2015 Kia Sorento Sx on 2040-cars

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Center for Auto Safety wants Hyundai and Kia to recall 2.9M vehicles

DETROIT — A nonprofit auto safety group is demanding that Hyundai and Kia recall 2.9 million cars and SUVs in the U.S. due to consumer complaints that they can catch fire. The Center For Auto Safety said Friday that there have been more than 220 complaints to the U.S. government since 2010 about fires and another 200 complaints about melted wires as well as smoke and burning odors. The complaints involve the 2011 through 2014 Kia Sorento and Optima and the Hyundai Sonata and Santa Fe. Also included is the 2010 through 2015 Kia Soul. The fires are being investigated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as part of a 2017 probe into Hyundai and Kia engine failures. "The volume of fires here make it appear that Hyundai and Kia are content to sit back and allow consumers and insurers to bear the brunt of poorly designed, manufactured and repaired vehicles," Jason Levine, the center's executive director, said. The fire reports have come in from across the country, including a death in Ohio in April 2017, he said. Hyundai says it monitors safety concerns and acts quickly to recall defective vehicles. "We have a robust system in place for monitoring and investigating reported vehicle fires that includes investigation and reporting to NHTSA as required. Vehicle fires can result from a variety of reasons," the company statement said. Kia said it is using company and third-party fire investigators to determine what caused the fires so it can address them. "A vehicle fire may be the result of any number of complex factors, such as a manufacturing issue, inadequate maintenance, the installation of aftermarket parts, an improper repair, arson, or some other non-vehicle source, and must be carefully evaluated by a qualified and trained investigator or technician," the company said in a statement. The Center for Auto Safety filed a petition asking NHTSA to investigate the fires in June. The agency said Friday that it is still evaluating the petition and it has sent information requests to Hyundai, Kia and other automakers about the issue. Levine says the center does not know what's causing the fires. In May 2017 the government began investigating whether the automakers moved quickly enough to recall over 1.6 million vehicles because of engines stalling. NHTSA is looking into three recalls by the related Korean brands, and it's also investigating whether the automakers followed safety reporting requirements.

Kia considering tiny EV to give commuters an alternative to taking the bus

One of the more unexpected side effects of the coronavirus pandemic that's wreaking havoc on society is that public transportation is no longer being stubbornly celebrated as the solve-all alternative to driving. Commuters are afraid of catching the virus in a bus, and this trend is encouraging automakers to consider adding small, urban-friendly electric cars to their portfolio. Kia could jump into this segment to rival Citroen's $22-a-month Ami. "People want to feel safe today. We saw that clearly from a survey that was done after coronavirus in China, which showed people had moved from public transportation to private transportation," explained Emilio Herrera, the chief operating officer of Kia's European division, in an interview with British magazine Auto Express. He added 34% of respondents used private transportation before the virus began to spread; that number went up to 65% once the lockdowns and stay-at-home orders began to ease. Kia expects to see a similar shift in Europe and in North America, and Herrera said his team is "studying a proposal on having very small micro vehicles for urban use." He sees a real potential in this segment, and he has already looked at the aforementioned Ami. Electrification is key in this corner of the industry. First, it's difficult to develop a car the size of a golf cart if you need to package it around a 4.0-liter straight-six. Second, these vehicles are aimed specifically at urban users, and big cities in Europe and in Asia are increasingly kicking out non-electrified vehicles. Kia's pocket-sized car would be primarily used for short trips, and it would never venture farther than a few hundred yards away from a charging station, so it doesn't need a headline-grabbing driving range to be practical and usable. The 1,070-pound Ami is fitted with a 5.5-kilowatt-hour lithium-ion battery pack that delivers up to 43 miles of range. Rivaling public transportation is easy when it comes to comfort and convenience, but it's far more difficult when cost enters the equation. Taking the bus is cheap, so Kia's electric car needs to be almost as inexpensive. Citroen cracked the code: in France, the Ami costs about $6,600 to buy, $22 a month to lease, or 30 cents a minute via an app-based car-sharing program. Kia envisions users will be able to rent its competitor for a week or for a month via a subscription service "at very low monthly prices," though it stopped short of providing a dollar figure.

2015 Kia Sedona

Minivan sales have stagnated in recent years, and Kia tells me that no fewer than 15 models have been completely eliminated from the market since crossovers rose to prominence. So why in the world is the company not only sticking by the Sedona, but also actively investing in it, giving it a complete overhaul for the 2015 model year?
The Korean automaker isn't convinced that the minivan's "family box" reputation is truly warranted, and it sees an opportunity to snare younger, more active buyers by designing, engineering and marketing the Sedona as something versatile, edgy and comfortable. While that logic may seem both a bit familiar and somewhat far-fetched, Kia says forty-five percent of minivan buyers don't actually have kids and are instead simply looking for space, so the approach should be based at least in part on sound reasoning.
I spent an afternoon in Northern California behind the wheel of Kia's new non-minivan with a healthy does of skepticism about its new strategy, but an open mind, as well. Does the Sedona's execution live up to Kia's lofty criteria and expectations of what a nontraditional minivan should be? Will buyers ditch their CUVs for something with a little more junk in the trunk? Read on to find out.