Kia Sedona Steering Wheel Vibration
bluedevils
Member Posts: 2,554
in Kia
I've reviewed all the posts about this issue, but have not seen anyone post a successful resolution. Has your dealer identified the problem and if so, have they been able to fix it? If so, how?
We are going to purchase a 2006 EX this week and I would like to have this issue addressed before delivery. Will drive the van tomorrow and find out if it exhibits the problem.
I have looked all over the excellent kiatechinfo.com website, thru the Tech Times, TSB, Pitsop, etc. sections. I could not find ANY mention of this steering wheel vibration at speed issue. The closest thing was 1 issue that causes a pull / out of alignment problem. I haven't read that article yet to see if it sounds like it could be related to the steering wheel vibration issue.
We are going to purchase a 2006 EX this week and I would like to have this issue addressed before delivery. Will drive the van tomorrow and find out if it exhibits the problem.
I have looked all over the excellent kiatechinfo.com website, thru the Tech Times, TSB, Pitsop, etc. sections. I could not find ANY mention of this steering wheel vibration at speed issue. The closest thing was 1 issue that causes a pull / out of alignment problem. I haven't read that article yet to see if it sounds like it could be related to the steering wheel vibration issue.
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I did some reseach on the Energy LX4 before I took delivery and the reviews weren't all that bad. If they were, I would've driven from the dealership directly to a tire shop. I've done that before with a brand new Nissan Frontier and got the OEMs replaced with a set of performance tires for $150 or so. The tire dealer was happy to take the OEM tires in on trade, because they still had the "hairs" on them, so he could sell them as new tires.
Anyhow, 235/60R17 is not a very common size. Tirerack.com only shows 5 other tires in this size, none of which looked any better than the Michelin Energy LX4, so I guess I'm gonna stay with them.
Your right about the dealer being unresponsive or in denial, and he is too far away to make it convenient to keep going in for such a minor, but still annoying problem, this is not how a BRAND NEW WORLD CLASS vehicle should act. Too bad Hyundai may loose its hard built improved reputation over tire, wheel or drivetrain vibration. And yes, my dealer calls me after each service to instruct me to leave excellent ratings when the factory surveys me, but often I dont get the factory survey. I have 17" alloy factory wheels with Michelin tires, my Hyundai Entourage's van build date is June 14 2006.
I'd like(!) to join your club. Got a 2006 Sedona LX 2 months ago and have gone through all of your trials. Front end shakes the steering wheel violently at between 75 and 80 mph. Did a rebalance, a force balance, a front end alignment and swapped tires with another good Sedona. Nothing changed. Luv the car, great price and all and driving comfort. Has everyone who posted these wheel problems had them fixed? or what? The dealer thinks he knows the problem. Thinks its the speed controller computer. A Kia engineer is suppose to come to see with his own eyes next week. Can't believe that with all the complaints that I have read here plus many others of course from drivers that don't do the web that Kia does not know what the problem is. Dealer has told me that if all else fails he will give me a new van. With all the Sedonas sold the probablility of me getting two of these in a row seems very remote. I promise if I find out the solution that I will post the cure to this web site!
Good luck
My dealer did all the tests and found both left rims to be out of spec.
They replaced both left side rims and now the van drives smooth at highway speeds. I should have drove the van at highway speeds before buying but I rented one before and it was very smooth.
Dealer swapped so many front end parts I lost track. Bottom line the vibration is still there. Am past the requirements of the New Mexico Lemon Law and I notified the Dealer that I wanted to exercise it. He said fine. Mean time I had to take the family to So Carolina for a month and they gave me a super loaner, a Dodge Grand Caravan Lx (05). I think I put 6000 miles on it. Ran like I wished the Sedona would. Well I'm back and about to take the Caravan back to the dealer. Anxious to see how this works out. I will post, as promised with the final solution.
By the way: Test drove two 07 Sedonas in Columbia So. Carolina and both had the wheel vibration one a little less than the other. When we came back from the test we drove into the garage and talked to the service mgr. He answered straight out that they had problems with the Sedonas and it was the rotors that some of them were warped. He said they could be fixed by putting on new rotors or turning on the lathe the old ones. If I didn't have the 06 Sedona I might have taken him up, however I turned him down! Lets see what the NM dealer has to say about tis.
