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Car Forum / Kia Cars / June 2005UPDATE - 1 week later re: Kia Battery Exploded - still VERY unsafe
UPDATE: June 17, 2005 We have had the car back from the most recent servicing for about 1 week (they had it for 6 weeks to fix). We are now calling this car "SATAN'S CAR" Here what we have experienced in one week - since KIA said it was fixed and safe to drive. 1. the Steering wheel locked once while the car was in motion! We had to brake instantly to avoid an accident. Only after stopping the car and re-inserting the key to restart the car did the wheel come free. VERY SCARY! 2. The car stalled three times within a two hour period. 3. Once without warning the tach raced while the car was in motion - lunging the car forward to within a few feet of an accident. VERY SCARY. This is the info from the KIAMOTORS.COM site (KIA world HQ Customer Service form): "When Kia distributors in your country or the dealership near you are not able to solve your vehicle's problem for any reason, please contact us directly using the e-mail shown below. Your comments are very important to us." Sounds nice - except the source code shows that when Canada is selected, the form is only sent to the Canadian head office (other countries include several Korea HQ emails). Given the fiasco created here by the Canadian HQ, it isn't a wise idea to try to fool the customer! We are now ready to write a note directly to Kia Head Office to let them know about this. Does anyone have email info for these people in Korea who can help? We are interested in reaching any of these KIA corporate executives: Chairman and CEO Mr. Mong-Koo Chung, President and CEO Ik-Hwan Kim, President and CEO Eui-Sun Chung Senior Executive Vice President and COO Mr. Yong-Hwan Kim Executive Vice President Mr. J. M. Park (was CEO of Kia Canada !!!) I will gladly share this information when I obtain it. Please write me at kia@the-coach.com (a special email just for this). Thanks again for your interest and support. All automobiles need servicing - this one (SATAN'S CAR) needs to be destroyed now to avoid risking any lives further. ... Paul Litwack the Capability Improvement Coach www.the-coach.com (905) 764-8525 > UPDATE: June 17, 2005 > [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] > www.the-coach.com > (905) 764-8525 You lost me please tell me just what type of Kia you had all the above problems with.also what year it was built. I would suggest that you contact an attorney. Since you are in Canada, I cannot give you any specific legal advice, but there may be "lemon laws" or other consumer protection laws in your jurisdiction. If you were in the US, I would recommend that you send a written letter to the President of KIA detailing all of your problems and attaching copies of any and all work orders. This letter should be registered so that you have proof that can be used in court that KIA had actual notice of your problems. As far as I can tell, your only recourse is to prepare for the inevitable law suit. >UPDATE: June 17, 2005 > [quoted text clipped - 49 lines] >www.the-coach.com >(905) 764-8525 Thanks for your kind reply. Unfortunately Canada does NOT have similar Lemon Laws and the President's office has been involved since the day after the battery exploded. We are trying to avoid legal action as this fiasco has already drained us emotionally and financially. To be honest, I think that is what KIA wants ... for us to just go away. We will not. That is why we are writing to the Korean HQ directly. We have obtained some key email contacts there since my earlier post. ... Paul UPDATE: June 21, 2005 We have heard back from KIA Motors (Head Office in Korea) - they are very interested in helping us. So I'll hold further posts for a while to see how they can help. Thanks for your encouragement and interest. ... Paul > Thanks for your kind reply. > [quoted text clipped - 8 lines] > That is why we are writing to the Korean HQ directly. We have obtained > some key email contacts there since my earlier post. Won't work. They really don't care and are 1/3 a world away. Besides, what could you possibly do? Right. Because they are a foriegn company, nothing at all. Just sell the lemon to somoene else and get a better vehicle. > UPDATE: June 17, 2005 > 1. the Steering wheel locked once while the car was in motion! We had > to brake instantly to avoid an accident. Only after stopping the car > and re-inserting the key to restart the car did the wheel come free. > VERY SCARY! Legitimate problem. OTOH, what do you expect from Korean engineering? The fact is, China is now making better stuff than Korea these days. > 2. The car stalled three times within a two hour period. EGR valve. Easily fixable. Smog equipment isn't covered under any maker's warranty, so it's just something we all have to deal with every few years. > 3. Once without warning the tach raced while the car was in motion - > lunging the car forward to within a few feet of an accident. VERY > SCARY. Sounds like an accelerator problem. Very nasty. Likely the wires chafing and shorting the cruiser control problem GM and Ford had to deal with (and fixed) back in the 80s. Let's face it - the car IS 1980's technology. In ~1990 when they came out, they were up to date with the competition(GM/Chrysler) and KIA made nice economy cars. It's 15 years later, though, and they haven't really made them more modern from an engineering and construction perspective. Hyundai took over and essentially did a swap - they took KIA's engineering and applied it to the Hyundais, which were their name-brand. KIA isn't really their main concern anymore and it shows. Kind of sad, actually. Ford is doing this with Volvo as well - they bought out a better but smaller company and are using it to upgrade the rest of their cars to acceptable standards. Of course, Volvo is essentially a label or will be in a could more years, having been brought down to Ford's (hopelessly average)common deonminator designing. I really suggest that you look into something like the Honda Fit/Jazz that's coming out this fall/winter. $12K. ABS, all the goodies, and gets 40mpg average.
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