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Niro severe rear wheel misalignment

17K views 32 replies 20 participants last post by  FlNiro 
#1 · (Edited)
Watch out for Niro rear wheel misalignment - which you may not discover until they refuse to rotate your tires because they're worn out! This happened to me at my recent 15,000-mile service on my 2018 Niro PHEV.

At the 7,500-mile service & tire rotation, it was noted that "the rear tires were 1/32" more worn than the front" and "the front tires were in better shape", but it did not indicate there was a misalignment.
At the 15,000-mile service, the local dealer would not rotate the tires due to excessive wear on inside of the rear tires. They offered to sell me replacement tires which would take 3 days to get there for a high price, which I balked at, and they told me to see a Michelin dealer about the tire warranty. Right away I went to a Michelin dealer who told me the tires were worn due to extreme misalignment, not covered by Michelin warranty.
I then went to a local tire shop and purchased new tires and an alignment. However, they could not align the rear due to a stripped alignment bolt that could have only been stripped before the vehicle was purchased. I contacted Kia dealer where I purchased the vehicle (not the same one as the local one) and they said they don't have a service shop and only do new vehicle inspections and I'll have to go to Kia corporate with a claim.
So I had the tire shop order a new bolt from Kia and complete the alignment on the new tires. Before I left there, they told me they know Kia dealers perform final alignments on new vehicles. Everything cost more than $500.

After I had all my paperwork together including pictures of the tires, and before & after alignment numbers, I submitted an online claim to Kia Customer Service. Today - 3 weeks later - I received a call from Kia Customer Service to tell me that my claim was denied. The reason it was denied is that I did not have the misalignment determination, new alignment and new tires purchased from a Kia dealer. They told me Kia does not believe or trust anything coming from a 3rd party.

I don't believe Kia treated me fairly, especially as this resulted from a fault with the original vehicle, regardless of where it got fixed. Does anyone have any ideas for recourse?
What Kia should have realized is the negative publicity from this could cost them many times over what it would have been to settle this fairly.
 

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#3 ·
I think this might be the thread / post you're thinking of.

https://www.kianiroforum.com/forum/...ems-complaints/7899-loose-ride-wet-roads.html

Dealership just called and said the rear suspension was so bad that they were replacing the rear tires after 4500 miles. They advised the rear suspension was so out of alignment that they contacted KIA because they had never seen anything like it before. They are going to replace any parts that need it and realign everything. Hopefully this was just a car built on a Friday and its not going to be indicative of the overall quality.
 
#4 ·
<< I contacted Kia dealer where I purchased the vehicle (not the same one as the local one) and they said they don't have a service shop and only do new vehicle inspections and I'll have to go to Kia corporate with a claim. After I had all my paperwork together including pictures of the tires, and before & after alignment numbers, I submitted an online claim to Kia Customer Service. Today - 3 weeks later - I received a call from Kia Customer Service to tell me that my claim was denied. The reason it was denied is that I did not have the misalignment determination, new alignment and new tires purchased from a Kia dealer. They told me Kia does not believe or trust anything coming from a 3rd party. >>

WOW, that is not good customer service from dealer or central office! This is likely an outlier issue. Non-the less, based on your descriptions, it certainly sounds like this should be covered under your warranty & hope Kia will cover it. FWIW several sites I consider reputable (such as True Delta) suggest that Kia can be very stingy when it comes to warranty issues.
 
#5 ·
Watch out for Niro rear wheel misalignment - which you may not discover until they refuse to rotate your tires because they're worn out! This happened to me at my recent 15,000-mile service on my 2018 Niro PHEV.

...


I don't believe Kia treated me fairly, especially as this resulted from a fault with the original vehicle, regardless of where it got fixed. Does anyone have any ideas for recourse?
What is the manufacture date for your Niro (you can find this on a sticker on the door jamb for the driver's door)? There is a TSB for the HEV for rear lower control arm replacement for cars manufactured from September 26, 2017 through January 22, 2018 (scroll to page 3 from that link and expand the one described as "July 16, 2018 MANUFACTURER COMMUNICATION NUMBER: TSBCHA089_R2"). That's probably not your situation, because it describes the complaint as a rubbing sound instead of an alignment problem, and it looks like you're driving a PHEV instead of an HEV. Still, if your car was manufactured at about that time, it might be worth pursuing.

jmurphEV posted a link to one of the threads where I read about a rear wheel alignment problem. Your post on that same thread was the other one I recall reading about.

It sounds like you might be getting push back from someone who's job description probably entails pushing back at least a little as part of their standard operating procedure. I'd be inclined to return the favor, ensure that I had communicated reasonably and clearly, and persistently. Since you have photos, you might want to be sure that you've shared them with whoever you're dealing with. If that doesn't work, I can think of a few other things you might try, such as contacting the dealer that sold the car, posting on Kia's Facebook or Twitter pages, or even posting a review on Google. That kind of activity is likely to get someone else from the organization to pay attention. Just try to be fair and professional in that kind of posting so that you will be taken seriously.