Thanks for your post. The dealer sent me out to the Goodyear quickstop? previously for a "load force" phase matching repair. Again it seemed like some help but only very little. Probably just a rare coincidence but the "load force" phase matching is exactly what the KIA factory rep is telling me now is what he wants to repeat on my car but this time done with a "quality European BMW" shop instead of an "inferior" (my word) American shop. Is not a reasonable suggestion as it was already done and also all of the tires and rims were swapped out already with other "good" tires and rims from other "good" Sedonas in stock including the 17" alloy rims. Also the rep has told me that a team of engineers from Korea are on their way to America and that he has requested that they come to my state and examine my car. This drama has now proceeded to the "inconceivable" state. I am getting enough material to write a fantasy novel about this experience. Dealers sales mgr says he reads the Edmonds posts so weighin "other" users. As I said before I have read many complaints here but yours is the first where someone solved the vibration problem. What happened to the rest of you?
I am new to this forum. I found it while doing a search for the exact problem everyone is describing here. I too have the steering wheel vibration/shake. My 06 has about 6400 miles on it and I have noticed the shake since day 1. I didn't have it looked at until my first oil change at around 3800 miles. The dealer did the old "both front tires were out of balance. We rebalanced them and it's fine now". Well it felt exactly the same when I picked it up. But the dealer is 25 miles from my house and I have a job so I can't spend day afer day at the dealer. I ended up bringing it back down again for what appeared to be belt noise in the engine compartment. I finally realized it was actually because my power steering reservoir was nearly empty. I refilled it and the noise went away but I brought it in anyway as there had to be a leak. I also told the dealer that the vibration issue was never fixed. So, far they have replaced the entire "steering rack" as it was leaking, the two front rotors and did a four wheel balance and alignment twice at the local Town Fair Tire. They called me yesterday and said the vibration is still there but they think it's a bad tire (even though TFT couldn't detect it). They are now awaiting a decision from the Kia Tech Line to replace all four tires. When I asked if they thought this was going to fix the problem, the answer was "I don't know". I highly doubt Kia will authorize a replacement of all 4 tires in the hopes that it may fix the problem. I was wondering why the dealer wouldn't have just tried switching wheels with another 06 Sedona. They've got several "off lease" models sitting in the lot. Anyway, I'll let everyone know how I make out. I am not confident that they will be able to fix the problem.
As my last post stated engineers from Korea were suppose to be here at the end of July. I now have an update that about 10 of them are coming here to see my 06 Sedona around Aug 13-17. I think this means that they are listening to our posts and other dealers and are about to admit there is a "minor" problem. This is a typical American corporate response and Korea is a subsidery of corporate america. I believe that eventually the problem will be solved. It's like pleading "no contest" in court but not admitting any guilt. But the corporate lawyer way is to drag it out and maybe everyone will go away or maybe accept a lessor solution. As I stated before there is no way they don't know what the problem is. To state a homily "this is not rocket science". Any engineer who claims to be one could solve this in one day. Will keep everyone posted as I stated before. I guess on further reflection the easiest way to get rid of me is to have the Koreans come here and say they can't find the problem and then just give me a buyback. And oh yeh! as I wrote before the dealer swapped out all of my tires and rims with other "good" Sedonas in the lot without a change.
Thanks for the speedy response. The dealer just called me before I left work and said that Kia has agreed to replace all four tires with brand new Hankook Optimo H418 - the exact same tires! I am not confident it's a tire problem. It's too random. I would think if it was a tire problem that it wouldn't come and go the further you get down the road. I sure hope your "engineers" figure something out. I'll let you know if the "new" tires make a difference. Also, if your post regarding the engineers decision shows a definite fix then I'll print it off and bring it to the dealer. Good luck to all!
In response to Dougv, I am located in Western Massachusetts. The dealer is in Northampton (about 25 miles south of me). Still no tires.
Egg,
I have had wind noise as well but only when I am going 65 or over and there is strong winds on the highway. Otherwise just the normal wind noise that you get with most vehicles. The lemon law in MA is you have to be without the use of your vehicle for 15 days total for the same problem. Then it's considered a lemon and their would be recourse with Kia. I have only been without mine for 2 days. I've got a long way to go. The problem is I really like the van (minus the vibration). I would have bought a Sienna but I just couldn't afford it. I used to be a staunch Toyota loyalist, then Subaru (because we moved onto a mountain) and then Hyundai because they were cheap and good. In fact I was looking at the Entourage but they weren't doing any deals on them. When I saw the add of the Sedona with $6000 off of MSRP I just couldn't overlook it. Well, you get what you pay for. I'm hoping that Kia actually figures out what the problem is an issues a recall for all Sedonas. We'll just have to wait and see. Good luck to all.
