Why did the engine in my 2012 Kia Sportage seize without warning?
Asked by Brendan
Over Christmas my 2012 Kia Sportage engine seized without warning, seriously endangering my family. It has travelled 115,000km and is now out of warranty but has been serviced regularly. Kia have said all they’ll do is diagnose the issue if I pay for the 140km tow to the nearest Kia dealer myself. In the US and Korea, the same model has been recalled for exactly this issue. Is there anything I can do?
Answered by CarsGuide
8 Feb 2021The Kia Sportage sold in the US certainly did have its share of problems. In some cases, the engine failures were traced to a faulty batch of engine bearings, in others, a leaking oil sump was blamed for allowing too much oil to escape, leading to oil starvation which destroyed the whole engine. Kia’s fix for the latter condition was to fit an oil-pressure warning light with a more proactive trigger-point.
But it’s dangerous to assume that the same make and model sold in the USA (or anywhere else) will have the same problems as Australian delivered cars. Often, even though they share a brand and badge, the cars from different markets are built in different factories and use parts from different suppliers. Sometimes there are major mechanical changes to cope with local conditions and tastes which can lead to very different reliability outcomes.
That said, however, the Theta engines used in local Kias have been problematic for some owners and catastrophic engine failures are part of those. You could talk with Kia Australia’s customer service division about financial assistance with the cost of repairs, but at nine years old – even with relatively low kilometres – there would be no guarantee of that happening.
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