This seems like something that should be covered by warranty, and while I might be mistaken, I don't recall seeing anything in the warranty documentation that indicates that getting a repair done from a non-dealer shop is disqualifying.

And then finally, you could also consider resorting to your state attorney general, and you could also file a complaint with the NHTSA. But my guess is that these options are less likely to bear fruit in the near term, compared to the ideas I mentioned first.
 
#6 ·
deltasmith,

What is the manufacture date for your Niro? 12/17.
There is a TSB for the HEV: Upon entering my VIN, the link reports "There are 0 Recalls associated with this VIN".

jmurphEV posted a link to one of the threads where I read about a rear wheel alignment problem. Your post on that same thread was the other one I recall reading about. --- Agree.

It sounds like you might be getting push back from someone who's job description probably entails pushing back at least a little as part of their standard operating procedure. I'd be inclined to return the favor, ensure that I had communicated reasonably and clearly, and persistently. Since you have photos, you might want to be sure that you've shared them with whoever you're dealing with. If that doesn't work, I can think of a few other things you might try, such as contacting the dealer that sold the car, posting on Kia's Facebook or Twitter pages, or even posting a review on Google. That kind of activity is likely to get someone else from the organization to pay attention. Just try to be fair and professional in that kind of posting so that you will be taken seriously. --- Agree with you about Kia Customer Service - in fact I was passed around to at least 4 people before they called me to deny my claim. I submitted my photos as part of all supporting documents - it didn't make any difference. They said they presented my case to a District Manager who made the denial determination - not sure about the validity of that statement. They further said - upon denying my claim the case is closed and the file deleted such that no reference to it exists going forward. I confirm I am no longer able to access the case online using the reference number I was provided for it.

This seems like something that should be covered by warranty, and while I might be mistaken, I don't recall seeing anything in the warranty documentation that indicates that getting a repair done from a non-dealer shop is disqualifying. --- Thanks, I agree!

And then finally, you could also consider resorting to your state attorney general, and you could also file a complaint with the NHTSA. But my guess is that these options are less likely to bear fruit in the near term, compared to the ideas I mentioned first. --- Agree as well. In addition, I'm looking to find contact info for a top manager at Kia USA that I can present my case case to - someone in that position will appreciate the amount of damage negative publicity from a case like this can cause to Kia's business and reputation - and take action to resolve it.
 
#7 ·
The one thing I don't understand is...The selling dealer doesn't have service, just inspects new cars???? How is that possible. I always assumed any dealer had to have a full service department?
 
#8 ·
FlNiro, I'm afraid you are correct.

I checked www.kingautokia.com: "King Kia Service & Parts Maintenance and repairs are a part of every car and car owners life regardless of the year, make, or model. Our service center is located on the premises and the trained technicians who work there are experts at repairing nearly any issue you have with your vehicle." It appears the service manager there lied to me over the phone to get rid of me and divert my attention elsewhere.

I've also followed up with the service manager at my local Kia dealer (who found the original worn tires) for any helpful info. He just told me he does not believe this is a warranty issue because he does not believe the alignment bolt was stripped coming from the factory. He also said the final alignment is done at the factory and not by the selling dealers, so he does not believe I received the new vehicle with a stripped alignment bolt. He also said he does not believe the tire shop when they said that the alignment bolt was stripped before the vehicle got there. He hung up right there and then.

What he said does not explain why my tires wore out the way they did. I feel my main recourse now is to contact and present my case to the executive team at Kia Motors America https://www.kiamedia.com/us/en/executives - perhaps the President and CEO.
I really don't want to do this and waste their time, but I believe in fairness, and I have not been treated fairly.
 
#9 ·
I had a similar problem with my local dealer - they had trained technicians that could work on my PHEV Niro, but they had untrained people answering the phone who told me (on two separate occasions) that I needed to take my car elsewhere for service, because they weren't qualified to work on it.

It turned out that the people answering the phone were confused: they thought a plug-in hybrid or PHEV was the new all-electric EV car that Kia announced earlier this year, but still doesn't seem to be selling very much (if at all) in North America. I had to explain to them that a PHEV was a hybrid, like an HEV, only with a bigger battery. Once they understood that, the guy on the phone said "Oh... we can work on that one".

I only figured out that the problem was with the people answering the phone after I posted a somewhat critical review on Google reviews for my local dealership. I questioned how a dealership could sell cars that they weren't prepared to service. The dealership's PR manager promptly posted a reply advising that I was mistaken, and they certainly were prepared to work on all cars that they sold as new cars, and that encouraged me to be a bit more insistent when dealing with the folks that answered the phone. This is one of the reasons why I suggested that you might want to say something in a more highly visible social media venue than this forum might be, as a way to get your selling dealer and Kia Corporate to maybe reevaluate their response to you.

