I purchased new tires around February 2007 from sears at the Virginia center commons store location. Within three weeks between April and may of 2008 I experienced three flats. Two of the flats were on the same day within 2 hours of each other. I had the fourth one replaced at this time. All three flats were because of faulty valve stems. Recently I read about a 6 million recall of TR413 valve stems from tech international a distributor of shanghai baolong. I believe my problem is part of the recall which notified the clients but not the public. Fortunately none of the flats occurred at high speed while on the highway but on secondary roads at speeds of 45mph or less. I did complain to sears on their feedback survey but received no reply. I had purchased road hazard with the tires so I was not charged for any of the repairs but am upset about the lack of reply and the lack of notice to the public. I am unsure if any tire damage resulted from the flats. Sincerely denise barwick

- Mechanicsville, VA, USA

Purchased car, 2001 Kia Rio, in October of 2000. Within a few days airbag light came on. This occurred several times over a one year period and had to be taken back to dealer for repair at least four times. Recall was received for fuel system. This was replaced without problem. Next problem occurred with wheels, which was also a recall. I had to order the wheels which took at least a month to come in leaving me to drive to and from work, 65 miles each way, on violently vibrating wheels. Wheels were finally replaced. Problem occurred in winter 2005 with door latch. Driver side door would lock and stay locked. Vehicle was taken to original dealer for repair only to have old part repaired while being charged for new part and labor. Within a few days, door latch failed again. Took vehicle to another dealer who ordered new part. In the meantime I waited for part to arrive, and drove around in a car whose door didn't lock, leaving my car prey to thieves, who stole things constantly from me. Finally this was fixed but, the passenger side door lock did the same thing. I look the car back to the dealer who told me that they could not fix it since my warranty was up and to fix it would cost me $700 or more. I've also noticed a problem with the car stalling in traffic. This is a new problem. Example: I stop to get gas, start the car and turn out into traffic and the car shuts down. During the winter of 2005 while waiting for door locks to come in, my driver side wheel bearing went out. This was repaired but subsequently the next day after repair while driving into work, wheel bearing literally crumbled. Had car towed to dealer who informed me that an old part was mistakenly put back on the car. This was repaired and replaced with a new part. These are all safety and quality control issues.

- Flint, MI, USA

Consumer has an issue that the lug wench that came with the vehicle was unable to break loose the lugs:nuts and/or applied the proper torque when tightened. Dealer was notified. Dealer informed the consumer that tool meets the dot specs.

- Bakersfield, CA, USA

I have had my Kia for 3 years now (bought on April 24,2001), after only having it one year(April 25, 2002) my two front tires were shredded all the way to the metal. The dealer said that my tires were only covered for a year so I had to replace them, come to find out it was caused by the alignment that showed no sign of being off. Right after that the cooling fan shorted causing the engine to smoke and the car to be in the shop for 2 weeks because Kia couldn't order the right part. Soon after that both of my sunvisors broke to the point they are not usable. Kia told me that it would be $35 each to replace, not covered under warranty considered normal wear and tear. My alignment has been fixed 4 times in 3 years with normal driving conditions and regular maintenance. The shifter ( automatic) has gone out twice. Once resulting in Kia having to replace the whole shifter. The car is constantly vibrating, really bad when A/C is on. The brakes have always made noise and occasionally "stick" dealer said there may be a recall coming out, that was 3 years ago, haven't heard anything yet.

- Tucson, AZ, USA

My drivers rear seatbelt keeps coming apart have had it changed six times inside osf two years and am now fighting to get it warented as a saftey defect because I have now reached 60,000 miles. I want this to be investigated as I am aware of the fact there are several others with same issue. This car is not safe for children. Dealer says car seat but I swear to anyone there is no car seat on that side of car even if there was car seat belts are supposed to hold with out the webbing fraying.

- Bristol, CT, USA

I was driving down the road in my 2001 Kia Rio and it started to run really funny and the next thing I knew I stepped on the gas and the wasn't accelerating anymore so I pulled over and looked out the passenger side window and the car was on fire so I got out and called 911. The car has been deemed a total loss.

- West Suffield, CT, USA

I bought my car used, and have had it for only six months. I read the other complaints filed and feel a little better knowing that it isn't just my car with the problems. But I wish the dealers would recognize that they are ripping us off by not fixing the obviously defective parts. My Rio has the check engine light on (not all of the time) but when it does come on it is accompanied by the the flashing overdrive off light. This usually lasts for a couple of days. Just when I was getting used to that the engine started shaking with only the check engine light on, it did not stall but it would have if I didn't pull into a parking lot and turn the car off. A few hours later I turned it back on and no problems again until just last week the engine started shaking again. Lets not leave out the minor problems though. I also have problems with my interior falling apart and my cover for my fuses falls off every time I get in. My paint is peeling off, I have had to replace my battery that died out of nowhere. My warranty is almost up and I have had no help with these problems thus far.

- Bushnell, FL, USA