Recall Alert: 2011 Kia Sorento, 2010 Kia Soul

Kia Motors is recalling 23,972 2010 Kia Soul and 11,213 2011 Kia Sorento vehicles over faulty installation of an ambient lighting system in those vehicles, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The Soul’s speaker lights — which are standard equipment on the Soul Exclaim and Soul Sport and optional on the Soul Plus — and the Sorento’s optional accent lighting in the front and rear door trim panels on the EX trim may have been improperly soldered. When the lights are illuminated in certain conditions, an electrical short may occur and cause a fire.

Owners will be notified this month. Kia dealerships will replace the wiring harnesses for the lighting systems free of charge. Owners can contact Kia at 800-333-4542 or the National Highway Safety Administration at 888-327-4236.

2010|Kia|Soul

2011|Kia|Sorento

Comments

"supplied by JCI and used for the lighting in the Kia Soul vehicle’s advanced lighting speakers"
http://www.nitrobahn.com/news/kia-recalls-35185-2010-kia-soul-2011-kia-sorento-vehicles-over-fire-risk/
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JCI
Johnson Controls, Inc. (NYSE: JCI)
Founded 1885
Headquarters : Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnson_Controls
http://www.johnsoncontrols.com/
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Defect part = JCI Product = American Company.

"Johnson Controls, an American company that supplies interior components for 40 of the world's top manufacturers, recently unveiled a concept car at the Frankfurt motor show that tackled some of the challenges facing interior designers.

The company's interior lighting package, which adjusts mood lighting for the cabin from purple and blue through to pink and orange, is likely to be adopted by other car makers that have already showcased similar themes on concept vehicles.

Virtual instrument panels such as those on the new Range Rover also open up the possibility of changing colour schemes in the same way that you change the look of a computer screen or mobile phone.

The Kia Soul has a red light surrounding the speakers in the footwell, which can pulse with the beat of the music."

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/car-interiors-of-the-future-20091016-h 0c9.html
"Car interiors of the future Richard Blackburn in Tokyo "
October 17, 2009

JCI (American Company) made mood light speaker for Kia.

Has anyone had any problems with their automatic transmissions in the 2011 Kia Sorentos jumping into 2nd gear when they should be in third gear and you are driving down the road and you feel like you have just hit something very big only to find out your Kia is stuck in second gear until you turn it off and then back on? It is very nerve racking to be driving down the road at 50mph and all of a sudden you feel like your car hit something powerful or you just lost your tansmission. This has happened to me 5 times and I have only had the car since July 2010.

I got a surprise call from my KIA dealer tuesday for a recall. They said they needed to do an inspection of my new KIA Sorento.
Today 12/02/11 I brought it in and was told it was an inspection of the brake calipers for certian numbers. The dealer said they need to replace these calipers. I am now using a rental courtesy of KIA until my 2011 KIA Sorento has the calipers replaced. I have not found any recall notices on this problem.

I JUST BOUGHT A KIA SORENTO 2011 ITS MAKING A THUMPING NOISE ATIDLE AND WHEN DRIVIVING WHAT COULD THAT BE

Has anyone had any problems with their 2011 Kia Sorento jolting upon start up? I have had several instances where that has happened. Feels like the car is jumping forward when I start the engine

So glad they recalled the unreliable ones. Used cars are often the best way to go anyway though. Cape Town car dealerships like Carshop offer some impressive deals for cars that won't require a recall!

My new 2011 when I started it up took off across a busy main street I couldn't stop it kept putting my foot on the break.I hit a curb A stop sign a rod iron gate and went in to the side of a school buliding. They gave me a ticket cot me $300 and the officer said my breaks were fine he never got in the car he wanted to justify the ticket for careless driving. I thought my life was over no one want to help me been to two lawyers. It mtook off on me. Never had a driving violation in my life.

The brake lights frequently stay on after I exit my 2010 KIA Soul+. Anyone else have this problem?

It takes guts for an automotive company to do a recall, but it's a testament to growing a better brand and assuring future customers that they are buying into a company that cares. Toyota did this a few years ago with the entire Yaris fleet - faulty brake pedals if a recall (no pun intended) - and their reputation is non the worse.

My otherwise GREAT 2011 Soul has on several occasions suddenly (while driving) accelerated on its own, even when I'm not on the gas pedal, just coasting down a slight hill. It jumps up to 2000 RPMs. When I bring it to a stop & idle w/the brake on, the RPMs remain at about 2000 (much like in the old days when a throttle was stuck & we tapped on the gas pedal to "clear" it - but in this case that doesn't drop the RPMs.) I pull over, turn it off, sit a minute, start up & it's fine. This has occured about 4-5 times, starting about a yr after purchase at approx 8-9K miles. I've told my dealer svc dept about this twice. 1st time they had no info, then recently I brought it up again & the guy said he seemed to recall some mention of a similar thing in his recent svc training sessions. I asked about a diagnostic test getting done which he agreed to & I plan to do nxt wk (He told me sensor/computer sys malfunctions, if detected by the sys, are stored in the car's computer, which they should be able to retrieve). Anyone else experiencing this? It's very unnerving. Recalling the deadly Toyota problems they blamed on floor mats....