Thread: should i file a lemen law? and is dealer blowing smoke up my butt.

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Hey everyone I got a 2011 kia sorento that is 7 months old and in october my fiancee was drivng on the freeway going about 65 mph and she herd a loud clunk and car almost went to a stop she said it was like hiting a brick wall so she pulled over at the next exit and she shut the car off.on till i got there and I dover the car and it was fine so went to the closest kia delaler and after about hour they said theres nothing wrong so I said whatever and left thinking maybe it was a fluke.Well last week i was on the phone with my fiancee and she yelled and stared crying because she was scared because it did it again so i met with her again and i told her not to shut car off this time so i go to take off and it wont move ontill about 2700 rpm and there no shiff points and i went up to 60mph and it like driving in a supper low gear.And when put it in to drive,or reverse or neutral the car jerks forward.I shut car off and restart it and it was fine but when i was driving it to a diffent kia dealer it did it to me and it was scary it just happens as soon u hear the clunk it just decelerate and it like u are diveing in 5 gear and u slam it in 1 gear but its a automatic.I get to dealer and told them what it was doing and not to shut it off well after i pulled it in they must have shut it off because they said they could not fine anything wrong I said bullsh** and they said they had somebody from kia enginerring look at. so I took it to the kia dealer where i bout it but it was 50 min away and it drove fine they had it for two day and said that a oil temp sensor is reading a little low but remember ther has NOT been one check engine light on the whole time and they are telling me that when it acts up that the car goes in to limbo mode and that why it does but he said it should fix it but he wasent sore it would and said only time will tell. now my fiancee is scared of driving it because the two time it did it she almost got rear ended and if ther was snow or rain she says she would of got hit. what should i do file lemon law or see what happens

Do a google search on lemon laws in your state. In Ca you have to give the dealer a resonable amount of times trying to fix it. I think that it is 3 or more.

Make sure that when you take it to the dealer that you have them write up a service report stating exactly what you want it to say. You need to have all of this in writing and the dealers/auto repair place like to word everything like you asked for something specific done.

Like when I took my DD (99 Honda Civic) to the repair shop for a vibration. They put in on the rack and the mechanic told me that I needed new half shafts. I went into the office and the person asked me what the Mechanic said. I told them and they wrote it uplike this, "customer requests replacing half shafts". That way if that does not fix the problem they have it in writing that I asked to have the half shafts changed. Not to diagnose and fix a vibration.

No it did not fix the vibration, I am out almost $400 and they lost a customer.

Don't know much about the KIA dealership structure, but I do know from past experience with both Ford and GM that if I don't get satisfactory results from the dealership, a trip to the Zone Office sure gets things fixed. The dealer is looking out for his bottom line, the Zone Office is making sure the dealer abides by the terms of the warranty....

It doesn't seem to me that you have a Lemon Law claim. Sounds to me like you have an intermittent problem that affects the electronics associated with the tranny, and when cycled OFF and back ON it clears the system and functions normally. The Lemon Law is there to protect you from a problem or problems that they continue to "fix" without improvement. You have not been able to duplicate the problem in the shop - not a Lemon yet, IMO. Like Bug says, it is important that the work orders are worded correctly, and that you keep records of everything. I agree 100% with Dave, communication to your Zone Office (or whatever KIA calls the step above dealers) should get some action as long as you keep things professional and polite. Crying BS to anything is not going to help your cause.

Do your record keeping, time and dates of events, places and people who you spoke with.

rspears I never cryed BS to them just to my fiancee because it is BS because when u buy a brand new car and sometimes u drive it u feel like your going through the windshield and almost geting hit from behind. and you take it to 3 diffent dealer and they says theres nothing wrong when u know there is.And the last dealer says that it maybe be a engine oil sencer I just dont kno if with the risk in a maybe oil sencer and only time will tell oil sencer..

