIA NOT DONE ANYTHING ABOUT IT.