Kia Automotive Repair Manuals - Automotive Repair Manuals

Interesting Facts About Kia You Probably Don’t Know – Common Problems – and PDF Manuals for Download…

Kia motors or Kia Motor Corporation is the second largest automobile manufacturer of South Korea and its headquarter is based in Seoul.

Being the biggest automobile manufacturer of South Korea, Hyundai owns a minor part of the company i.e. 33.88 percent and in return Kia minorly holds 4.9 to 45.37 percent of share in 20 of Hyundai’s subsidiaries.

Kia Motor Corporation was founded in the year 1944 and its name was Kyungsung Precision Industry. The company was not into car business from its birth. In the starting, it used to manufacture bicycle parts and steel tubing.

In 1952, the company got the name Kia industries and started building motorcycles from Honda, mini trucks from Mazda and in 1974, it started manufacturing cars.

Till 1981, Brisa range of cars was manufactured by Kia; but due to political interventions, Kia gave up manufacturing passenger cars and focused completely on light trucks.

Kia and Ford’s partnership allowed the company to again join the automobile industry. Many vehicles were produced by Kia which were sold successfully both in the domestic market as well as the international market.

Kia was already exporting its vehicles to other countries and then in the year 1992, Kia registered itself in the US as Kia Motors America.

The company gained success in the US and by the year 1995, more than 100 Kia dealerships existed in 30 states. The company recorded a huge sale of 24,740 vehicles in that year.

When the Asian financial crisis happened in 1997, Kia declared bankruptcy. In 1998, Kia reached an agreement with Hyundai Motor Company which acquired a major part of the company.

At present, Hyundai is the largest stakeholder in Kia and Kia also retains ownership in 22 different subsidiaries of Hyundai Motor Company. The company increased its focus in European market since 2005 and declared design as the key to achieve future growth.

Kia increased its investment in US market and in 2010, it recorded increased US market share for the 15^th consecutive year.

The company’s popularity increased manifold when in 2014, Pope Francis rode in Kia Soul during a visit to South Korea, one of their compact cars. Although Kia motors has won many awards, the latest was in 2016 in the U.S. by J.D. Power and Associates for topping the list of non-luxury automakers since 1989.

Kia Motors Corporation is at present the subsidiary of Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, which produces over 1.5 million vehicles per year in 8 countries. Kia Motors is present in various countries and some of the subsidiaries and affiliations are mentioned below:

Kia Motors America
Kia Motors Europe
Kia Motors Mexico
Kia Motors India
Kia Defense

Kia’s emphasis on “design as the key to growth” was well-understood by its hires in 2006. The company hired top design officers from the market who hold the record for working with the top automobile companies in the world.

Every successful company faces some controversies and Kia is not an exception. Kia Motors also faced issues in 2012 in the US regarding mileage claims and in 2014, it was in news in Mexico regarding wrongdoings in constructing one of its plant.

Common Kia Problems

Kia has performed some recalls in the past for axle problems in its cars. But with so many cars on the road and different people coming with different problems, it is not possible to recall cars for every problem.

Here some common problems faced by people are mentioned and they will help you in identifying if your vehicle also has any symptoms which needs to be worked upon.

The repair manuals are also helpful in solving many problems in this regard.

No sound from speakers: In some models of Kia Optima made after the year 2011, the navigation unit may suddenly stop playing the audio from each speaker. Whether it is telephone calls, CD audio, satellite radio, navigation, etc., all fail to produce sound.
This type of a fault is the software fault and need no replacement of any part. It can be resolved by a “hard reset” with the manual.
Failure of AC compressor or compressor clutch: In some Kia optima models, a problem with AC compressor occurs. Vibration or noise can be experienced when the AC compressor is on. The reason could be defective assembly of AC compressor clutch while air conditioning.
This problem could be resolved by replacing the faulty clutch assembly with an improved one. No need to replace the AC compressor or removal of AC system and recharging it.
Transmission Issues: In some models of Kia Rio made in the year 2005, some transmission issues are experienced. Check engine light may suddenly illuminate and never goes out. This abnormality might be caused by some software malfunctioning.
To get rid of this problem, the transmission control module should be reprogrammed with the latest Kia transmission software.
Burn out of headlight bulbs: In some of the Kia Sorento models, the issue of head light bulbs burning out prematurely is reported. The reason might be a short circuit in the headlight assembly and can be solved by replacing it.
Transmission Damage: In the Kia Rio model of 2008, the problem of transmission damage may occur. The cause of the damage is incorrect or low transmission fluid.
To overcome this problem, the transmission should be filled with transmission fluid approved by Kia and the level should be appropriate.
Battery Issues: In 2004 Kia Spectra, issues with battery charging have been reported. It has been found that the alternator cannot supply enough power to get the battery charged and simple loads cannot be handled.
The cause might be inadequate alternate output and can be solved by replacing the current one with a more influential alternator and by reprogramming the powertrain computer.

Conclusion

These are some of the most common issues reported by the owners/users of Kia cars. None of the above discussed issues was reported in the new vehicles. Only the vehicles that have served the consumers for many years reported such problems.

You may keep track of such problems in your Kia car and if found any, act within time and get help from your car repair manual.

Purpose of this is to catalog and include one of most comprehensive, useful and accessible “automotive repair PDF manual” database on the web for all Kia models.

It’s your go-to source for learning all about Kia – when you can’t find it elsewhere.

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