My 2001 Kia Sportage has a defect in its design. The solenoid, & hoses that connect to it are placed in an area on the vehicle where they are subjected to the elements-&-in harms way of being damaged from normal driving conditions. I do not have the service paper work on me, at the moment (I am at the public library-doing research on Kia's many safety issues)-if you need copies of my service records, or any further info-please contact me by mail. When solenoid/hoses failed - I was unaware that my 4 wheel drive was inoperable. There were many times, in the winter months- where my Kia would slip/slide-handle erratically in the snow/rain. I have lost track of the times I lost control of my vehicle during this time frame (2001-2004). Now I realize that it was due to the 4 wheel drive malfunctioning. I was lucky enough to have just spun out-with no one else hitting me; thank god for that. The Sportage is very unsafe to drive-when it is raining/snowing-it's wheel base makes it dangerous. The first service manager refused to fix it under Kia's 10 year/ 100,000 coverage-so I had to pay $85 to fix it. It worked two more times, and now the hubs are shot (after a mere 29,000 miles). I was naive about Kia's record at the time. I have seen thousands of complaints on the internet about Kia now- and I want the truth about them to come out. I have contaced Kia about my problem(s) many times. They are very smug, and knowlegeable about what they do not have to do for you. If they spent 1/2 the money that they did on having a slick law firm write their 10 year coverage plan-as they did making a safe/reliable vehicle-many people would be much safer for it.

- Spencerport, NY, USA

When in four wheel drive rear wheel slipped. Dealership was notified, but did not resolve the problem.

- Bellevue, NE, USA

Over the span of the last 1 1/2 years I have had the following problems *rear seat belts locked up wouldn't loosen far enough to get my child out of the car. *front seat belts (both) would come open while the vehicle was in motion. *drivers side door wouldn't latch when trying to close it, had to jiggle the inside handle *spare tire arm wouldn't stay in the locked position when open. Still won't *four wheel drive wouldn't engage *lifter noise--collapsed lifter *head warped *check engine light had come on a few times holders (front and rear) fell apart *outside trim was fallling off.

- Ritzville, WA, USA