NHTSA Complaint #11446140 — 2014 KIA SPORTAGE

I’ve owned an Optima and a Sportage. They’ve both left me in terrible situations financially. I liked my 2014 KIA Sportage. It was well maintained and a good vehicle. I really hadn’t ran into any issues with it. Until the day after Christmas 12/26/2021. There was no indication whatsoever that there was a mechanical failure to the engine about to happen. No warning lights. Nothing. As I was running about 80 mph on 71 Southbound I started to hear a “flapping” noise. Within 5 miles, and thank the Lord I was now on an exit ramp slowing down - the engine locked up!! After doing some research I quickly found out this is a predominant issue with KIA engines. The manufacturing was faulty and it causes premature wear of the crankshaft bearing and metal shavings wrecking havoc on the engine. Due to being a secondary owner it is not under warranty and because I did not receive any notification at all from the manufacturer that there was a product improvement order for the vehicle, KIA will not assist with any of the cost. I now have a vehicle that was running just fine the day before yesterday, that has 84,000 miles on it, maintained properly, that I still owe on that does not run and is going to cost me $6,500 to get fixed. There was a class action lawsuit with a 1.3 billion dollar settlement because KIA knew they were manufacturing junk engines but apparently I missed out on that and I am not eligible due to the product improvement, that I knew nothing about, was not completed. My VIN has 0 unrepaired recalls on the KIA and the NHTSA government websites. I don’t understand how it’s not a safety recall. I keep reminding myself that things could’ve been worse and I am leaning on my faith to help me remain as calm about the situation as possible.