The end of January of this year I took my 2001 Kia Sportage to the dealership. It was running very rough and had no power. (No power over the low power it had already from when I bought it new). I was charged the $77 fee to have the dealership take a look at it.
The way the vehicle was acting, it was very possible that it had a cracked engine head, &/or bad head gasket. This falls under the 100,000 mile power train warranty. I am the original owner and the vehicle was around 96K on the odometer.
After the service department took a look at it, they agreed that this is what it was. They said they would've allowed the warranty to take over, but they stated that my thermostat was replaced upside down and this was not Kia's fault. I did have the thermostat replaced almost a year prior when the SUV had overheating problems because the original thermostat went bad. When I had a new one put in, I didn't have anymore problems for nearly a year after that.
I'm not a mechanic, but I do know that if a thermostat was placed upside down in the vehicle, the coolant would not flow properly to cool the engine & I would've still had problems. Again, it took almost a year before the vehicle started to act up, and then it only had rough idle problems, and very low power like half the power it used to have.
I went to the dealership to see what they were talking about and I even brought my friend that put the thermostat in almost a year prior. To come to find out that the dealership was lying to us just to get out of the warranty.
My friend even said that the thermostat was put in properly and not upside down. The dealership determined that they wanted $1400 to fix the vehicle and advise me that the warranty would not cover. I told them that I would think about it and the dealership said it was fine.
A day later I asked the dealership to go ahead & put my car back together & I was declining the repair since I didn't have that kind of money. Diego the service manager argued with me that it was too costly for him to put the vehicle back together & said if I didn't get my car off of his property, that he would have it towed away. Keep in mind that the $77 fee I had to pay was for the dealership to take apart my car, find the problem, and put it back together again.
I then got in touch with Diego's manager (I don't remember his name) and explained the situation. He wouldn't do anything about the warranty part, but he did get the service department to put my car back together again without me having to pay above and beyond the $77. I took the car home & it sat in my driveway a good month. I even complained to the Kia factory via their website. The factory rep said that they have to rely on the dealerships and there was nothing he could do.
A month later, I finally took my Kia to a small backyard mechanic garage in Waynesville, NC. The mechanic replaced the spark plugs, replaced the radiator (because the engine was losing compression through the radiator), and charged my battery back up. Oh, get this, he turned the thermostat right side up from how the dealership left it. It now runs like new again which only cost me $500 parts & labor there.
I just want to say thank you Kia & Paramount Kia for NOT honoring the warranty that you said you would stand behind, and thank you Kia for making my life a living hell while I struggled with transportation issues.
Oh yea, thank you Kia for showing me a good reason to never ever buy your products again!
A WARNING TO OTHERS: Kia brags in their advertisements and sales pitch that they have the 10 year 100,000 mile warranty. As you can see from all these other rip off reports posted on this website including my report, Kia does not & will not honor the warranty. Kia is a cheap built car and this is why their prices are lower then most car brands. But unless you have the money to pay on repairs yourself, do NOT rely on the warranty promises that Kia offers.
Dale
Canton, North
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