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2001 KIA SPORTAGE — Complaint #517972

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NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:MULTIPLE AXLE:TORQUE ARM filed January 23, 2005

NHTSA complaint #517972 (ODI reference 10107774) concerns a 2001 KIA SPORTAGE and was filed on January 23, 2005. The owner reports the failure occurred on October 13, 2004. The vehicle had 27,500 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to West Virginia based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:multiple axle:torque arm, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.

The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.

Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same KIA SPORTAGE cohort independently describe similar suspension:multiple axle:torque arm failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2001 KIA SPORTAGE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.

Vehicle
2001 KIA SPORTAGE
Component
SUSPENSION:MULTIPLE AXLE:TORQUE ARM
State
West Virginia
Mileage
27,500 mi

Complaint Description

I PURCHASED A KIA SPORTAGE FROM A DEALERSHIP WHO SAID THE VEHICLE STILL HAD ITS FULL POWER TRAIN WARRANTY BUMPER TO BUMPER FOR 7 YEARS. THE KIA HAS LOW MILEAGE AND STILL DOES DUE TO THE FACT IT HAS BEEN SETTING AT THE KIA GARAGE AND THEY WILL NOT DO ANYTHING TO THE VEHICLE. THE VEHICLE HAD MULTIPLE ISSUES WITH PROBLEMS FROM THE EXHAUST, FRONT SUSPENSION, MOTO, AND THE 4WD TRANSFER SYSTEM. I CANNOT GET THE KIA DEALERSHIP TO FIX THE VEHICLE SAYING THEY CANNOT REPLICATE THE PROBLEM. I HAVE HAD TO PAY MY LOCAL MECHANIC $100.00 TO FIND THE PROBLEMS AND SAID THEY DEFINITELY NEEDED FIXING OR THE VEHICLE WOULD RUN INTO MORE EXPENSE AS TIME LINGERS ON. THE HEAD GASKET IS BLOWN AND LEAKING OIL, LOOSING COMPRESSION AND EVENTUALLY THE MOTOR WILL FAIL TO OPERATE. MY WIFE HAS A QUADRIPLEGIC DAUGHTER WHO NEEDS AROUND THE CLOCK ATTENTION AND SHE NEEDS THE VEHICLE TO TRANSPORT HER BACK AND FORTH TO THE HOSPITAL TWICE MONTHLY, AND SHE ATTENDS CHURCH WITH HER DAUGHTER SEVERAL TIMES PER MONTH AS WELL. I A

Complaint Details

NHTSA Complaint ID 517972
ODI Number 10107774
Date Filed January 23, 2005
Failure Date October 13, 2004
VIN KNDJA723015

Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.