An Ontario man who should’ve been covered under an extended warranty program ran into roadblocks making a claim after the engine in his Kia Optima seized.
Justin Sandiford’s 2011 Kia Optima was under warranty at the time, but he was told he wasn’t covered because of missing maintenance records and evidence of engine starvation from lubricants.
“I was basically told you’re out of luck,” he said.
A Vancouver man ended up in a similar situation when his Optima engine seized driving from Whistler to Vancouver. Mitch Parmar was missing maintenance records from before he owned his vehicle and was unable to get the engine replaced under warranty. He ended up buying a new car.
A class-action lawsuit in the U.S. alleges that some models of Kia’s Optima, Sportage and Sorento vehicles have a flaw that could starve the bearings of oil.
Kia America responded to the lawsuit by extending the warranties on all 2011 to 2014 Optimas.
Kia Canada says it can’t comment on what’s happening in the U.S. but decided to offer extended warranties to Canadian Kia owners to “minimize confusion.” Kia Canada says Optima owners here were mailed letters saying their warranties were being extended and were asked to be cognizant of a knocking noise in the engine.
But Sandiford said he hadn’t received a letter and that he learned about the extended warranty program through a CTV News report about Parmar’s issue.
In a statement to CTV News, Kia Canada says that “Due to spotty intervals of oil change history the dealership had initially denied [Sandiford’s] claim which Kia Canada overruled in light of the extended warranty program.” They also said that he had not received a copy of the letter because he changed his address, but once his address had been updated, the letter was mailed immediately.
After CTV News contacted Kia Canada, they put Sandiford in a courtesy vehicle, promised to pay his out of pocket expenses and give him a new engine.
“I feel great, but long story short it wouldn’t have happened if you didn’t get involved, and I thank you for that,” he said.
Kia says the engines in Optimas sold in Canada were assembled in South Korea but those that were sold in the U.S. were assembled there. The lawyer for the class-action suit says that the flaw is a design issue.
Despite these reports of engine issues, Kia Canada is standing by its product and says Canadian customers don’t need to be concerned. Owners who receive the extended warranty letter are asked to keep them in the glove compartment if “any issues relating to unusual connecting rod wear arise in the future.”
