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Going to an auto-electric specialist might be the best solution for others who have described their Kia-related problems in this forum.
Make sure when changing the headlight bulbs that you DO NOT touch the new bulb with your bare hands. Touching the bulb will cause the bulb to burn out within a few days or a week. I'm not sure why that is, but my mechanic told me this and so did the manager at the auto parts store. Do an internet search for that answer and I'm sure you'll see that it is common knowledge. Wear gloves when replacing the lights.
My 2005 KIA Sorento Caught on fire on 12/26/11 while in the driveway. We were awakened by a good citizen banging and yrelling "fire" as I watched the firefighters extinguish the fire on the back end of my 2005 KIA Sorento I wondered how did this happen? After Phoenix Fire Department and Allstate Insurance conducted their investigation, the findings were that the fire was caused by the wiring of the left tail light. I found this very interesting especially because KIA just recalled the 07 Sorento for wiring in the door lights that "may cause fire."
I paid on that car 3 years, gap insurance probably not gonna cover the difference of the loan due to "electrical malfunction" being an exclusion. I have no car and after Allstate paid just under $8000.00, I still owe $5900.00! I still have NO car!
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO YOUR LIGHTING PROBLEMS -
I have an 04 Sorento and have struggled with headlight replacement and dome light not going off. This worked for me. Instead of buying the expensive headlights at Wal-Mart or Autozone, I ended up buying Phillips brand from Kmart. Came in a 2 pack for like $20 ( I got a few boxes on clearance for $8 ea) and these have not burned out yet.
Please ensure this is the right size bulb for YOUR vehicle before purchasing, however, it was the right size for mine.
As for the domelight, I found it stayed on as a result of the drivers side door switch. Open your door and then press in the rubber button in the door jam. Does the dome light go off? If so, take out the screw in the plastic that holds the rubber thingy in place. Remove the rubber from the button underneath. Now affix something to that button (I think I used one of those sticky felt dots that protects your furniture from lamps, ect) so that when you reassemble it to the door frame and shut the door, it will allow the button switch to be pushed in far enough to turn off the interior light when the door is closed.
OTHER THINGS I LEARNED THE HARD WAY WITH MY 04 SORENTO -
Make sure you have the pressurized antifreeze coolant tank replaced under recall if it hasn't been already (seam opens up causing you to loose coolant and overheat, with other damage as a possible result).
Make sure you have the crankshaft bolt replaced under recall. This will break costing you lots of money. Also make sure that if your mechanic replaces the timing belt, water pump ect, or removes that bolt for any reason, that he replaces the bolt with a new one. The same bolt can not be reused and must be replaced as the torque required to put it on (I think it was like 115lbs) and take it off causes it to become too weakened for re-use.
Make sure that the butterfly valves in the air intake are properly threadlocked or the screws will come loose, and the valve will get sucked into the engine messing it all up and costing you lots of money.
BEST ADVICE I CAN GIVE YOU OTHER THAN TO NOT BUY ONE (FOR SOME OF US IT IS TOO LATE!)
Go to the website www.kiatechinfo.com and set up a free registration. Many of the Factory Service Manuals, Wiring Diagrams, Recall and dealership Service Bulletins, ect can be found there. This proved invaluable when I did major repairs to my vehicle. The site is not logically navigable (at least to me) but more than likely the information is there. Once you select your vehicle info you'll find your way to a page that sort of looks like a chart with 3 letter blue links that don't seem to reference anything. Just click on all of those one at a time and explore. They will open up pdf files and I suggest printing them off and creating your own Service manual. It's much easier than trying to find it later especially if you are doing work on your car.
Anytime I have work done on my car I provide the shop with the web address and username and password in case they want to look something up. I also leave the manual I made in the front seat for them. I'd rather they look something up than do it wrong.
There is also a site called www.kia-forums.com/ that can be very helpful.
GOOD LUCK!!!
Brian
fixed, I tried to figure out what might be causing it. I quickly ruled out any relation to hitting bumps, the headlight switch position, and a/c/navigation/radio. Now, almost two years later, I noticed my headlight was out. Started to replace the bulb, but as soon as I touched the wiring harness, the bulb came back on. Ok, even though I am qualified to troubleshoot wiring, I do know better than to void my warranty... Took it into the service department, they troubleshot and found the wiring bundle behind the right headlight, "all melted together." They are going to replace the whole headlight assy. Almost 40k and it is warranty work ($500+, parts alone!).
Unlike most of the other posts, I don't love the car and I certainly don't think there's much of anything trivial about this problem.
I think I've had at least one occurrence of most of the other maintenance problems listed on here. Most annoying one is the sun/moon roof shades coming open.