Kia SX V6 hesitates when gas pedal pushed

asburdan · 08-10-2011, 11:36 AM

A few times when I've mashed the gas on my wife's 2011 Sorento SX V6, the car has hesitated (and then there's a surge). At first, my wife said I needed to learn to drive her car, but yesterday it happened to her twice, once in traffic. I called the local Kia service dept. today to make an appt. and they said there had been some trouble with throttle sensors on "those cars." Anyone here experienced what we are? Before, I was wondering if I was being lazy in the way I placed my foot on the gas pedal, but maybe not.
The car has 4,500 miles on it.
Thanks for any advice.

CorsaKoup · 08-10-2011, 12:37 PM

My Optima does it fairly regularly. It seems the harder I press it from a standstill, the slower it is to respond. 3-4 seconds later, it's screaming up to 6000 rpms, but until then..it's very lethargic. And other times, it's quick to respond. I'm just in no hurry to have it looked at, because I'm sure the response will be one of the following:

1) Unable to duplicate, or 2) there's no CEL / code saved, so we have no indication of a problem.

ChiKia · 08-10-2011, 05:16 PM

I noticed the same thing on my 2011 Kia V6. I assumed it was due to the auto transmission and the lag time to get in gear from neutral (cruising). However, I notice that the engine revs when I floor it, but it does not engage the gear to accelerate immediately.

It was annoying at first, but I've trained by the car now not to floor the throttle...

**kiaEparts** · 08-10-2011, 05:24 PM

We replaced a accelerator pedal today for a customer with same symptoms.

It seemed to fix it.

asburdan · 08-10-2011, 08:53 PM

Thanks for comments. My appt. with the dealer is next Wed. It is happening with normal attempts at acceleration, not flooring. Sensor or pedal as mentioned here seem likely to me based on the way it acts. I realize now it happened to me on a test drive, not the one we bought, when it didn't go upon mild acceleration in the parking lot of new cars and then went quickly. I couldn't help but wonder then if the salesman just thought I was an older guy who couldn't drive.

Mysticality · 08-11-2011, 03:49 AM

Flooring the diesel at the lights is a bit of an issue, from a standstill it takes 2-4sec to do anything, then another 2sec later the turbo kicks in and you're thrown through the seat.

My guess is its got to do with the gearbox computer, perhaps its working out which gear is the best before changing or something?

Try it in "sports mode" and see what happens.

asburdan · 08-17-2011, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CorsaKoup

My Optima does it fairly regularly. It seems the harder I press it from a standstill, the slower it is to respond. 3-4 seconds later, it's screaming up to 6000 rpms, but until then..it's very lethargic. And other times, it's quick to respond. I'm just in no hurry to have it looked at, because I'm sure the response will be one of the following:

1) Unable to duplicate, or 2) there's no CEL / code saved, so we have no indication of a problem.

Well, today was my day for an appt. at dealer to find the problem. The above quote was their response exactly. Checked the transmission and engine codes, a tech rode with me once (of course the problem didn't occur), so I left with an hour and a half of reading time and an hour roundtrip from here to there without a solution. Going back Monday (yes, I really am) for the recent recall repair about insulators so rocks won't get in area near ball joints (I think that's what they said but not sure). The tech, who was very considerate and helpful, said he would enter problem on tech line and maybe they will know something new on Monday.

arkguil · 08-17-2011, 01:23 PM

Are you trying to Floor while standing on a flat surface or an incline? Do you get enough power when gradually pressing on the gas pedal? Are the wheel slipping (traction control icon illuminated)?

I rarely get hesitation other than when I'm sharply cornering, doing a U-Turn for example. Since the engine detect slippage, it cuts fuel injection to slow down the engine, resulting in loss of power.

This is no different than many other vehicules out there. Everything is geared toward fuel economy, not performance...

safford197 · 08-17-2011, 05:37 PM

Does it do it within the first 10-12 minutest of operation, i.e. not 100% warmed up? I'd video it with my cell phone, examine the video to make sure the traction control didn't kick in or that the speed actually did not increase during this lag period you're experiencing. I wonder if it could be the clutch in the transmission is still new and slipping a little under full load?

asburdan · 08-17-2011, 10:23 PM

Thanks for further comments. Neither my wife nor I have ever floored the car. The hesitation/surge happened to her tonight after pulling into the highway in front of our neigborhood. After leaving a stop sign and getting into the road, the car hesitated and then surged. Later, it did the same thing with her after leaving a stoplight. No icons are showing on screen. The service manager where we bought the car, not the dealer nearer to our house where i went today, said they had one that needed a computer upgrade (yes just like at home) and another that needed an oil control valve. I am hopoing the dealer's technician using the Kia tech line will produce some clues. Thanks again.