Even Kia’s Replacement Engines Are Catching on Fire

Kia is recalling nearly 68,000 engines with fuel tubes that were misaligned, improperly tightened, or otherwise damaged during installation. This lets gas can spray out onto hot surfaces and is the perfect recipe for engine fires. To make matters worse, these engines were the replacements for recalled engines that suffered from knocking and seizing due to widespread oil flow problems. Yeesh.

The following vehicles will need to be repaired if they’ve received an engine replacement as part of this 2017 recall:

• 2011-2014 Optima (built between 08/12/2010 and 05/14/2014)
• 2012-2014 Sorento (built between 04/19/2011 and 02/10/2014)
• 2011-2013 Sportage (built between 12/30/2010 and 08/30/2013)

Kia under investigation for their previous handling of engine-related recalls and there is concern that this campaign is too limited in scope. However, with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) affected by the US government shutdown, we have to trust that the automaker has cast a wide enough net.

Hyundai has issued a recall for 100,000 vehicles with the same problem.

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Theta II GDI Engine Stalls and Siezes

Many Kia vehicles have a Theta II, a gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine that is well known for having oil flow issues that eventually cause catastrophic failures.