Driver says Kia suddenly broke down in the middle of the road - she cannot believe the dealership's response
A 21-year-old Canadian woman shared a horror story on TikTok about her parents' 2014 Kia Sorento suddenly coming to a screeching halt while immersed in fast highway traffic.
She said the engine failed while the family was traveling at 68mph, a speed at which most insurance companies agree a collision could have been fatal.
'About a month ago, the motor of the Kia broke down in the middle of the road...the motor just stopped working and the car slowed down to a full stop,' she said in a TikTok with over 1.6 million views as of Sunday.
'We got out of the car safely, but it was an extremely dangerous situation.'
Irate over how close they came to getting into a serious accident, she said she and her parents visited the Kia dealership to hopefully get their car fixed, only to be floored by a salesman's astounding lack of empathy.
@croissantwoman I can’t believe he said this to me with a smile on his face. #kia #storytime #viral #car #canada
♬ original sound - Croissant Woman
The French-born TikToker who goes by Croissant Woman online said the salesman recognized her from her videos and started off by saying that the Kia Sorento is known for having 'engine problems.'
One of Kia's most recent recalls came last year and involved 1.73 million of its vehicles - including the Sorentos from 2011 to 2014 - due to increased risks of an engine compartment fire while driving or parked.
Based on the multiple recalls Kia Sorentos have gone through, the woman said she asked the salesman why the company hasn't initiated another recall to take care of this engine malfunction.
His alleged response shocked her.
'What he said to me was, "Well, to be honest with you, we know we’re in the wrong, but Kia just couldn’t spend the money to recall all of the cars and change all the motors on the cars because it would be too expensive,"' she said.
'We could have died. We genuinely could have died. We could have been rear ended.'
Since she said this man was speaking on behalf of Kia, she asked the South Korean car manufacturer to give her an answer as to why action hasn't been taken.
Kia told DailyMail.com the viral TikTok video will be reviewed by company representatives, adding that it 'cannot comment on such a broad complaint without first knowing the VIN of the vehicle to research service and maintenance history.'
The TikTok creator, who now has nearly 2 million followers, added that the salesman talked down to her and made jokes in poor taste about the family's car.
One of these wisecracks, according to her, was that their car might have been made on Friday, the joke being that the workers who built it were rushing and made careless mistakes just so they could get home for the weekend.
'We were serious this entire time, I didn't laugh once. And all he did was crack jokes about the situation. It's not a funny situation.'
The dealership reportedly offered them a used 2021 Kia Sorento for $25,800 to replace their faulty vehicle, something the salesman apparently called an 'amazing deal.'
The catch was that her parents would have to transfer the loan they are still paying on their current car to the new one.
She told the salesman that this deal was 'ridiculous' and 'disgusting.'
'I said, "If we're going to spend $25,000, it's not going to be a Kia, after what you just told me and after what we just experienced. That's not a deal, we're not gaining anything out of this."'
@croissantwoman Excuses, excuses.. I’ll keep you updated #fyp #kia #car #viral
♬ original sound - Croissant Woman
She added that their Kia was prone to burning oil, something she claims Kia technicians told her to solve by simply topping it up every so often.
In a follow-up video, she called the company and spoke to a female representative about the car malfunctioning, her awful experience at the dealership and whether the engine burning oil had any impact on the vehicle failing.
The representative allegedly told her that the car's propensity to go through oil faster than normal had nothing to do with the engine shutting down.
That is contrary to what experts say, as one of the well-known consequences of allowing a car's oil to run low is 'seizing the vehicle's engine,' according to CarExamer.
She said the representative she spoke with also addressed the salesman's treatment of her, saying Kia wouldn't confirm or deny the conduct but agreed that it was 'unprofessional.'
Kia also told her and her dad that their Kia Sorento wasn't included in the latest recall due to confusion over who in the family the vehicle was registered to.
She concluded her video by saying that she was going to have it towed to Kia so they could conduct tests on it.
In early June, Kia issued an urgent recall for nearly 463,000 Kia Telluride SUVs due to a malfunction in their power adjustable seats that could cause the cars to catch fire.
The same model vehicle was also recalled in March because some were discovered to roll freely even when in park.