If you haven't already done so, you might want to reach out to the shop that did the work and explain the situation, and ask them if they have any additional supporting evidence that they could provide to support your claim. It would be great if they still had the stripped bolt, but don't count on that. Still, they might have something.

I am inclined to believe your local dealer's comment that "the final alignment is done at the factory and not by the selling dealers". I'm not an expert on this, but I'd be surprised if dealers were expected to do alignments on all the new cars on their lots.

If I was dealing with this headache, one of the things that I would probably do is ask to speak with the district manager who you were told made the decision to deny the claim. The story about your situation was probably described in somewhat different terms by the time it made its way to that person. Sometimes situations arise that feel very unjust, not because of unjust policies, but because of imperfect communication. I once headed off a lawsuit by walking into my lawyer's office and insisting that he temporarily put aside all the legal blathering and letter-writing and court filing and just pick up the phone and call the opposing lawyer. Once those people started talking to each other, it only took five minutes for them to recognize that there had been a misunderstanding, miscommunication, and everything was quickly sorted out after that. It seems like there's a chance that you might be able to find a similar outcome if you can just find a way to get in touch with the right people.


Good luck!
 
#16 ·
No, dealers do not check alignment on new cars. I doubt manufacturers do except for random QA.

TSBs will not show up on a recall check.

over here the local dealer put licence plate, the floor mats, washes the car and is not even capable to take off all protective plastics that comes from factory... so No chance they do mechanicle check of geometry or anything technical



I even doubt is passes in the hands of a real certified tecnician... the ladds that washes the car can do it... his hourly rate is much more pleasant to the dealer.
 
#12 ·
When you go to your dealer for you oil change and have them check your rear wheels, bring a print out of some of these posts that have to do with the rear wheel issue. The dealer may take you more seriously when they know you are a well informed customer and be less likely to give you a BS answer.
 
#13 ·
I had a somewhat similar problem with my old 2014 Mitsubishi Mirage. The rear axle was out of alignment, but on that car there are ZERO alignment adjustments that can be performed on the rear axle!! At least on the Niro it is adjustable.

So Mitsubishi replaced the entire rear axle with a new one under warranty. That’s great, except the new axle was out of alignment worse than the old one!!!

After 2 years of ownership and 3 sets of tires I said enough is enough. I took a big hit from being upside down on it and sold it to a dealership.

One thing that does concern me about this is so far I have found 2 bolts that hold the hybrid battery pack down that were hand tight. So it sounds possible that Kia might have some quality control issues on the amount of torque on bolts.
 
#14 ·
Read my experience

Late March 2018, I purchased a new 2018 Niro PHEV from Jim Butler Kia in Chesterfield, MO. About a month (?) later Butler Kia calls me and says I need to get something replaced on the rear suspension. (I am traveling in my motorcoach and my Niro is at my house in FL, along with the service records.). Anyways, Butler Kia says get it fixed ASAP. When I got back to my Florida house, I called the Kia dealer about 15 miles away. They know NOTHING about this. So, I call Butler back and they told me about the Kia Niro service advisory 343 (or maybe it was 303). Butler Kia said the problem was with the rear tires striking the suspension causing tire wear. Was this repair done on your PHEV?
Bottom line, perhaps this is something you can run with. Searching online for that service advisory might be a good idea, too. If you need more info, PM me, I should be home 5/05.
BTW, I think Kia, as a company, REALLY SUCKS, and is just barely above Tesla. I have had several “discussions” with them and they don’t know **** about anything and couldn’t care less.
 
#19 ·
Late March 2018, I purchased a new 2018 Niro PHEV from Jim Butler Kia in Chesterfield, MO. About a month (?) later Butler Kia calls me and says I need to get something replaced on the rear suspension. (I am traveling in my motorcoach and my Niro is at my house in FL, along with the service records.). Anyways, Butler Kia says get it fixed ASAP. When I got back to my Florida house, I called the Kia dealer about 15 miles away. They know NOTHING about this. So, I call Butler back and they told me about the Kia Niro service advisory 343 (or maybe it was 303). Butler Kia said the problem was with the rear tires striking the suspension causing tire wear. Was this repair done on your PHEV?
Bottom line, perhaps this is something you can run with. Searching online for that service advisory might be a good idea, too. If you need more info, PM me, I should be home 5/05.
BTW, I think Kia, as a company, REALLY SUCKS, and is just barely above Tesla. I have had several “discussions” with them and they don’t know **** about anything and couldn’t care less.
When was the build date (can find that on the information plate on the inside edge of driver side door jamb; it will be a month and a date -- such as 12/18)?
I tried did a Goggle search but couldn't find any related service bulletins. It would be great if you could provide more detail on the notice you received.
How many miles did you drive before the problem was discovered?
What did the recall replace, rear suspension, tires or both?
Could you tell any difference after the suspension was replaced?
Thanks for posting this info.
 