I just got back from vacation and called the dealer to check on my van. As yoy may remember, I left it with them all last week. Here's the outcome: They finally took my advice and swapped all four tires and wheels with a used Sedona. Lo and behold the problem went away (accorfing to them). They then my tires/wheels on the Hunter "load force test" machine. The results came back that both rear wheels were warped and not repairable by the machine. They have two new wheels on order and they are supposed to arrive on Wednesday, 08/29. Hopefully I'll get the van back tomorrow completely fixed. I'll update you then. :-)
If you have read my previous posts you should know about where I stand. I will now update you. As stated "several" engineers from Korea and California came to work on my car on Aug 20th. I dropped the car off at 7:30 and left. The dealer called me on the 21st at 3:30 and said the car would be ready in about 45 minutes but he would call. He called me at 5:15 and said it would not be ready tonight but he would call tomorrow. He called on the 22nd at 11:30 and said the car was ready for a test drive. I really did not ask what they had done to the car because I had no way of verifying it anyhow and all I was interested in was the results anyway. Can you guess the results? Vibration was a lot better about 90% good. I considered taking the Sedona on a 2000 mile trip for a shakedown. However I came to my senses. They had had the car for 6 months now and had brought out the A team that had worked for 2 1/2 days and still the vibration was not solved completely. What I was proposing was more of the "gee! howbout we try this" stuff. I finally hit my limit. I told them lets put this behind us and move on I was out of patience. I had not been driving the car and had put only about 650 miles on it. Although it had about 1300 when I gave it its last test drive. Oh! yeah they did do one more thing on the word of the KIA tech rep. They swapped my steel rims and tires for the aluminum alloy 17" and I did one more test. The handling was better but the rims still had no effect on the 75mph vibration. The Service mgr hinted that if I was happy with the new rims that KIA would probably give them to me. Not a bad offer but I wasn't that hard up and I was sick of any vibration, so I turned them down. After I turned the Sedona back in to the dealer he said he would contact KIA about a buyback. He called me a day later and gave me an account of the conversation. The Tech Rep after telling me he would give me a buyback if the last repairs did not work suggested to the dealer that they ask for arbitration. I can't believe the balls of the guy. I had enough evidence four months ago to satisfy the NM Lemon law and gave him all the time he requested and then he wanted arbitration. The dealer turned him down and said no way did he want to do this to me. The dealer then said that KIA would consider some other option if I was open to it. I said I would consider a new car deal of some sort. He said he would contact KIA and get back to me. That was on the 23rd and I'm still waiting. If I don't hear by monday I am just going to wash my hands of it all and give it to my lawyer. Then I will follow up with letters to KIA management and other auto publications. It could just be the local KIA rep or it could be a bigger recall deal and they are just stonewalling it. Either way as I stated before they have to know what the problem is and their way of handling it is to just really Micky Mouse around util we all go away. Again I will post with my final solution for your info.
Well it's Thursday and the new rear "wheels" (i.e. rims) were installed and they had no effect on resolving the issue. I just talked with the service manager who has been very nice and understanding and he said he was going to bring it over for one last "load force test" with the new rims. After that he will be having his guys deliver the van back to my house (25 miles from the dealership) as he said I have been more than understanding and patient in this situation. I doubt the additional "load force test" will have any effect either based on dougv's latest post. The service manager is waiting to hear back from the Kia Tech Line on the next steps. At the very least if they take my van again I am going to request a loaner vehicle at Kia's expense (as it's not the dealer's fault). Overall I have been very happy with the dealer's response and I am hoping that at some point Kia will take responsibility for the issue and just give people replacement vehicles that don't have the issue. I'll keep you posted.
