NHTSA Complaint #11689656 — 2023 KIA SELTOS

We first noticed that the car was sputtering and jerking when accelerating at highway speeds. It wasn't consistent at first but continued to get worse over time and at more regular occurrences. White/grey smoke was spotted from the tailpipe whenever the vehicle was accelerating, either from a stop or when "resuming" on the cruise control. We brought the vehicle in to the dealership as the "service engine" light came on and explained what was happening with the car. They told us that there was an "intake valve" that was plugged and need to be replaced and that the on-board computer needed to be updated. We also had some routine maintenance done as well and they sent us on our way. Quickly after getting the car home we noticed that the original problem persisted and actually got worse. We checked the recalls on our car and noticed that there are other recalls on other VINs for the same Make, Model, Year and engine type as our car and the symptoms of those recalls were exactly the same as our symptoms in our car. We returned the vehicle to the dealership and again the "service engine" light had come on. This time they got the code that says something to the effect of "cylinder scoring" and that we needed to have the engine replaced. The recall for the 2.0L Nu engine for 2023 Kia Seltos' that doesn't currently include the VIN for our vehicle is SC336. We had to replace the engine out of our own pocket and would like to see this VIN included in the recall that affects other vehicles of this similar Make, Model, year and engine type.