Smell of gas fumes. Also a gas leak.

- Oak Hill, OH, USA

I own a 2000 Kia Sportage. I had gone to the dealer I bought the vehicle from, used last August and had many of the recall items repaired. I specifically requested an investigation for repair on a gas fumes issue. I was advised there was no problem, despite the overpowering gad smell emitting from my vehicle. I see that there has been no official "recall" yet established, but find that an investigation is being headed up by NHTSA for all 199 & 2000 Kia Sportages. The cost of the repairs that this may entail appear at this point to be well over 500 to $1000 dollars. Please advise if there is any change to the investigation, and whether there will be any recall notice initiated soon.

- Indian Orchard, MA, USA

Currently there is a Canadian recall for the 2000-2001 Kia Sportage for a fuel leak in the fuel pump outlet spigot, and this is to be repaired by a dealer. My 2000 Sportage is having the same exact problem. I called the company and since there is not a recall in the us they will not do anything about it because they said my warrantly is up. There are currently 8749 vehicles in Canada that have been included in this recall, so how many vehicles have had this problem in the us or how many have actually caused harm because this was not looked at in the us. I feel that a recall needs to be instituted in the United States because this is a potential safety hazard and Kia should be held liable. All that these vehicles need is a small fix and it's a small price to pay for happy consumers.

- Cincinnati, OH, USA

: the contact stated while driving 25 mph, there was a smell of gasoline inside the vehicle. An independent repair shop inspected the vehicle and determined the fuel line had cracked and disintegrated. A replacement fuel line was ordered and the manufacturer was contacted. Updated 9/13/2006 - the consumer believes that the metal piece bolted onto the fuel tank, which held the fuel pump, was made of poor metal. The metal rusted and allowed fuel to leak from the tank.

- Caldwell, NJ, USA

A 2000 Kia Sportage station wagon. The bottom of the vehicle rusted. The fuel tank had a hole in it. While the consumer was driving on the highway the fuel had slowly leaked out. The consumer was unaware of this until she drove vehicle home and noticed that there was fuel under it. Consumer took vehicle to a local fuel station; they told consume rbecause there was no one to work on it to bring it back the next day. She had the vehicle towed to them the next day. They replaced the fuel pump, tank, lines, and everything on the bottom of the vehicle. The fuel had leaked all over the bottom of the vehicle and made it hard to fix the vehicle. The mechanic told her that they had the same problem with other kiaes concerning this. The consumer is very concerned with the safety of this. The mechanic said he had no trouble getting the tank, he figured that it might be a common problem with them. Previously they replaced the 4 wheel drive unit.

- Macomb Township, MI, USA

2000 Kia Sportage with 70,000 miles car always stored in garage fuel sender unit rusted out during 200 mile trip gasoline leaking out onto vehicle and ground - potential fire hazard had to replace sender unit, fuel tank and fuel pump due to rusted connections ruining each piece of equipmment.

- Sugar Grove, PA, USA

While driving 55 mph the vehicles muffler/tail pipe fell off without warning. The fuel line failed and the consumer had the timing belt replaced but the vehicle continued to make noise.

- Roosevelt, NY, USA