NHTSA Complaint #11668422 — 2021 KIA SELTOS

The car prior to the locked engine it ran well without any problems. While driving the car all of a sudden it began to stall. The car began to make a really loud clanking noise before the engine locked up. Due to the circumstances a mobile mechanic was called out to the location to assess the situation. The mobile mechanic completed the diagnostic with a car reader to which it displayed code P0011 code. To ensure it wasn't the car's battery the battery was replaced with a new one thinking that would remedy the situation of the car not starting. However, once this was completed the car wouldn't start again. Per the mobile mechanic conclusion, he stated that the engine was locked up. The car was towed to KIA Sunrise - Sunrise, FL on February 15, 2025. I inform them of the problem that the engine was locked. They stated that they would perform a diagnostic for an authorization fee of $250.00 to which I agreed for KIA Sunrise to do the diagnostic on the car. Based on their conclusion they attested that the engine was locked up as I had informed them. I mentioned that there was a recall on the engine of KIA Soltos 2021 due to engine failure at that point they stated that KIA Corp office had yet to send them notification of the recall relating to the engine failure. They stated for me to wait till April 2025 when the recall for the engine failure would have been received by them from Corp to which I did however, by then I was informed that they now wanted an additional $500 for a diagnostic. KIA Sunrise, stated that due to the engine being locked up they wouldn't look into it until $500.00 was paid however, they refused to take into consideration the $250.00 that was already not long ago, which based on the communication that was had they stated that was the authorization amount for them to do a full diagnostic knowing that the engine was locked up. However, at a later time they wanted more money to do a diagnostic on an engine that was still locked up.