NHTSA Complaint #11549499 — 2023 KIA SORENTO HYBRID

While driving on Oregon I-205 south bound received a refill inverter coolant warning. I was on my way to the dealer for other issues and decided to let the dealer fix it. About five miles down the freeway I began to lose power. I was in the center lane and had to move over two lanes of traffic while losing more power. Luckily I made it across with the help of a few understanding drivers and many horn honkers so there was no accident. I turned off the engine and called Kia roadside assistance. After about 15 minutes I was connected to a Kia assistant who after a few minutes asked if the engine would start and it did. I was then directed to try to make it to the nearest Kia dealer which was about 8 miles away. The car went the first seven miles with no problem but then I started to lose power again. I was doing five miles an hour tops when I pulled into Weston Kia in Gresham, Ore. I left my car at the dealer. I was called the next day to tell me that a small piece of metal (road debris) had flown through the air intake space below the grill and hit the invertor radiator and that the invertor radiator reservoir was empty causing the car to lose power to save the engine. Luckily they had an invertor radiator in stock and I got my car back six days later. It was not covered by warranty because it was not a manufactures defect. The cost to repair was almost $1100. I question this. I googled this problem and found out that I am not the first person to have this exact problem happen to. If the air intake to the invertor radiator had some protection (1/4 inch mesh) or the invertor radiator were behind the grill this would not of happened. This, in my opinion, is extremely dangerous and would have very easy fix. I asked to keep the old radiator and I have documentation from Weston Kia covering the repair.