GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

Now I know why they can offer a 10 year 100,000 mile powertrain warranty.My neighbor just got a new Honda Odyssey minivan because his 2005 Kia Sedona with 72,000 miles needed a new engine - don't know exact reason. I told him I thought the Kia Sedona had a 10 year 100,000 powertrain warranty. It does - or did - but it turns out that is only for the original owner. He bought it when it was 2 years old. I would guess that most people do not keep a vehicle that long so most of the blown engines/transmissions are not covered. My 2007 T&C has a lifetime powertrain warranty - also only good for the original owner. I plan on keeping it for a long time. In 4 years have only 13,000 miles.

I remember from other forums there being a specific law that caters the warranty of anything, to any owner as long as the warranty says, so if it says 10 years, it's 10 years. I do not remember what it is or what the law was called, or even if I'm wrong. haha. Have your friend look it up.

I am an attorney with some experience in consumer law. I have never heard of any legal invalidation of a warranty restricted to the original purchaser. When I sold my 2004 T&C in 2003 it had a 7 year power train warranty that was transferable but at a cost of about $150 to the new owner.

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »I am an attorney with some experience in consumer law. I have never heard of any legal invalidation of a warranty restricted to the original purchaser. When I sold my 2004 T&C in 2003 it had a 7 year power train warranty that was transferable but at a cost of about $150 to the new owner.That's correct on the transfer fee for many warranty's. Some major car companies only give you x-number of days after purchase to pay for the warranty transfer. A reputable dealer will inform you of that and build it into the purchase price when you take ownership. Others will let it lapse on purpose to drum up additional business when you bring it back.As far as the lifetime drive-line warranty offered by Chrysler, it is absolutely restricted to original owner and completely non-transferable. That part was explicitly documented in the advertisements when they were sold and is a non-negotiable item no matter who you are.

When we bought my wife's Kia soul they did say the 10 year 100,000 warranty was only good for the orig owner who bought the car new.

So what happens if someone sells their car after a year and 5000 miles? Is there ANY warranty on powertrain standard?

Not witha Kia

That's the thing with buying used vehicles... "as is, where is!"Although I'm having trouble believing that an engine with so few miles could be completly shot unless its oil was never changed or they ran it dry.

Hyundai/Kia vehicles revert back to basic coverage with transfer of ownership. For the last several years that would be 5 years or 60,000 miles of basically bumper to bumper with a few exclusions. Audio/entertainment electronics goes to a pitiful 3year/36000 miles, batteries 24 months, refrigerant for first 12 months of original ownership unless connected to warranty repair, and the usual wearable items like brakes, filters, fluids, etc. is excluded.EDIT: The 5 year or 100k rust perforation or 5 year 60k roadside assistance looks to be transferable too. I do not see transfer fees mentioned anywhere that I have looked.

Thats weird, my sister has a 2005 Sedona and it has 120K on it.

You can't throw the entire car line in the trash because of one bad engine. Any engine from Any car will not last long if it is abused, driven hard and no service work is done on it, or even a simple oil level check done.IF 1000"S of Sedona's were blowing up engines at 50,000 70,000 miles then there is a problem. An odd one here and there, heck BMW's do that too!Kia has had many minor issues with various engines over the years, bad crank sensors, cooling fan issues, bad plug wire, faulty temperature sensors but virtually no track-able history of serious mechanical failures in any model line.DavePS, I searched out PDf's of Kia's warranties, they clearly state (even using different print to highlight the statement) with absolutely no question that only the ORIGINAL owner gets the 100,000 / 120 month warranty. Any subsequent owner only gets a 60 month / 60,000 mile power train warranty.

Quote, originally posted by djkeev »You can't throw the entire car line in the trash because of one bad engine. Any engine from Any car will not last long if it is abused, driven hard and no service work is done on it, or even a simple oil level check done.IF 1000"S of Sedona's were blowing up engines at 50,000 70,000 miles then there is a problem. An odd one here and there, heck BMW's do that too!Kia has had many minor issues with various engines over the years, bad crank sensors, cooling fan issues, bad plug wire, faulty temperature sensors but virtually no track-able history of serious mechanical failures in any model line.DavePS, I searched out PDf's of Kia's warranties, they clearly state (even using different print to highlight the statement) with absolutely no question that only the ORIGINAL owner gets the 100,000 / 120 month warranty. Any subsequent owner only gets a 60 month / 60,000 mile power train warranty.My point is that KIA Motors has to know that "original owner only" will significantly reduce their warranty costs. If you advertise A 10 YEAR / 100,000 mile warranty that creates an illusion of confidence and expectation. An engine failure at 72,000 miles is not typical and unless it is the result of inadequate maintenance I think they should own up to that and pay for a new engine. , A new car buyer no doubt understands the limitation, but someone buying used may be influenced by all that advertising and probably is not aware of that limitation.

