NHTSA Complaint #11480854 — 2022 KIA TELLURIDE

On July 20th, 2020 while driving our 2022 KIA Telluride at freeway speeds with A/C operating we noticed a change in humidity in the cabin. Immediately looked at the engine temperature gauge and it appeared normal. A few minutes later checked engine temperature again and once more temperature looked normal. Shortly thereafter came to a stoplight and glanced at the instrument cluster and noticed the engine temperature needle was pegged to the far right side of the gauge - indicating a extremely hot engine - and a "Engine Overtemp" message appeared in the message portion of the instrument cluster. The alternator warning symbol was also lit. Immediately pulled off the road into a service station and shut down the engine. Upon opening the hood noticed that the electric fan was running and observed no coolant leaks. Contacted our KIA dealer and upon explaining the problem to their service manager was asked to check the serpentine drive belt. I did so, and found that the belt was shredded and wrapped around the AC compressor pulley. We arranged to have the vehicle towed 100 miles back to our Kia dealer while we arranged transportation for ourselves. At the time of this belt failure this vehicle had approximately 3,600 miles on the odometer. The failed serpentine belt is KIA PN 25212 3LAC0. It is now August 23, 2022 and a replacement belt has been on backorder since July 20, 2022 and the dealer can provide no information as to when the new belt will arrive. We have had no use of this vehicle since the incident occurred and it has been sitting at the dealership.