#17 ·
I just had the same problem - but it was far worse. One of the tyres started loosing air - we thought it was a slow puncture and took it into the tyre shop to fix. They took one look at it and said the car was not road worthy. On inspection both rear tyres (inside edge) were worn down to the fibres - the tyre shop said we were lucky they had not already blown. This was after 12,000 miles.
The tyres looked identical to the ones in the photo's above (but worse). We took it into Kia and they fixed and replaced the tyres under warranty - so there is clearly a known issue with the PHEV. I suspect it's the weight of the batteries and they are using a standard Niro setup which is not correct.
 
#18 · (Edited)
:eek:
Thankfully, based on the posts on this site, this would appear to be a relatively rare problem -- or perhaps most of the posters haven't driven enough miles for the problem to become apparent.

Do you have the HEV or PHEV? When was the build date (can find that on the information plate on the inside edge of driver side door jamb; it will be a month and a date -- such as 12/18)? How many miles did you drive before the problem was discovered?

Thanks!
 
#21 ·
If you went 40,000 miles the alignment wasn't too badly off, compared to some of these above. A good alignment should be all you need.
 
#23 ·
One more comment.

The tire shop where I had the alignment work done has a technician there who worked 10 years at a local Kia dealer. He said the vehicles being transported to the Kia dealers are ratcheted down so tightly that it throws their alignments out of whack, some more than others, causing these alignment issues. They constantly had to do alignment checks and corrections at the dealer he worked at.

My situation was exacerbated by the stripped alignment bolt, which means the alignment was never corrected and led to my tire wear-out situation - and which could only have been stripped at the selling dealer - even though the service manager there denied they do alignments over the phone.
 
#24 ·
I recently took my Niro in for an unrelated issue (check engine light but turned out to be nothing), but my alignment was off from the factory and the dealer did a 4 wheel alignment for free. Apparently Kia allows one free alignment within 12mo/12k miles.
 
#27 ·
I never rotated on a regular basis until I worked as a auto technician and seen the difference it really makes in tire longevity. Another benefit is balanced wear across all your tires, and real easy to inspect brake wear on a regular basis. I do understand your point of view of replacing 2 at time though. Fyi for vehicles with all wheel drive not a good idea. Check out on youtube they explain reasons very clearly.
 
#28 ·
Watch out for Niro rear wheel misalignment - which you may not discover until they refuse to rotate your tires because they're worn out! This happened to me at my recent 15,000-mile service on my 2018 Niro PHEV. At the 7,500-mile service & tire rotation, it was noted that "the rear tires were 1/32" more worn than the front" and "the front tires were in better shape", but it did not indicate there was a misalignment. At the 15,000-mile service, the local dealer would not rotate the tires due to excessive wear on inside of the rear tires. They offered to sell me replacement tires which would take 3 days to get there for a high price, which I balked at, and they told me to see a Michelin dealer about the tire warranty. Right away I went to a Michelin dealer who told me the tires were worn due to extreme misalignment, not covered by Michelin warranty. I then went to a local tire shop and purchased new tires and an alignment. However, they could not align the rear due to a stripped alignment bolt that could have only been stripped before the vehicle was purchased. I contacted Kia dealer where I purchased the vehicle (not the same one as the local one) and they said they don't have a service shop and only do new vehicle inspections and I'll have to go to Kia corporate with a claim. So I had the tire shop order a new bolt from Kia and complete the alignment on the new tires. Before I left there, they told me they know Kia dealers perform final alignments on new vehicles. Everything cost more than $500. After I had all my paperwork together including pictures of the tires, and before & after alignment numbers, I submitted an online claim to Kia Customer Service. Today - 3 weeks later - I received a call from Kia Customer Service to tell me that my claim was denied. The reason it was denied is that I did not have the misalignment determination, new alignment and new tires purchased from a Kia dealer. They told me Kia does not believe or trust anything coming from a 3rd party. I don't believe Kia treated me fairly, especially as this resulted from a fault with the original vehicle, regardless of where it got fixed. Does anyone have any ideas for recourse? What Kia should have realized is the negative publicity from this could cost them many times over what it would have been to settle this fairly.
I fully support your opinion! I have two such cars. Both have the same problem. They don't guarantee anything. I do not advise anyone to buy such a car.
 
#31 ·
It would be nice to see the before and after alignments sheets. What no one has mentioned is that cars DO NOT stay aligned forever. Alignments are a maintenance item and are not in the maintenance guidelines. With EVs where you aren't going in for oil changes, no one is checking your tires and to be honest, drivers aren't typically checking either. And catching early tire wear sometimes takes a bit of skill which most lack.
 
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