Originally Posted by slepper63

rspears I never cryed BS to them just to my fiancee because it is BS because when u buy a brand new car and sometimes u drive it u feel like your going through the windshield and almost geting hit from behind. and you take it to 3 diffent dealer and they says theres nothing wrong when u know there is.And the last dealer says that it maybe be a engine oil sencer I just dont kno if with the risk in a maybe oil sencer and only time will tell oil sencer..

Man, you're the one who wrote "... they said they could not fine anything wrong I said bullsh** and they said they had somebody from kia enginerring look at..." - I did not make that up. All I'm saying is that it does not matter how many dealers you take it to, unless they see the vehicle exhibit the problem, give it back to you as "fixed", and you still have the problem several times then you've not established that it is a Lemon under the law. All you have is frustration that they cannot duplicate the problem that you've seen two or three times. The Lemon Law does not give you the right to make a claim for something that they have not had opportunity to fix just because you see a problem. I told you what I would do if it were mine, so good luck with your problem and I hope you get them to find the problem and fix it under warranty.

You know i can feel your pain what can you do.My brother bought a 2004 Dodge Dakota suv or maybe a durango with the big hemi junk!!! I ran my old 392 for years. Heres a guy with five kids going to school and working. they are all blowing the engines. ok I vented no help from dodge. good luck with yours

You are going to have to get the condition to pop up and drive to the dealership I know it is a pain in the a__! Maybe on a Sat. if they are open. I had a similar issue on a Yukon that you had to drive it for 30 mins. to get it to pop up. The dealership would not spend the time to drive it that far. I told them to take it home and they could not do that. I went up there and got the tech in the car with a trans. code readed he hooked up to the port and I took him for a ride. 30 mins. later it popped up. The intermittent problems are the hardest to get diagnosed! I know you are frustrated and she is scared. I would be!

As said previously, they can’t do anything unless it happens to them. I am sure that most of us have had the wife come in and say that something is not working correctly, we go to take a look and it is working fine. Same thing for them. Maybe you can get a code reader, plug it in yourself and see what it says when it does it. I had a trans in a 1997 Chevy 4x4 overheat and quit working correctly. It never through a code though.

I say, you drive it for a while and let your lady drive yours. Let it mess up and then drive it until it breaks. Have it towed to the dealer and let them fix it. Just do not tell them what you did. Just tell them that it broke. Keep a phone and a tow card with you at all times.

Just thinking here, have you tried searching the internet for recalls or bulletins for that car?

Originally Posted by Bug

I say, you drive it for a while and let your lady drive yours. Let it mess up and then drive it until it breaks. Have it towed to the dealer and let them fix it. Just do not tell them what you did. Just tell them that it broke. Keep a phone and a tow card with you at all times.

Just thinking here, have you tried searching the internet for recalls or bulletins for that car?

I know it's tempting but I would not recommend the "...drive it till it breaks.." approach. The onboard computer is going to record a timeline for any code thrown and for what happens after that. If you knowingly drive it in a condition that makes it destroy itself the dealer will likely know and you could be in a fight to get it fixed under warranty. Somehow you've got to figure out the sequence of events that causes the mis-operation, or get it to mis-perform while the dealer can get his readers hooked up to see what it is doing.

Is your Sorento a part of the recall?? 2011 Kia Sorento Recalled for Transmission Failure

That recall kind of sounds like what you have been dealing with. I know sometimes it is hard to get to a dealer when they are open and you are having a problem. So what about taking it to a parts store like Auto Zone who can scan it for free. I think it was this site that had a thread about how incompetent the parts store workers are, but ours is pretty good and has helped to figure out a number of problems on my cars. If they can get the code, then you can take that back to the dealer and you have a little more info to back up what you are saying.

thanks everone the problem is it not giving any codes and theres no check engine light on i did go to a auto zone and no codes found and did take it to the dealer when it was acting up and i told them not to shut the car off on till they test drive it but they shut it off . There NO recalls for the trans for my car the recalls for the transmission failure are 2011 kia sorento that where build earily to mid 2010 mine was build in 01/11.