Kia Soul under investigation by National Highway Transport Safety Administration

By Brett Davis | August 17th, 2010

Because of a bizarre and very unfortunate mishap involving a Kia Soul in America, the NHTSA have stepped in to investigate a possible recall issue that could affect further models.

The incident in question involved a 2010 Kia Soul that suffered a steering column malfunction. The main steering component was said to have separated from the input shaft leaving the driver without any steering control. It gets worse.

Weirdly, this malfunction set off another vital restriction for the driver to deal with. The brake pedal arm and pivot points were obstructed by the separated piece of steering, preventing the brakes from being depressed, leaving the driver only in control of the throttle. Reports haven’t confirmed if anyone was injured in the unfortunate turn of events.

Although there has only been one case vehicle reported, the NHTSA inquest was prompted due to the highly dangerous nature of the case and its potential if this were to be a widespread problem. Kia is waiting for the NHTSA results before they make any comments.

The model in question was said to be a 2010 hatch that had just 7000km on the clock. We’ll keep an eye on this anyway and report any Australian relevance as it happens.

Hendrik

Driver error..

He bought a KIA Soul
Bezza

That’s got to be a bit scary. No steering, no brakes but an accelerator. They don’t say what happened to the driver. I guess they had gears and a handbrake which is something.
Opelman

Poor person, i guess it will teach them to purchase a Kia. They may be designed by Europeans, but the similarities stop there. More like KIAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Dodge

Although there has only been one case vehicle reported,

Unike Toyota cases, Kia’s case is only one case. It is unfairly highlighted by media.

Baddass

If Toyota has a recall for a faulty floor mat, it’s a mass killer and was bound to happen. If Kia’s steering shaft breaks off, leaving the driver with no control (I tend to think that’s more dangerous than unintended acceleration, at least you can try to swerve out of danger) it is deemed “a bizarre and very unfortunate mishap”. I wonder how many Kia lovers will be bringing up Toyota’s recalls from now!

Nobody

Because it’s a Kia, everyone will overlook this because everyone worships Kia/Hyundai here – apparently.

fourl6

i guess you havnt read the pervious comments…? don’t sound kia loving to me?
Martin

Last I checked, everyone worshipped Ford.

Dodge

Toyota products killed people. They knew about it for years. They lied. They covered it up. They bragged internally about avoiding recalls and saving cash by doing so.
Dodge

Unlike toyota, this is only one case reported.

According to NHTSA safety complaints database.

sudden-acceleration incidents (2008 model-year data)

No.1 Toyota : 41%(Share of complaints)
No.2 Ford : 28%
No.3 Chrysler : 9%
No.4 General Motors : 5%
No.5 Honda : 4%
No.6 Nissan : 3%

Toyota is King of SUA.
Dodge

After NHTSA investigator hired by Toyota, serious unintended acceleration cases ignored

autoblog.com/2010/02/05/report-after-nhtsa-investigator-hired-by-toyota-serious-uninte/

Ex-Toyota Lawyer Accuses Automaker of Destroying Rollover Evidence
According to CBS News, an ex-lawyer for Toyota of North America has filed a suit against his former employer. ToMoCo’s former managing counsel Dimitrios P. Biller accused the automaker of illegally withholding evidence in hundreds of rollover death and injury cases, in a “ruthless conspiracy” to suborn evidence of its vehicles “structural shortcomings.

cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/29/cbsnews_investigates/main5273636.shtml

Hedge Hob

Nah that’s a USA specific variant – The R-Soul.

Ken

I like the R-Soul reference, funny.
They also make a convertable called AeroSoul and an enviromentally friendly model with solar panels called the SOUL-R.

Dodge

“Although the investigation is based on a single incident that did not result in an accident or injury, the entire Kia Motors organization — including our supplier base — is reviewing manufacturing processes with the goal of quickly determining if there is a manufacturing cause and preventing the issue from reoccurring,” Kia said in a statement according to the aforementioned source.

KIA Owner

At least their looking into it at an early stage – First incident. Unlike Toyota who ignored issues which lead to deaths.
Congratulations to KIA for looking into it straight away.

Andrew M

Um, Kia arent looking into this at all.

Read the article, it says Kia are waiting for the report from the NHTSA.
These cases are that bad that noone gets a chance to cover them up because it goes straight to the authorities.

Im not saying Kia would have covered it up given the chance to keep it hush, I just dont know why you are congradulating Kia.

ff

Kia did not hide this problem.

“Kia said in a statement that it was “actively cooperating” with federal investigators and that “although the investigation is based on a single incident that did not result in an accident or injury, the entire Kia Motors organization — including our supplier base — is reviewing manufacturing processes with the goal of quickly determining if there is a manufacturing cause and preventing the issue from reoccurring.”

URL : mobile.latimes.com/wap/news/text.jsp?sid=294&nid=18945121&cid=16689&scid=-1&ith=1&title=Business
ff

read the above main article.

“Although there has only been one case vehicle reported”

> only been one (1) case vehicle reported

The Master

KIA is an abbreviation of “killed in action”. This is a good demonstration of the truth in that. It’s bad enough that the Soul is so ugly, then they try to kill you!

Martin

In the Military, sure. But, this is a car manufacturer.

If you had even half a brain and did any research you would have found out:

According to Kia Motors, the name “Kia” derives from the Sino-Korean words ki (“to come out”) and a (which stands for Asia), it is roughly translated as “arise or come up out of Asia” or “rising out of Asia”.

scatman

I bet you stumbled on that information while you googled “Coming Out”

http://www.caradvice.com myron teegardin

I have a 2010 Kia Soul that too had a steering problem from first day. The dealer had it 3 times and adjusted the front end each time. Finally said he couldn’t find the problem and refused to work on it any more. I was forced to take it to another Kia dealer, who found the locking collar on the steering shaft to be missing. They installed a new collar, aligned the wheels again, and I’ve had no problems since. Now there is a recall for wiring. I won’t go back to the selling dealer.