mmarshall

Well, great........six weeks after my brother takes a brand-new Soul home, it gets recalled for wiring (of course, we'll have to see which batch and VINs are involved...sometimes it is not the whole production run).

IS-SV..........you and I sometimes disagree on whether a car can be adequately reviewed or not without a substantial-period of ownership and a number of miles. I don't totally agree, but I'll concede this much.....something like this obviously can't always be picked up in a one-day review/test drive. But, then, that is the case with many vehicles.....sometimes problems don't show up until after (or well-after) the car has been released.

And, even over and above Kia, recalls seem to be the name of the game nowadays....whether the company is American, European, Japanese, or Korean.


http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/02/k...wiring-faults/


The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has announced a recall on two Kia vehicles – the 2010 Soul and 2011 Sorento – to replace interior lighting wiring harnesses. These faulty units, supplied by JCI, can apparently cause an electrical short resulting in a fire. This recall affects 35,185 vehicles manufactured between September 7, 2009 and July 30, 2010.

In the Soul, the wiring harnesses in question are located in the front doors and control the funky accent illumination in the speakers. The Sorento has similar problems, but these wires power the lighting in both the front and rear door trim panels.

The full recall is expected to begin within the coming weeks and dealers will inspect and fix the faulty wiring harnesses free of charge. Hit the jump for the full information from NHTSA.

When I reviewed the Soul last year, I said then I thought that red-glow-speaker-thump feature was just a gimmick. My brother's car, fortunately, has a switch that can turn it off.

PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

From Kia to Ferrari, fires are possible...

mmarshall

Yep......I remember the serious fire hazard on early-model BMW X5s from the defective engine-cooling-fan switches. BMW replaced some expensive new engines (and even more expensive new vehicles) under warranty.

And this famous shot of a brand-new VW R32's wiring catching fire right on the dealer's lot is a classic.

IS-SV

Recalls are certainly common in 2009/2010.

Like you, I do many test drive/reviews too as many CL posters do. It's not a matter of adequately reviewing, nor is ownership required. Your test drive reviews add value, especially for those that don't have time for the frequent test drives.

But a 30 minute test drive is exactly that, a 30 minute test drive and nothing wrong with that.

1. An extensive drive (or road test) like many posters here perform either through ownership/rental car/loaner car is just that, an extensive and more thorough experience. It give a valuable in-depth report and feedback that only comes from hundreds or thousands of miles. It's just a different perspective. And that's the value of CL where we have several knowledgeable auto enthusiasts that have extensive hands-on experience with many of the desirable cars/brands/models that are interesting to many of us.

2. Also several CL members have owned a variety (or currently own a variety) of premium cars so they have extensive experience and extensive seat time
which gives them the added experience/knowledge for even more depth when they give us feedback. All good stuff.

btw-I really don't expect test drives and/or more extensive drives to ferret-out potential recalls for us.

IS-SV

I've seen a Fiero burn a few years back.

But it does seem to be the fire season...

IS-SV

The last thing I want to see (or smell) is burning and smoking hamsters. Glad to see they jumped on the recall right away.

LexBob2

Prepared correctly, they might be good eatin'.

IS-SV

Please shave before cooking/eating.

I've had chicken feet/frog legs/chocalate-cover caterpillars/rabbit but never hamsters.

But I really enjoy the hamsters in the commercials, probably my favorite car commercials today.

mmarshall

Slightly off-topic, maybe, but I'll share a story about Fieros. First, after looking at new cars for over 40 years, I consider the '84-85 Fiero and the '86-87 Hyundai Excel the worst, most poorly built/engineered cars I've ever test-driven (even more so than the Smart-for-Two), and the 1980 4MT Chevrolet Citation the worst, most defect-ridden new car I've actually owned.

The new 1984 Fiero I test-drove had an inoperative fuel and temperature gauges, a steering wheel cocked some 20-30 degrees off-center, a speedometer needle that jerked, clicked and ticked (mechanical speedometer cables were still being used in those days), rattles and squeaks from the plastic-bodied space-frame everywhere, and, if I remember correctly, also pulled to the side as well when driving. (later in the year, of course, some of them began catching fire too).


In fact, that car was so poorly-built (especially the early models), with so many customer-complaints, that GM did something I've never seen, before or since, from any manufacturer....they stopped bothering with the regular Pontiac Techincians/Mechanics. In this area, at least (D.C.-Baltimore), by appointment, they would provide a weekend loaner car, ask customers to drop off their Fiero.....and the keys.....at a particular Pontiac dealership. A team of specially-sent GM/Pontiac factory engineers would be waiting. That weekend, the engineers would (right there in the service bay) would disassemble the car down to the space frame (it was actually not a very complex car mechanically, and could be disassembled rather quickly), test/examine the powertrain, make any powertrain repairs/adjustments necessary, re-assemble the car (body parts, seats, interior, dash, etc....) back to the condition it should have been in the first place when it was delivered, and, if possible, have it ready Monday morning so the customer could pick it up again on the way to work. I don't know exactly how many cars were weekend-rebuilt this way, but it actually happened to a co-worker of mine who owned one, and he said he saw a couple of other cases at the dealership, too.

I drove a couple of later-model Fieros a few years later (it was dropped after 1988) and, by then, the car's as-delivered factory quality had improved considerably.

IS-SV

Good Fiero story (even if not smoking).

I have a shorter Fiero story about a co-worker many years ago. Her engine had a catastrophic failure just out of warranty. Thankfully she received help from our in-house corporate attorney that applied his form of legal pressure at the dealership. Her engine was replaced at no cost to her.

Now back to the smoldering hamsters/Soul....

mmarshall

Nope...by 1984, I had quit smoking for 10 years.

A shame, too, because this car, with its plastic body panels, space-frame, and fun-to-drive factor had so much potential....a good potential competitor to the also-poorly-built Fiat X1-9. It would be left up to Saturn, after 1990, to take the space-frame/plastic-panel design to its real potential.

Agreed. It is, after all, my original thread.

IS-SV

Glad to hear about quitting (smoking).

My friend with the X1-9 had a much better long-term experience than the Fiero owner, many small repairs, none expensive.

And yes we all know how Saturn failed financially, never realizing expected potential.

I8ABMR

just think about the Ferrari 458 Italia owners and be happy that they are sorting this out before cars start to burn

mmarshall

So were my lungs and heart.....fortunately, I quit early enough (age 22) that there was no damage.

That's saying something....when a Fiat is more reliable than a Pontiac.

The first cars from Saturn...the S-series plastic-body cars, were great....I owned one myself (yes.....feedback from ownership/experience, as you want . Only one minor repair...a loose dash panel.

After 1999, though, as you note, it was all downhill for the company. I still get p***ed off even today when think of how GM let those cars...and the company...die. But we've already hashed that out in other threads...no need to repeat that here.

IS-SV

Good info, coming from an actual previous owner. A long but mostly sad and expensive historical experience (for GM) at Saturn, agreed it could have been better.

Obviously you read my post #4 that spells out the difference between a test drive and a more extensive driving or ownership experience very clearly.