In October 2020 I purchased a pre owned 2017 Kia Soul from the Kamloops Kia dealership in BC. Let me start off by saying all of the people I dealt with during that process were wonderful.

I changed the oil in April 2021 because we were moving in May to a town 2 hours away from my kids and grandkids. There was never a sticker in the window to indicate the last time oil was changed or by whom. I was VERY happy with my car until September 27 2021 when it developed a very loud knocking noise in the engine. This was a Tuesday and we had just scheduled it for an oil change and winter tires for the following Friday.

We put 2 litres of oil in it just in case as it was ridiculously low and immediately drove home 10 minutes away. The knocking got worse and as we turned off the highway to our side road, the engine quit. We managed to get it to our back alley and called Penticton Kia right away. We were told to have it towed there (2 hours away) and that it would be at least two weeks before they could look at it and they had no courtesy cars as they were all out to other service customers for at least 3 weeks.

We waited a few days and had it towed there. An inspection of the engine showed that the failure was due to the engine being “oil starved”. For that reason, Kia chose not to honour the warranty.

Since August 1, I have had a death in the family, a serious illness has left my daughter unable to care for her two young children who have now come to live with us, my best friend’s partner has passed away, and I have been without a vehicle for a month with no way to take my grandchildren to see their mother who is unable to drive. Maybe these things are irrelevant to the issue in Kia’s eyes but it is the entire scenario that makes this situation even more tragic.

I started to research whether any other Kia owners have experienced the same problem in the 2017 Kias in Canada. I found over 300 of them. All spontaneous engine failures. All denied warranty repair. I seriously see yet another class action suit brewing here. I feel bad because the individual people at the dealerships in Kamloops and Penticton that I have dealt with have been kind and tried to be very helpful within their limited capacity.

I forgot to mention that I had put just over 20,000 km on the car in the year I had it. At the time the engine failed, there were just over 77,000 km showing. I was told that I should have had “at least” 4 oil changes in that time. When I had my one in April, it barely needed it. Every GOOD vehicle I have ever owned was happy with an oil change every six months. Unless I was driving excessively. If ANY engine is “oil starved” in six months under normal use, that is a flaw with the engine.

I am still without a vehicle with 6 years of financing left on a car I will never be able to drive and can’t afford to fix. I was quoted $7800 for the engine, labour, taxes and fees and $1100 for the winter tires I would need to drive it off the lot. Due to limited work during the pandemic, and my unfortunate change in personal circumstances, I have no way to pay that kind of money for a car I won’t feel safe driving anyway after that. No oil light came on. No engine light came on. There was no warning except the knocking the day it failed.

Shame on you Kia for putting so many of your customers through hell when they tried to support your dealerships during one of the hardest economic times in our history. I feel sorry for the dealerships because they will suffer from your ignorance and greed. I will not let this go quietly. I will start with the BBB, and will move on to the media with as many other dissatisfied owners as I can gather, and then to legal action if you don’t make it right.