O'FALLON, Mo. — If you drive a Kia or Hyundai you may be one of the thousands of drivers eligible for a limited lifetime warranty for a free engine replacement on your car, but there’s a catch.
A little-known loophole is preventing many second owners from cashing in on the warranty and it could cost you thousands.
For the past year and a half, Justin Jarvis of O'Fallon, Missouri, has been the proud owner of a Kia.
"I wanted something reliable that we could take on trips,” said Kia driver Justin Jarvis.
However, you won't find a Kia product parked anywhere in his driveway.
"My engine stopped working,” said Jarvis.
"Metal shavings from the engine production process weren't properly cleaned out during the production process,” said Lewin Day.
Since the engines are flawed both Kia and Hyundai offer a free lifetime engine replacement warranty on affected vehicles, but only if you’ve completed the KSDS (knock sensor detection system) upgrade.
"If you don't have the KSDS upgrade installed your car isn't going to throw a check engine light when this problem occurs and KIA won't warranty the engine,” said Day.
As the second owner of the car, Jarvis was never notified of the required KSDS upgrade by Kia.
"They were only required to send it to the first owner,” said Jarvis.
Though Kia's website shows an outstanding recall on Jarvis's car it's for an unrelated tow issue.
"The KSDS recall doesn't always show up on the NHTSA recall website or the Kia recall website,” said Day.
"Kia knows about this, and not only are they not helping people, but they're actively seeking to deny people,” said Jarvis.
Since the issue is considered a product upgrade, and not a recall, we reached out to Kia to see what you need to do to find out if your car needs to be serviced for a KSDS upgrade.
Kia did not respond to our request, but a company representative did reach out on social media asking for Jarvis’ information so they can try and help him with a fix.
"This is affecting thousands of owners,” said Day.
"A lifetime warranty should mean a lifetime warranty,” said Jarvis.
Which cars are affected?
Kia and Hyundai models from 2011 to 2019 with the THETA II engine include:
- Hyundai Sonata
- Hyundai Santa Fe Sport
- Hyundai Tucson
- Kia Optima
- Kia Sportage
- Kia Sorento
Day recommends reaching out to Kia directly by calling 1-800-333-4542 to check the KSDS upgrade status.