Kia is no stranger to safety recalls, but it’s now facing a federal audit in response to how it’s handled one of those recalls. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defect Investigation’s Recall Management Division is conducting the audit, which was announced on August 6.
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The safety recall in question was issued through an NHTSA filing in February 2025. It involves 137,256 Kia Souls and Seltos from the 2021 to 2023 model years. The problem stems from piston oil rings that were manufactured incorrectly.
Thanks to a loss of oil flow, damage to the engine could occur and the crossover could suddenly lose power while it’s in motion, which of course is a huge safety risk. Imagine your engine dying while you’re cruising along the highway at 75 mph.
Kia came up with a solution to the problem on April 4, 2025 with dealers inspecting engines to determine if they should be entirely replaced. The procedure given to dealership service departments was changed on May 7, 2025.
But it seems a lot of people think Kia isn’t handling the situation correctly. Some say the remedy doesn’t work, others allege the results of the inspections are inconsistent, and still other Kia ownes allege they weren’t given a new engine because of a lack of availability.
Those Kia owners complained to NHTSA and the Recall Management Division is now conducting an audit of the recall process.
It seems like these days not only are there are lot of car safety recalls, many manufacturers are having trouble following through and fixing them all the way. After all, we’ve covered when Ford has had to recall vehicles which had supposedly already been fixed by a previous recall remedy. Kia might be facing the same thing soon enough.
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