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »My point is that KIA Motors has to know that "original owner only" will significantly reduce their warranty costs. If you advertise A 10 YEAR / 100,000 mile warranty that creates an illusion of confidence and expectation. An engine failure at 72,000 miles is not typical and unless it is the result of inadequate maintenance I think they should own up to that and pay for a new engine. , A new car buyer no doubt understands the limitation, but someone buying used may be influenced by all that advertising and probably is not aware of that limitation. Well of course they do know this, why do you think they have this policy? The warranty is a reward for purchasing a car new from Kia. They don't make money on used cars. I imagine their thought is that the Kia owner will purchase another Kia and be a long term happy Kia owner. Used cars live such a convoluted and unknown past life that it would be pure folly to warranty a used Kia. I could see an exception if the Used Kia was sold by a Kia dealership and they knew of it's history.The original owner has peace of mind for 100,000 miles. If something happens, Kia fixes it and they are so happy they buy a Kia next time. I totally understand not giving the 100,000 mile warranty to 2nd owners.There is no underhanded deception going on here. It is all clearly printed in the warranty statement and even posted online by Kia in PDF form. They aren't being deceptive or underhanded. Bottom line, your buddy shopped the used car market poorly and got stuck with a used lemon, this is NOT Kia's problem.Dave

I had a 2002 Civic EX Coupe 5MT before my Matrix. I sold it at 74k and was able to transfer my dealer bought 7yr./100k bumper to bumper warranty to the next owner. Cost me like $50 and included it in the price of the car.I am not sure if that is a state by state law but I've never heard of warranties NOT being transferrable.

Quote, originally posted by djkeev »Well of course they do know this, why do you think they have this policy? The warranty is a reward for purchasing a car new from Kia. They don't make money on used cars. I imagine their thought is that the Kia owner will purchase another Kia and be a long term happy Kia owner. Used cars live such a convoluted and unknown past life that it would be pure folly to warranty a used Kia. I could see an exception if the Used Kia was sold by a Kia dealership and they knew of it's history.The original owner has peace of mind for 100,000 miles. If something happens, Kia fixes it and they are so happy they buy a Kia next time. I totally understand not giving the 100,000 mile warranty to 2nd owners.There is no underhanded deception going on here. It is all clearly printed in the warranty statement and even posted online by Kia in PDF form. They aren't being deceptive or underhanded. Bottom line, your buddy shopped the used car market poorly and got stuck with a used lemon, this is NOT Kia's problem.DaveIt was bought at a Kia dealer - and my friend probably didn't understand nor was it explained to him that the warranty featured on all the KIA signs at the dealership touting the 10 year 100,000 mile limited warranty did not apply to a second owner. I would have asked that question. There is a FTC opinion that is an unfair or deceptive act to advertise a guarantee if the product is not expected to last that long - e.g. advertise a 10 year guarantee when the product would not typically last that long. I don't think that is an issue here - I'd bet that most cars, including KIA, go 10 years and/or 100,000 miles without a powertrain failure.

It should say somewhere in the language that it is not transferrable. But a lot of folks assume that the 10/100k warranty applies regardless. As was stated, if you buy one used, you do just get the 5 year/60,000 mile bumper to bumper (with a few exceptions for audio systems/etc as was pointed out earlier.) That sucks but it's still better than what some other manufacturers offer.FWIW, I've tried to buy a couple low mileage dealer demos over the years (Optima and Sonata) and both respective dealers told me I would still get the 100k powertrain. The key being the car was never titled so in Hyunkia's eyes I would have been the "original owner."I wonder what killed the engine? Did they keep up with the maintenance? That's the old 3.5L Hyundai Sigma, it likely needed a timing belt replaced at 60k. If that didn't happen, perhaps that could be the cause (and wouldn't be covered even under the 100k warranty for the original owner anyway as they didn't meet their obligations for servicing the vehicle.) For some reason, some folks can push 100k and no problems, others have a timing belt fail shortly after the 60k interval and they're stuck with bent valves and possibly smashed up pistons. Not saying that's what happened in this case, but it's just a scenario I've seen happen to others.

I don't think it was the timing belt - wouldn't that have been a sudden won't work at all situation? This was a matter of strange noises of some kind - I really don't have all the info and don't think I am going to take the time to ask. His wife has a new Honda to drive, when mama's happy everybody's happy, and while poorer, life is still good. If he did fail to do the required service and that was the cause - well I guess he deserved the end result.

Actually you can throw the entire 2005 Sedona line in the garbage. A glance at the web shows the Sedona in 2005 suffered the followingCoolant leaks, Fuel leaks, Engine failure due to timing belt tensioners, Premature wear of brakes and tires, transmission failure, oil pump failureConsumer reports listed this van in the worst of the worst in 2005.As for the 3.5l Sigma engine. It was shortly retired from Hyundai/KIA in favor of the Lamda engine which also suffered from tensioners for the first 2 years.The 2005 Sedona was something I had considered early this year to act as a people/item mover but ran away after reading all the complaints. As for Hyundai/Kia. I was happy with my Sonata and looked into buying a Optima before I bought the Vibe so I like their products for the most part

2001 Hyundai Elantra -Traded @ 105k miles with no engine / drivetrain problems2001 Hyundai Sonata - traded @ 88K miles with no engine / drivetrain problems2006.5 Kia Optima - 99k miles and counting with no engine / drivetrain problems2008 Kia Rondo - 58k miles and counting with no engine / drivetrain problems2005 Pontiac Vibe - Traded @ 85k miles with bad computerI loved my Vibe, but my next car will be a Hyundai Veloster.

Quote, originally posted by Tubaryan12 »2001 Hyundai Elantra -Traded @ 105k miles with no engine / drivetrain problems2001 Hyundai Sonata - traded @ 88K miles with no engine / drivetrain problems2006.5 Kia Optima - 99k miles and counting with no engine / drivetrain problems2008 Kia Rondo - 58k miles and counting with no engine / drivetrain problems2005 Pontiac Vibe - Traded @ 85k miles with bad computerI loved my Vibe, but my next car will be a Hyundai Veloster.When I orginally read that I thought - gee, a lot of engine problems. Then I see you meant no engine problems and no drivetrain problems.

Quote, originally posted by jake75 »When I orginally read that I thought - gee, a lot of engine problems. Then I see you meant no engine problems and no drivetrain problems.Correct. One day I will learn to properly use the English language.