2015 Kia Sorento #- Poor headlights

I have no idea what ( wty ) is supposed to stand for here . I guess it is text speak but not all of us even plan to do text speak.

I’m going to guess that “wty” is an abbreviation of “warranty”, but… I could be wrong.

VDC , I think you are correct but if so why does this person even do that ?

It’s not impossible. In this situation, perhaps it is. I’ll give examples where manufacturers extended warranty coverage for consistent “early” failures within the same model line: Kia/Hyundai theta engines with rod bearing failure. Honda engines with VCM and excessive oil consumption. BMW with SRS seat mats and evaporator core leaks. BMW for oil consumption and repeat visits for coolant/oil loss with the N63. It happens. Just takes enough failures and enough people complaining. I signed up to share my experience trying to help a friend and perhaps rally other sorento owners. Maybe even have this string show up in a google search. All replies after mine are not helpful at all.

@acab1120_182643

You might want to take a look at this site’s Terms of Service. Here is a relevant portion that I copied for you to peruse:

Always Be Civil

Nothing sabotages a healthy conversation like rudeness:

  • Be civil. Don’t post anything that a reasonable person would consider offensive, abusive, or hate speech.
  • Keep it clean. Don’t post anything obscene, profane, or sexually explicit.
  • Respect each other. Don’t harass or grief anyone, impersonate people, or expose their private information.
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  • Stick broadly to cars. Tom and Ray digressed with great comic effect, but they always came back to the subject at hand. Let’s do the same
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The example you give about the Theta engine is comparing apples to oranges. The engine blowing up is a far cry from headlights some people perceive as not bright enough. And the headlights clearly make it past the warranty period. I’ll never understand the mentality that drives people to say “I know my car is out of warranty but I want it fixed for free anyway.”

The examples you give about BMW covering certain pattern failures is also apples to oranges. You would put the engineering and quality of a Kia on par with a BMW?

Cut that out.

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Headlights are for safety, not looks.

And just might have been, had you friend taken it in while it was in warranty. But they didn’t, now it’s replace parts on their own dime. So sorry, but thems the breaks.

And you are the one comparing a BMW to a KIA. :joy:

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Kia and Hyundai have acquired engineers from VAG and BMW.

Also, they’ve partnered with tier 1 suppliers of BMW such as Bosch.

Educate yourself a little. AL Automotive Lignting makes headlight assemblies for this Kia AND believe it or not, BMW

Well, I happen to know what I’m talking about. Have you ever owned either brand?

So? You can try to argue that any part on a car is for safety or function. Door handle broken? Safety issue because I can’t get out of the car. Rear view mirror fell off? Safety item because I can’t see behind me.

Headlights aren’t bright enough? Nahh… how long do you expect a car (or anything, for that matter) to work without needing maintenance or repair? It’s warrantied for 3 years or 36,000 miles. After that you pay for repairs. What part of that is unclear?

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Also, apples and oranges and irrelevant. The same company that made the Chevette makes the Corvette. Are you asserting that one is as good as the other?

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Terrible logic. What’s your problem anyways? Are you Hyundai or Kia? It’s a design flaw, not a worn out item. That’s the difference.

There have been several examples of warranty extensions for headlights.

The 2010 Toyota Prius had a warranty extension for low beam bulb failures that expired October 2019.

The 2004-2009 Lexus RX350 had a warranty extension for moisture in the headlamps, 9 years from date of first use.

It’s not irrelevant. Both brands are just a sum of all their parts and the argument is im comparing bmw to Kia when they share some tier 1.

Thank you for sharing

I don’t have a problem with the cars, I have a problem with people expecting parts on cars to never need maintenance or replacement? Complaining about headlights on an 8 year old car with unknown mileage? C’mon…

If you’re interested in quality engineering and long-term reliability with excellent warranty coverage, inform yourself and buy a higher end car like a Lexus or BMW, which may offer warranty extensions as part of their premium level customer ownership experience. But expecting that from Kia is like buying a Big Mac and complaining it doesn’t measure up to the steakhouse burger from down the street. Quality comes at a price.

If the part in question makes it through the warranty period without failing I would say the design is spot on.

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I don’t own the car and I’m not looking for anything for free. I am helping an elderly woman with a car that has 60k on it and doesn’t see a lot of nighttime driving. The times that she has been caught in the dark lately, she can’t see. After a thorough investigation, I found that the coating inside the projector is bubbling. I searched the web and found numerous examples of other Sorento owners complaining that their lights aren’t as bright as they once were and replacing bulbs had little to no effect. I signed up for this site to share my findings so other owners could benefit and perhaps bring it up to their service centers. Who knows if they’d be offered any help but it’s worth a shot.

My professional opinion is that this should not be happening this early or in general. If the headlight lenses were hazing from age and environment, that’s a totally different story. This is a problem that can’t be seen but can create a safety hazard for the driver, occupants, and or people outside the car.

Pure laziness

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8 years? 10 years? What is an appropriate amount of time for every part on a car to last? The fact that the driver has poor eyesight and is elderly really has no bearing on the headlight design or durability.

Should the lights last longer than they have? Meh, debatable. But as our friend Nevada pointed out above, there are a number of carmakers that have extended coverage to these items. But guess what? The cars are far upstream in the quality category to begin with. If you expect quality, you should expect to pay for it.

On the balance, your driver could replace the headlamps with new and probably still be money ahead over buying a Lexus or BMW in the first place. I still don’t see where the issue is here.

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