Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 3
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My name is Tashia, and i have a 2001 Kia Rio. I purchased the car at 30000 km and was very pleased with my car... at first.
The trouble began at 54000 km and it hasn't stopped. At exactly 54000, on the dot, my warning lights for my battery and e-brake came on, which turned into a $500 altenator bill. Shortly after that my automatic transmission began to slip shift into second gear, causing the car to shudder every time it shifted! I took it to the dealer and the mechanic told me there was nothing wrong, even though he didn't even drive it!! so I took him for a drive though town, and every time it shifted it slipped and shuddered, but he told my it was my plugs and wires. but they were replaced only days before, and being in a family of mechanics, and my boyfriend being a mechanic that all work at new car dealerships (and cannot believe the trouble I am going through for a problem that should have been fixe, without question, and would have been at no charge to the customer at their dealerships), i am not a dumb girl that knows nothing about cars.. So when I told him the plugs and wires were just replaced($50), he told me it was an exhaust leak causing the problem, (which is outragous in itself), so I fixed the exhaust leak at the flex pipe, which they were going to charg me $300 plus the labour costs, but i had the muffler shop down the road repair it, for only $100. The slip and shudder were still there, of course, so I took it back to the dealer again, only to be given another excuse. This time it was the coil pack, and thankfully this was under warranty, but they had to order it in. I drive 160 km to work every day and the car is getting hard on gas, but they assured me it would be in in 5 days.
So after not hearing from the dealer in two weeks, I called them to see if the coil pack was in yet. They forgot to order it, they supposedly ordered it while I was on the phone with them. Two more weeks have passed and still no call from Kia, and while joking with my family and friends that they must have ordered it from Korea, it turns out they told me they really did have to order it from Korea, and it took 3 months to come in, and I called every 2 weeks or so, and it turned out that I had called twice after it had come in, but they told me it's not here yet. So they installed the coil pack, and once again the slip and shudder problem is not fixed, so back to the dealer I go, with now approx. 65000 km on the car, but still supposedly under warranty, and once again without taking the car for a drive, they tell me there is no problem, that I am imagening it! Therefore, the slip and shudder motion that my car makes EVERY time my car shifts into second gear, is all in my head, even though two other mechanics told me I have transmission problems, which should be corrected BEFORE the transmission goes completely.
Shortly after I leave the dealer, my car has no dash lights or right tail light. It's blowing fuses, which turns out to be my DRL (daytime running light) module. That's $200, but they can't get one and once again not under warranty. SO I get fed up with that dealer and take it to another one. Both dealerships are 100 km away from my house, but in opposite directions.
So when I explain the problem to this new dealership, they take it for a drive and, finally, admit there is a problem and they're going to see what they can do. So I go off to work thinking finally the problem is dealt with. They call me at work 5 hours later, "your fluid is really burnt, can we change it" so I explained I changed the fluid when I bought the car only a year ago, but fine change the fluid. They told me that it would only be $40. so when I go to pay the bill, It turns into $130, because I had to pay them for the labour to find my burnt fluid, which for some, god only knows, reason, it took five hours, but they only charged me for 2 so I paid it, hoping there would be no more slip and shudders! Boy was I wrong! The slip and shudders only got worst.
So back to the dealer I go, and they're going to "look into it and maybe I'll get a new tranny". SO they worked on my car for 7 hours, only to tell me that it's an electrical problem and it's not under warranty, but they don't know where the problem is, but it's somewhere in the transmission, or in the car somewhere. So, being fed up with the run around, I told them to drop my car off to me and I'll deal with it.
So I called the Kia Canada rep the next morning, who called the dealership and was told that it was an electrical problem. But I want to fight that decision, because there are no electrical problems with it and I've went though so many other "problems" that they're just sucking money out of me, and I won't do it anymore. I want the transmission fixed. The head of the warranty dept told me "If you do not fix the electrical problem, I will void your warranty and you'll still have to pay to have it fixed!". So I called the dealer again, and without even LOOKING at my car again, they changed their diagnosis, because they got this new machine to do pressure tests to transmissions, and they think it's an o-ring in the transmission, but it's not under warranty. So I have to pay them $55 plus tax and hour and it could take anywhere from 2-4 hours, to find the problem...
So once again I told them, I am not a dumb girl you can walk all over and steal my money!!! They told me my fluid was burnt!! This means that the transmission was slipping and is going to break at any time!! But for some reason, that's not under the powertrain warranty, even though the car is well maintained. But If I don't let them test their stupid machine on my car, they void my ridiculous warranty anyway....
SO I am still having trouble with it, and they had the nerve to have their salesman call me and offer me $2500 on a trade-in on another car. Only $2500 because "it has transmission problems"!!!
After that happened my father called head office again and they again threatened to void my warranty, so my Dad said he was going to put a bunch of lemon signs on the car and put it in front of the dealership and they threatened to "take action" on us" if we procede on that threat (whatever that means!?). So here I am with a lemon of a car, I have an '89 Pontic Bonneville with 300000km on it that I have had less trouble with and have spent less money on the entire time if owned it. So i t looks like I'm gonna have to polish it up, because I get about the same milage as with the 4 cylinder 1.5 L kia as I do with the 6 cylinder 3.8 L, 18 year old, 300000km, Bonneville and is cheaper and more reliable to drive.
So the root of my story is, I will never own another Kia, and my family and friends are never going to buy a kia. I hope that any prospective buyers are going to read this and change their mind about the mistake it will be to buy a Kia. Even the Kia dealerships don't want their own cars..
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