2019 Kia Soul

My 2019 Kia Soul caught fire while I was driving it. I was driving and all of a sudden there was a light knocking sound in the engine. I was going up a slight hill and the knocking got super loud and then something went bang in the engine, the abs and engine lights started flashing and I pulled over. The lady who was traveling behind me, pulled in front of me, ran up to my door and yelled at me to get out and run away from the car as it was on fire. Within 30 seconds the car was completely engulfed. Total loss.

I was driving home from work on the highway. The check engine light came on. I made a mental note to tell my son, who is a mechanic. The engine stalled out. I had enough momentum to take the exit from the highway and turn onto a side street before the car quit rolling. A helpful dog walker informed me that it wouldn't restart because it was on fire underneath. Luckily, superman drove by and put the fire out before the vehicle or even the engine were fully engulfed. My son & friend (also a mechanic) arrived and peered at the engine... their opinion was that oil on the catalytic converter started the fire. The car has been towed to their shop while I investigate my options.

The contact owns a 2019 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power and failed to accelerate above 40 MPH. The vehicle was steered into a parking lot and parked. The vehicle was restarted, and the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle failed accelerate above 20 MPH. The vehicle was taken to a parts store where a handheld diagnostic machine retrieved DTC codes: P0303 and P016F. The vehicle was then towed to a dealer but was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was then towed to an independent mechanic and was diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the fuel system needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 56,000.

On [XXX], I was driving home from Tampa bay International Airport and noticed that I get less acceleration and my car shut off while driving and caused me to crash into a guardrail. Before accident, told Kia about my car shutting off and right when warrant ran out, parts would fail. Had to buy a sensor, alternator (70,000 miles). Also catalytic converter (81,000). Six months later after I bought alternator, alternator and battery (1 year old) died at the same time. I am lucky that this accident did not heart me or others. It could of happened in front of a truck. There were no warning lights on dash board. Seatbelt light was on even though I was wearing seatbelt. Brought car to Kia dealership and did least amount of checking. Had two independent mechanics look at it with one saying to be careful of Kias because they are the most in his shop. My insurance look at the vehicle. Vehicle is in Geico site in Sarasota, told me anyone can go and look at the car. Will attach Geico claim; if past maintenance records are needed let me know. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Safety at risk:yes Lack of visibility Problem has not been reproduced by dealer. Smells are only warning signs: Smell is like rubber but not very strong. WARNING SIGNS OF the PROBLEM: Turned on heat and EXTREMELY HOT HEAT CAME OUT OF VENTS; turned A/c and EXTREMELY HOT HEAT CAME OUT OF VENTS in both cases turned the vehicle off. After 5 minutes, i started to drive with A/c later there was still HOT heat coming out vent since i had URGENT appointment. After the appointment, over an hour, drove car and A/C worked fine. : April 16th, Turned on defrost for front windows. Instead of defrost, windows fogged up completely and i was unable to see and pulled over to side of road. As i pulled over, BLACK SMOKE CAME OUT OF A/c vents and began to fill up the car with black smoke. There is a smell that happns right before the smoke comes out. April 17 took to Classic Kia. Unable to find the problem. Vehicle returned to me. :April 18 drove 4 miles. No problem. Drove 12 miles. The smells started and black smoke started coming through A/c vent and i drove home and parked. Called dealership told problem.

While driving on the freeway, last month mid to late Feb, My steering wheel started spinning in one direction,. The control arm on the right side of the vehicle came off of the car's right front wheel and I skidded to the side of the road at approximately 65 to 70 miles per hour. Fortunately, there was not an accident. The control arms were replaced and there were no further incidents. Regardless, given the multiple engine recalls and problems with the Kia Soul 2019 2.0 plus, I have no confidence in it's integrity to the safety standards set. This is not only related to the car, but mostly due to the behavior of the company in its continued efforts to otherwise resist compliance with engine replacement after my mechanic both viewed rod bearings seeing they may impose some risk. (see previous complaint)

Last year my car started knocking and there was a smoldering smell. I expected Kia to consider the function of the rod knock sensor which caused P1326code. I advised capitol kia of both knocking noises and a significant burning smell. Per an extended warranty, if the rod bearings go bad, then the engine should be replaced. Capitol Kia avoided the latter and was not fully compliant with maintaining driver's safety. Only the rod knock sensor was replaced replaced, and the sensor shows bad rod bearings over and over and over ( 3 times ) Due to incompetence at Capitol Kia, Steven's Creek Kia checked on the second event and another RBCT was done to justify it's Kia's position that the rod bearings are functional. So Far, have been sent away twice, pending a now 3rd.. The sensor was replaced 3 weeks ago and I only drove the car two weeks before a new P1326 rod bearing code was shown just last week. Well knowing that the Rod Knock senor is designed to place the car into limp mode to circumvent catastrophe, it behooves the company, on behalf of consumer safety; and, integrity to NHTSA safety, to visually inspect the rod bearings to assure consumer confidence. This is especially after multiple rod knock sensor issues. Given that Rod bearing problems can cause catastrophic injury to the driver, the NHTSA needs to mandate the company to visually inspect the bearings and show the consumer pictorial evidence of a clearly unworn rod bearing per incident, after an initial knock sensor change. All evidence as such should be faithfully tracked by Kia and the NHTSA. This is especially as Kia is using a test to indicate normal functioning for bearings assumed to be among a lot of defective bearings. It follows logically that rod bearings which pass a RBCT ( Rod Bearing Clearance Test ), after a code is found, will be functioning just short of causing a catastrophic event. It should be noted that the warranty is to maintain consumer safety not to facilitate new events by default.