4 WD system faulty?

[Northerner 2]

I have a fairly steep driveway and to-day when it was snow-covered my 2013 Sorento could not deal with it. Had to get out my trusty 2002 RX 300 which made it up no problem! Both vehicle have good snow tires.
When the Sorento lost traction I had people observe and the front left wheel was spinning as was the right rear wheel. Pushing the 4 WD drive button on the dash had no effect except for illuminating the orange indicator light on the dash.
Any suggestions?

[franxalot]

Lighter right foot and common sense might help....

[Elle]

Originally Posted by franxalot

Lighter right foot and common sense might help....

a little civility might be nice as well

Interestingly I was thinking the same thing re the 2012 sorento traction in the snow. My 2003 sorento was markedly better in the snow. It seems like the anti slip, or whatever that is, trumps the AWD even when locked. I did not have the traction control on the 2003 and it was called 4wd back then and worked much better. I think the next time I will try disabling the traction control and see if that helps at all.

[Doug0716]

Originally Posted by Elle

a little civility might be nice as well

I noticed similiar results when we had snow/ice her over x-mas, except mine was better when the AWD was locked manually. It's been a while since I've looked over the owners manual but I thought there was supposed to be a light that came on when it was using the AWD system, all I got was the traction control light and power cut to the engine (was testing the AWD out in an empty parking lot), didn't feel like the AWD system kicked on at all. When I locked it on I got noticeably better traction. I've never had any sort of AWD or 4x4 system so not really sure what to expect

[Northerner 2]

Originally Posted by franxalot

Lighter right foot and common sense might help....

franxalot - if you can read you may understand my issue. If not then get the beer bottle back in your face and crawl back under your rock!

[Sauron]

I'm a northerner with a steep driveway and haven't even done snow tires yet. No problem with a few inches of snow. I haven't had any traction issues so while franx may have been a bit over the top, I'm wondering if there wasn't something driver-related going on.

Did you try playing with the traction control as well?

Best,

[Elle]

Originally Posted by Sauron

I'm a northerner with a steep driveway and haven't even done snow tires yet. No problem with a few inches of snow. I haven't had any traction issues so while franx may have been a bit over the top, I'm wondering if there wasn't something driver-related going on.

Did you try playing with the traction control as well?

Best,

I probably would not discard that completely, in my case at least. Not being used to having a traction control AND 4wd. I think the next snow we have (in northern PA) I will try to disengage the traction control and see if the AWD works any differently. As I said in my case it just seemed like the traction control was overriding the AWD and possibly throwing me off a bit. It just did not handle like previous 4wd have handled. I will do some experimenting this winter and see what happens. If nothing improves, then I would say I am extremely disappointed in the new AWD system. BTW I had the AWD locked manually.

In any case stupid comments are stupid. I have 35+ years driving in northern climates, including Canada and the TS might have as much or even more so.... maybe some common sense in posting might come in handy as well. Sorry I'm crabby....I blame hormones!

[phillyguy]

Originally Posted by Northerner 2

I have a fairly steep driveway and to-day when it was snow-covered my 2013 Sorento could not deal with it. Had to get out my trusty 2002 RX 300 which made it up no problem! Both vehicle have good snow tires.
When the Sorento lost traction I had people observe and the front left wheel was spinning as was the right rear wheel. Pushing the 4 WD drive button on the dash had no effect except for illuminating the orange indicator light on the dash.
Any suggestions?

The AWD system is working perfectly here.

1.)Your Sorento is operating as a FWD vehicle with an open front differential until one of the two front wheels slips.
2.)Once a front wheel slips (has no traction and can be seen spinning) the open differential on the front axle (i am oversimplifying here, but more or less this is what happens) sends torque to the spinning wheel, and none to the wheel not spinning (the not spinning wheel is the one with traction).
3.)The AWD system detects the slippage across the front axle, and engages a clutch pack which links the front and the rear axle, allowing torque to "flow" to the rear axle.
4.)Torque flows into the rear differential, which splits torque to each rear wheel.
5.)One of your rear wheels has no traction (just like in the front) and so your rear axle is unable to drive you forward because you only have one wheel with traction, and it cannot get any torque from the rear differential.

All AWD/4WD systems with a center locker, center differential, or center clutch pack will work this way. They can link the front axle and the rear axle, meaning they can send torque from front to back (or vice versa), if they have open front and rear differentials (most do) they absolutely have no ability to send torque from side to side. The traction/stability control system is supposed to help with sending torque side to side. When a wheel spins the traction control system should apply the ABS to to that wheel, causing friction through the drivetrain and allowing the open differential to send torque to the side with traction. Not all traction control systems are created equally though and it is possible that the KIA implementation is not great.

What is probably most likely here is that your OEM tires are crap. Hyundai/KIA really put shitty tires on their vehicles at the factory, and no drivetrain or stability control system, no matter how sophisticated, can overcome an inability to grip from lousy tires. Since you've had other vehicles get up no trouble this is the most likely culprit.

Its not perfect, but my advice would be to keep some sand or some cheap all weather floor mats (I always do this) in the back of your car. If you get into this situation wedge the mat or sprinkle some sand underneath the spinning wheels and you should get them traction and get going, hopefully your momentum and catching intermittent patches of traction will take over from there. Once you wear out your OEM tires and get decent tires on you will probably never have to bother with this again.

Tires make a much larger difference than most people realize.

[2011AWDV6]

Put the tranny in manual and upshift to second gear. U have to keep the tires from breaking free once that happens your screwed, so go nice and easy on it. Unless both suvs have the same tires with same amount of tread, they should essentially be doing the same thing. If you can get a moving start that should help.
I havent had any problems with mine, and I dont even have winter tires.
BTW nice title for your post. Unless your awd system is faulty I have found that it is almost always driver error that creates these problems. If you do think you have issue then take it to the dealer.

[ErikHeiker]

I find that I get the best traction when I disengage the stability control and lock the front and rear axles. I ran some tests a few years ago and this combination gave me the best traction. I also agree that the OEM tires are lousy.