NHTSA Complaint #11430231 — 2013 KIA SORENTO

Excessive oil consumption. Kia stated this is a known issue but is not "quite to the status of a recall." They said there is no fix to the issue and they cannot diagnose what is causing the excessive oil consumption but can confirm it is not leaking. Both the Kia dealership and general Kia phone support informed me there is nothing they can do and the best suggestion they can provide is to wait until the engine seizes up. They said at that point, I can have it towed to a local Kia dealership or "limp" it to a dealership and it would then be qualified for an engine replacement under a different recall. I asked if I should top it off with oil to prevent the engine from failing while we are driving, and they informed me not to do this "as that will only prolong the issue." I then confirmed with them that the only solution being provided was to continue driving the car and wait until the engine fails while I am driving down the road, potentially with my family in the car which is an extremely dangerous situation. Multiple different Kia reps confirmed that is the only and "best" solution they can provide. The dealership said they see this issue with this engine "all the time and it sucks" but they cannot help me until I bring them a seized-up engine. They also said there is nothing they can do to fix the issue before the engine goes bad. They tried to provide a glimmer of hope by saying, "the good news is there is a 99% chance you will get a new engine because we see major engine issues so often Kia just replaces the engine instead of having us tear it apart to diagnosis the issue because that takes less time and is cheaper." However, they confirmed again they will not and "cannot" fix the car until I bring them a seized engine and continue driving it until it fails. Kia is directly telling consumers to put themselves and their families in harm's way by not fixing a known issue and telling drivers to wait until their engine fails while in the act of driving.