Well the "additional load force test" had no effect on the issue. The Service Manager felt so bad he had his guys deliver the van to my house. They are still waiting to hear back from Kia. One interesting thing I have noticed - I live in the North East. The weather goes from -20 to 98 degrees between winter and summer. I got my van in February and didn't notice an issue until late Spring. Yesterday it was around 72 degrees when I drove home and I noticed the shaking was much improved. This morning it was 45 degrees when I drove to work and again the shaking was much improved. I am going to monitor temperature and intensity of the shaking over the next week. It's supposed to hit 90 degrees by the weekend. I'm also going to let the service manager know so they can relay the info to Kia. Good luck on your lemon replacement fight. :-)
Received a call from the dealer's service manager today. The district rep. was in and test drove my van. He to noticed the vibration and after a long meeting with the service manager they have decided to try and change out both the front struts. I told the service manager when he called that had already been done back when they replaced the strut mounts and he seemed unaware. He is now calling the rep back to let him know that the van already has new struts and seeing if they want to try anything else. It is interesting that you mention the cold weather. While looking through my service records the other day, I noticed that over the winter months I did not have it in for service. I related it to not driving long distances and reaching high speeds, but maybe it was something else. I will keep you posted :lemon:
Thanks for the updates Egg and dougv. I had called my dealer over a week ago and he said he was talking to the Kia rep the next day. I didn't have the time to call him back until yesterday. I asked what the status was on my problem and the guy who answered put me on hold. He came back a couple of minutes later and said that Kia wanted me to bring the van in for a few days so they could tear it a part. Kia would pay for a rental vehicle while they have my van. I almost wonder if I hadn't called if I would have ever heard back from them. So, either Monday or Tuesday I will be bringing the van in again and they will probably try all of the things they tried on your vans, most likely without resolution. I just hope it's a warm day when they take it out for the test drive. Otherwise they'll think they've fixed it. But if they do give it back to me and say it's fixed (during cold weather) then I'm going to ask what defective part they found that was causing the issue. I am also going to send them an e-mail stating that I won't believe it's fixed until I drive it in hot weather, most likely next summer. That way I'll be covered if the problem rears it's ugly head again later on. I'll keep you posted.
Good news and bad news? Firstly the good news. KIA has agreed to exchange my 06 for a new 08 Sedona. Don't know yet what the price difference will be yet. I assume it will be just the differences in MSRP. Actually I should be paid for the almost 9 months of "Fill in your own words" that I have been through. The dealer (who has been great through it all) said he would let me know when the 08's are ready to be delivered and I can come in and make my choices on styles and options. The bad news. KIA has said that in exchange for the new Sedona I will have to pay a mileage fee on the use I had of the 06. Now get this! The mileage fee is $.50/mile!!!! This is not bad for me as I had only about 600 miles on the 06 when I brought it in and maybe even less. The dealer told me he would pay this for me. However, if I recall correctly you guys had a lot more miles. Like if you had 6000 miles you would owe them $3000! This is getting close to what you could get from any other dealer on a trade in for any other car. My motivation with so little miles on mine was firstly I did not know how safe it would be to drive it on the highway and secondly, I'm a nice guy and if there was to be an exchange I wanted to give back a car that was almost like it had just been driven off the lot. Sorry, I can't say this about the KIA rep. So, every time they give you back your van and tell you to drive it they are charging you $.50/mile for that privilege. I know this information is not encouraging. The best deal for you is for them to get your vans fixed. However as all the other posts are testament they will spend piles of money doing busy work on your vans and never get down to the real problem. I don't know what else I can do to help you guys. I am not a crusader who will try to get to the bottom of this farce or try to blacken KIA's image. If I get my new 08 Sedona (and it is ok!) I will probably just go away. And I would probably buy another KIA when the need arises! My only consolation would be to have KIA do a Mia Culpa. But as I said before they are not going to plead guilty, only a "no contest" thing. So I will post if I have something new and hang in there!
Thanks for the information. I have been talking with a Kia representative for about a week and they are reviewing my case for the Lemon law. I just got my van back last week and after all the attempts to fix it, it is actually worse. I have been through this process once before in 1999 we had a lemon GMC Conversion van that was bought back. In that case the dealer was great and fought for us and actually helped us pay our taxes and gave us an additional $2000 to help with the settelment. We only payed $.15/mile at that time. I agree, $.50/mile is not reasonable but excessive. I have 17,000 miles on my van and that will run me $9000!! I have now contacted an attorney to see what my rights are. I will keep you all posted on my resolution.