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AWD?! Stuck At A Boat Launch

12K views 17 replies 10 participants last post by  bmail10 
#1 ·
I installed a receiver hitch and Curt 4 pole for my boat and trailer and went boating with the kids yesterday. We were at a small campground with a boat launch that is gravel with some sand. It is a heavily used launch mostly 4WD trucks use it without issue. The manager ask me is my vehicle (2016 Sorento EX) was four wheel drive, I replied that it was AWD and had a differential lock button. Good he said because FWD vehicles will get stuck here.
I put the boat in, and drove the Sorento and trailer to the parking lot after launching without issue. Returning a few hours later I retrieved the boat to the trailer and engage the differential lock button and could NOT pull up the ramp!
Immediately a couple of guys jumped to my rescue to give me a little push but it wasn't enough, the front tires were breaking free and the back tires seemingly were doing nothing as many witnesssed. It was like I was driving a front wheel drive car. Even more people came to help push (maybe 8 adults) we moved a bit the ramp but progress would stop every time the front wheels started to spin out. I double checked that the lock button was engaged but it seemed to make no difference. Luckily the manager of the launch had a small tractor and a soft tow rope which he attached "somewhere" under my front end (where should I hook a tow rope BTW in this situation folks?) and his tractor had enough traction to ease me to the top of the ramp. Very frustrating. Looking for answers. Can the Sorento be trusted to pull up an incline? Or is AWD and Lock mode basically a "flat land" feature. My boat isn't terribly large it's a 17.5' fiberglass Bayliner inboard/outboard. Thx.
 
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#5 ·
the rear wheels should engage when the system detects any slip in the front tires. locking the awd should make the rear wheels engage.

and when your awd system is functional, turn off the traction control (hold down the button for 5 seconds, it will beep) when you drive on sand, loose gravel or mud.

traction control is good for wet pavement and icy roads, not for sand or mud since you need all the tires to be spinning, not braking.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Yeah, with the diff locked it should be set at a 50/50 power split (so the front tires shouldn't be slipping with the rear ones just sitting there doing nothing) at below 20 mph.

You DON'T want the tires spinning in sand!!!! You can dig down to the frame in seconds!

It seems really odd to me that the system would be stuck in FWD.... but I don't have a better explanation
 
#6 ·
That is strange, I would expect it to do just fine with your boat. Check this video of the Sorento doing the "diaginal test". https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...yxZ1FvqCftTShRp_bDkFCQ&bvm=bv.129391328,d.eWE

If it can do that, I don't see why it would have a problem pulling your boat out of the water. Also, mine was preformed flawlessly driving on the beach thus far..... including going over the dunes/some somewhat steep/very bumpy beach driving.
 
#9 ·
Problem finally was diagnosed today as a defective rear (differential) coupling. Rear wheels were indeed not turning. The coupling will be replaced by KIA Canada under warranty. The ECU showed a "recent" error code in the transmission. They unfortunately were unable to give me the date of the problem which would have let me pin point it further.
The KIA tech also listed (on the work order) the max towing capacity of this SUV to be 750kg/1650lbs without brakes and 907kg/2267lbs with trailer brakes. My initial understanding was the the 2016 KIA Sorento's towing capacity with the 3.3L and AWD was 5000lbs. What's the truth here?
 
#10 ·
Glad they got it figured out and repaired. There were a significant number of defective couplings on the 2014/2015 models.
My brother has a 2015 and is on his second replacement. It too is starting to act up now once in a while.
You'd think they'd have resolved this by now.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
#14 · (Edited)
Yeah, just hit the gas pretty hard with the wheel turned or even straight if the road is wet. It will be VERY obvious if it isn't working as the front tires will chirp/scrub for a fraction of a second before power is sent to the rear wheels. The car will still take off quickly if AWD is working but with just FWD it will be really slow.

IDK if there is a way to disable the traction control in the car but that would really help diagnose things as if the traction control kicks in it would make it tougher to tell if the AWD is kicking in or not. If you can turn off the traction control the front tires will spin hard when the road is wet if AWD isn't working. In high powered FWD cars I have had it is easy to hit the gas hard on a wet road and in a second or two the speedo is reading 60 or 70 mph while the car is going like 10 or 20 mph. :)
 
#12 ·
Most of the failures result in the AWD engaging when it shouldn't be. It results in a jerking sensation when negotiating tight turns.
In the OP's case he had no traction on the boat launch because the AWD failed in such a way that the rear wheels were not engaging at all.

If you're losing traction on slippery surfaces under heavy acceleration you most likely have an issue.
 
#13 ·
Makes me worry. I have a '17 SX V6 that when making a tight turn fells like the drive train is binding. For example, coming out of my drive and making a tight right turn. as I swing through the turning, I feel the drive train is not working smoothly. Almost like the center dif. is locked. Do you guys feel this "binding", as you accelerate from a tight turn ?
 
#15 ·
Haven't noticed what you are describing except on time when I didn't hit the diff lock button hard enough after driving on the beach and it didn't turn it off.... when I pulled out onto the road I quickly knew it was still locked as there was some binding.
 
#17 ·
There is a button to disable traction control on the dash to the left of the steering wheel. Press it to turn off traction control. Press and hold a couple seconds to turn off traction and stability control.

Traction control will brake a spinning wheel and reduce engine power output to attempt to stop wheels from spinning. Which, if you are trying to pull into traffic on an icy/snowy road, can be dangerous as you step on the gas and the car does nothing. Especially in a FWD car.
 
#19 ·
Maybe I didn't know what I doing, but 2 years ago I towed a 1931 Model A Tudor Sedan (~2200 lbs) on a trailer that weighed 2025 lbs unloaded (Total load ~ 4225 lbs) over 600 miles with my used 2016 Kia Sorento EX, 3.3L V6 in one day, with no problems at all. I installed a class 2 hitch and a brake controller on my Kia and the trailer (single axle rated 5600 lbs) had electric brakes on it. I drove on interstates at speeds up to 75 mph at times. The next day I towed the same another 200 miles. Then a week later I made the reverse trip. My KIA has continued to run fine with no drive train, brake or engine issues since. As far as I'm concerned this is a great car. The reason I bought it was because it was rated to tow up to 5000 lbs. By the way, I had the transmission in ECO mode and averaged about 15 mpg with cruise control on. At first I had it in standard mode with no CC and only got about 13 mpg. I am a very careful driver was careful to avoid any sudden jerky movements. Oh yes, I was even able to pass tractor trailers at those speeds, but again was very careful.
 
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