Something to think about before you buy a KIA: do you want a car with customer support or a car with no customer support? If you want a car where technicians have documented and confirmed a warrantied and recently recalled part but refuse to replace it because there are no light indications or computer codes, then buy a KIA. In October 2023 (see KIA service ticket) my KIA was brought into Jackson KIA Cocoa, FL, for something not operating correctly. The vehicle periodically would hesitate when pressing the accelerator and other times when you had pressed the accelerator to go faster and removed your foot from the accelerator, the vehicle would not slow down, rather continue to speed up even if you tapped the brakes. The service technician had the vehicle for two days and confirmed during several of his test drives that the vehicle would hesitate and speed up with your foot off the accelerator. The service technician said the fuel pump was the issue; however, to cover it under our vehicle warranty, the vehicle would need to generate either a service code error or the indicator light would have to turn on. Neither of these happened during the service technician's test drives. The service technician wanting to confirm his assessment that the fuel pump was faulty, replaced the fuel pump with a new one and test drove the vehicle. The issues of hesitation and acceleration didn't happen as they did with old fuel pump. The service technician put the old fuel pump back in because I refused to accept a charge for replacing the fuel pump when it was under warranty.
A few months later, KIA Motors sent a notice to all KIA owners that KIA recognized the fuel pumps were faulty and were encouraged to take the vehicle to a dealership to have it replaced. The notice from KIA Motors outlined specific symptoms that a vehicle may display in which the dealership should replace the faulty fuel pump.
I made an appointment with Jackson Kia in August 2024, explaining that the vehicle had not improved and no error codes and no indication lights but the vehicle was accelerating and hesitating even more than it was almost a year ago when their service technician confirmed the issue with the fuel pump. I left the vehicle with Jackson KIA again for three days for them to diagnose the problem and confirm that the fuel pump was faulty. The service technician confirmed that the other service technician from a year ago diagnosed the problem correctly. It was in fact the fuel pump and is exhibiting the conditions as outlined in the KIA Motors Fuel Pump notice, except the vehicle did not have any diagnostic error codes nor any indication lights. The vehicle was returned with no fuel pump replacement.
About a month later while driving the vehicle on I95 North in Florida I began to pass a vehicle and like normal I accelerated as I entered the fast lane. My KIA hesitated for a brief second but accelerated. As I completed passing the vehicle, I removed my foot from the gas pedal to slow down and enter back into the traveling lane. The KIA didn't respond by slowing down, rather it was accelerating very quickly. I tried to apply the brakes to slow the KIA down but it was unresponsive. The KIA accelerated to 115 MPH, yes 115 MPH before slowing down so I could return to the traveling lane. Another incident occurred about two weeks after this near-death experience while returning from Titusville, FL to Home. As I pulled out from the gym into the lane of travel on busy Highway 50, I pressed the KIA's gas pedal to accelerate, and it hesitated and responded by going into idle mode at 5 MPH. Again, an almost near-death experience because of the KIA.
Here you have a huge corporation, KIA Motors, notifying owners of a specific known warrantied part replacement, and two different KIA Service Technicians clearly stating that the vehicle has the issue but because of the lack of error codes, KIA determines it best to continue to operate the vehicle with the faulty part. Is KIA attempting to repeat the same as Toyota Motors did with their "gas pedal" recall? People have to die for KIA to realize an issue may not exhibit all the "indicators" of the part being faulty? The KIA vehicle is unsafe to operate, and imagine as an owner traveling with your family, grandchildren, or friends and you pull into a lane of travel and the vehicle idles or you accelerate to speeds exceeding 100 MPH in a busy section of town. Ask yourself does it sound as if KIA Motors has your best interest, your safety, your family's safety, or the public safety at the forefront? Think long and hard before you make that purchase of a KIA.
Update - After calling and getting a case number with KIA Corporate, and them speaking with Jackson KIA of Cocoa, FL - the service manager had the audacity to LIE to corporate in the fact that they never knew or had the vehicle in for fuel pump related issues. When if fact the attached PDFs show the vehicle was in their shop for the fue read more
