When I had to replace the rear tire, we put the tire on ourselves. I had it into a KIA dealership 2 days later on May 15, 2013 where a multi-point check was performed. I was told I needed an alignment for which I agreed to. When I picked up my vehicle they did not charge me for the alignment, so I thought I was lucky and got an alignment for free. Little did I know that with an AWD vehicle you need to replace all four tires at one time. How the service department at at KIA dealership did not see the difference in the tread of the tires is beyond me.
I was never advised or suggested that I need to replace the other 3 tires as well.
This caused many more problems with my Sorento, or so KIA says. This will be detailed as follows.
I took my KIA Sorento again into the dealership on September 10 with the same noise it was making in February. It was determined this time that there was no rear differential fluid in my vehicle. They saw that I had a new rear tire and that the difference in the tires caused the torque coupler to overheat and break the seal of the brake differential. There was no leak in the differential fluid and was told that it looked like it was never filled up from the last service.
KIA declined the warranty stating that where I got the tire was responsible. They never touched my car and the last service I had on my car was a KIA dealership 3 days after I had the tire on. It was for some recall work but they did do a multi-point check on the vehicle and stated that I had declined the alignment (which I did not). The other service on my car was in February for the same sound and they replaced my transmission.
I was passed to 3 different customer affairs managers!! Was told that they had to research the problem. I was told that it states in my owners manual that 4 tires need replacement Which it really does not state that clearly and it only talks about 4WD, which I feel is different than AWD. He had not even talked to the dealerships where I had the cars. Then when I told them they had until noon the next day, they agreed to fix everything but the tires!!!
I will never buy a KIA again and will be getting rid of my Sorento as soon as possible.
When I had to replace the rear tire, we put the tire on ourselves. I had it into a KIA dealership 2 days later on May 15, 2013 where a multi-point check was performed. I was told I needed an alignment for which I agreed to. When I picked up my vehicle they did not charge me for the alignment, so I thought I was lucky and got an alignment for free. Little did I know that with an AWD vehicle you need to replace all four tires at one time. How the service department at at KIA dealership did not see the difference in the tread of the tires is beyond me. I was never advised or suggested that I need to replace the other 3 tires as well. This caused many more problems with my Sorento, or so KIA says. This will be detailed as follows.
I took my KIA Sorento again into the dealership on September 10 with the same noise it was making in February. It was determined this time that there was no rear differential fluid in my vehicle. They saw that I had a new rear tire and that the difference in the tires caused the torque coupler to overheat and break the seal of the brake differential. There was no leak in the differential fluid and was told that it looked like it was never filled up from the last service.
KIA declined the warranty stating that where I got the tire was responsible. They never touched my car and the last service I had on my car was a KIA dealership 3 days after I had the tire on. It was for some recall work but they did do a multi-point check on the vehicle and stated that I had declined the alignment (which I did not). The other service on my car was in February for the same sound and they replaced my transmission.
I was passed to 3 different customer affairs managers!! Was told that they had to research the problem. I was told that it states in my owners manual that 4 tires need replacement Which it really does not state that clearly and it only talks about 4WD, which I feel is different than AWD. He had not even talked to the dealerships where I had the cars. Then when I told them they had until noon the next day, they agreed to fix everything but the tires!!!
I will never buy a KIA again and will be getting rid of my Sorento as soon as possible.
- Michele N., Grain Valley, MO, US