NHTSA Complaint #11508033 — 2016 KIA SORENTO

2016 Kia Sorento LX which was regularly serviced and well taken care of completely shut off while I was commuting to school on a notoriously dangerous stretch of road. I was in disbelief when the mechanic diagnosed our vehicle as a complete engine failure with 122,000 miles. I thought things couldn’t be any worse until I had the trauma of interacting with Kia “customer service” and I use that term very lightly. I had never owned a Kia before and I naively thought this well known manufacturer would back their product. HA. Instead, I was insensitively told I was “out of luck” and worse yet incriminated to an extent when I didn’t have oil change receipts from the past going on 4 years of financing the vehicle during a hysterical phone ordeal (on hold for 45 minutes- I was in the shower when he finally picked up, didn’t rinse my hyaluronic acid exfoliator off and burned my face). I explained to him that the mechanic described the issue as “the bolts are walking off of the engine block, it’s a known KIA issue” - to which he ironically vehemently denied any knowledge of. So not only was I lied to but patronized days before Christmas. I tearfully pleaded with him to help me in some way because this is my only vehicle and I’m counting on it to commute to school everyday, I graduate in the Spring. Kia did not care. Where is my sorento now? The garage. We had GAP coverage so they required the engine be completely tore apart and sent out - our mechanic stated the bolts were so badly warped and wore a machinist would be unable to work with them and fire was clearly on the horizon based on the dangerous conditions. FIRE. I have a 14, 5, 4 and 3 year old who are almost always with me. My children could have been killed. So worse than this inconvenience is the blatant lack of regard for human life. To add insult to injury I guess insurance companies are tired of taking the brunt of Kia’s incompetent craftsmanship so they are only covering half of the cost, I must pay $5,000.