[Jon]

Hi all. Took it in today after contacting Kia dealer here in Oz. Was thankful they slotted me in on such short notice after a long holiday weekend.
Issues were Trans not responding to selections, idle issues, non starts!
After 4 hrs they told me no fault codes recorded! Was gobsmacked to hear that as the last issue was no start and didn't think id get home.
To be fair though the code thing then was new, I had a Toyota, Ford and Nissan in the past show no codes.
The Toyota after suffered catastrophic transmission failure due to its on board computer which later turned out to be well known, and saw class action there in the US, here in Oz we were told bs and had to fix it out of our own pocket, cost me $3000. My Ford had a brake booster failure that too was known but hid from us here, and after $2000 chasing it I found out that it was because of the plastic booster housing suffering hairline cracks.
So now I have a Seltos with major reliability issues that shows no codes! The others were older so that was the to be fair but, but now I have now absolute zero confidence in this so called code issues showing and recording problems years later and given these Seltos issues make the others pale into insignificance! Its utter crap.
You know what I was told?
"Oh, you must understand this has a different transmission that is not like other cars!
Seriously!? Its so different it wont select Drive or Reverse!?
So different it idles up and down in Park!?
So different it wont start!?
I wish id never got this thing to be honest now.
Lemon.
Avoid the Seltos. Its unproven, and us new owners are the guinea pigs to sort out future issues.

 

[Crusader]

Sorry to hear of your problems. I would be upset as well. All I can say is I’ve got 9000 kms on mine in 7 months and not a single flaw. Very pleased with it overall.
Mine is the 1.6T/DCT which is well proven but I see from previous post that you have the IVT which is still fairly new and there have been reports of failure with lots of conversation in the Soul forum. From that forum I saw that there is a major update available that is supposed to fix the issues. I would suggest finding out all you can and approach your dealer. If you still get the runaround I’d try a different dealer if you can.

 

[Jon]

Sorry to hear of your problems. I would be upset as well. All I can say is I’ve got 9000 kms on mine in 7 months and not a single flaw. Very pleased with it overall.
Mine is the 1.6T/DCT which is well proven but I see from previous post that you have the IVT which is still fairly new and there have been reports of failure with lots of conversation in the Soul forum. From that forum I saw that there is a major update available that is supposed to fix the issues. I would suggest finding out all you can and approach your dealer. If you still get the runaround I’d try a different dealer if you can.

Thanks for the reply. It does bug me as I live in regional Australia, not just a big country town but a small bush town. The closest Kia is a good hour and a bit drive on the highway at speed. Also even though we have roadside assist from KIa, it is second party from our RACV and they will not travel or recover a vehicle from an unregistered road. Meaning that even though it is a great dirt road (and many many off them here are actually better to drive on than our hammered destroyed double and tripple B truck roads, they will NOT recover us on the dirt ones.) We have to get towed to a bitumen named road.
I fish and metal detect and travel on dirt roads. Many are great and no issue, smooth and very well kept, and honestly have less pot holes and bumps than the butumen ones the trucks go on.
But break down on one and your stuck. Seriously it sucks. Happened once in another car and the dirt road I was on was better than the one I got towed onto for the Tow Truck to take me home. Utterly idiotic!
Going to the dealer in 6 days time. Fingers crossed it is resolved because where I live an unreliable car seriously sucks.

 

[Crusader]

Wow, that does suck. Here's the TSB in case your dealer doesn't know about it. It may be a US document but you would think that the update and procedure is available worldwide.
Note that it applies to Seltos and whether there is a DTC or not.

 

[Jon]

Wow, that does suck. Here's the TSB in case your dealer doesn't know about it. It may be a US document but you would think that the update and procedure is available worldwide.
Note that it applies to Seltos and whether there is a DTC or not.

Hi. Confused as I thanked you in reply the other day but it hasn't showed up. So thanks again.
So took it yesterday. They said they plugged it in and blah blah and should be ok now.
Just drove it home on the highway with little slows or stops. Bad weather day so got home, in the garage and that was it. So it will be wait and see. Said they fixed and aimed the headlights. Seem ok. I had a go to see if it moves and was ok. Didnt tell me what the problem was.
But get this. Today we were out and a car pulled out in front of us. I hit the brakes hard, I keep going and im "what the!?".
So later im looking at the wheels. At the Kia place I went to they had sprayed tire shine all over the tires, hubcaps, mines a steel wheel job, and rims. Smothered the lot! So guess where else the silcone crap spray went? On the discs too and why it kept going. I tried to wash it off with strong detergent and even then the sponge I used coated my hand in the crap and it felt like id dipped my hand in oil when I rubbed my fingers together. It doesnt even look like I washed them, its still there! My jet black rims are not jet black anymore, they are a creamy crap looking colour! I cant get it off! Check out the pictures. I wash and rub but they dry out looking the same! To say im dirty on them doing it is an understatement, im furious. Especially that traffic incident. Will contact them first thing in the morning. Utter *@!#
Not looking too black now are they. And there is no trick of the light there either, thats exactly how they now look.

 

[Jon]

So rang the dealer about all the silicone spray on my Seltos and they offered to completly detail my car inside and out. Im thinking will I or wont I do the 2 1/2 hour drive there and back and thought yes I will. When I rang id gone fishing so ditched the fishing and went. I wanted it "off".
Took them an hour and a half to get the crap off of it. Was also spotted all along the plastic trims and on the doors. I couldnt budge the spots, dozens of them.Heres the trims.

You can see it on the doors too if you look close.
Yeah I'm happy they cleaned it but, bit my tongue hard, they were really dismissive of it like "oh yes a bit much" laughing about it. Not "oh sorry about that". Seriously I couldnt remove the crap at all with a good car wash I have that always gets rid of everything.
I hate silcone tire shine with a passion!

 

[TIDYWAZZA]

Jon, I also live in a regional town & thinking of purchasing a Seltos. Hopefully my dealer is not the same as yours. I am in the Malley district in Victoria.