PITTSBURGH — A local woman tells Channel 11 her Kia has been sitting in a lot since February. It needs a new engine. Kia is telling her she’s at fault, but she proved otherwise. Instead, it may be connected to a larger problem.
“It’s kinda scary,” said Natalya Smarra of McKees Rocks.
Smarra says she was driving down I-79 when smoke started pouring from under the hood of her Kia Sorrento. She got it towed to #1 Cochran in Robinson where she purchased it in 2018.
“When they diagnosed it, they said that the engine had seized,” said Smarra.
Smarra says there was no warning.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, since 2010, more than 3,100 Hyundai and Kia vehicles have caught fire, injuring 103 people and killing one. A class-action lawsuit alleges that a defect in 2010-2020 model years can lead to engine seizure, stalling, failure and fire.
“I’m kind of appalled because this is going on nationwide with all these Kias, and the fact that we are still driving these Kias on the road and there’s safety hazards,” said Smarra. “There’s fire hazards happening, and people just don’t know.”
The lawsuit also points out that some owners and lessees have been improperly denied repairs under the vehicle’s warranty. Smarra says Kia denied her claim and cited lack of maintenance as the reason.
“The next thing you know they came back and denied it,” said Smarra. “Then, they brought up the recall part of it, which is part of the maintenance. I did my research, and it said it began on July of 2018. I purchased my vehicle in September 2018. It was a new vehicle. I’m not really sure how to comprehend all this. I asked them again if we could please reopen this case. Can we try to get my car fixed? And they just continuously denied it. Once they denied it, I had to take the next step.”
She took the issue to her local magistrate, presented proof of oil changes and won.
“Now waiting for Kia whether they’re going to appeal or fix the vehicle,” said Smarra. “I can 100 percent say that there’s nothing else that I could have done to prevent this from happening.”
While she hasn’t been able to use it, Smarra keeps making her monthly car and insurance payments. She’s also relying on family and friends to get to work and waiting for answers.
“My part in this is to bring awareness to the situation,” said Smarra. “Make sure you maintain your vehicle. Although I did, there’s still things going wrong with it.”
The deadline to submit a claim in one of Kias settlements is coming up on July 8.
Channel 11 reached out to Kia and #1 Cochran in Robinson for comment. A representative for #1 Cochran says they’re currently looking into this customer’s issues.
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