New 2023 Kia Forte LXS (barely 1020 miles) steering wheel feels stiffer and steering the car becomes challenging when driving at or above 45 mph with lane-assist feature set to 'Warning only'. Vehicle starts to steer away (wander) automatically. This issue is subtle when driving at lower speed such as 20 -30 mph. Passengers in the back seat felt unsafe including the driver at the time of this occurrence. I emailed the dealer twice but didn't hear back for 2-3 weeks. Then I called dealer to vent out the frustration over the issue then they asked me to visit the Service center for inspection of the problem. Right from the beginning, service dept. was in denial of such an issue after test driving the car. In the first visit, they checked the wheel alignment which was OKAY. In the second visit, they sent me back saying no appointments were available. In third appointment the technician turned blind-spot feature to 'warning only' and sent me back. So far these visits or appointments were atleast a week or more apart. I drove the vehicle again with the damn features off such as Blind-Spot, Lane-assist still the issue persists with steering wheel being felt stiffer at higher speed and softer or loose at lower speed. I have another car, the steering wheel of which remains softer when driving at 50 mph or more however the new 2023 Kia Forte does not.
2023 Kia Forte steering complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 15 of 15, newest first, as owners wrote them.
My car was broken into and the anti theft system failed to protect my car. The entire steering column is damaged as well as a window.
Car has a steering/pull issue. Car will pull to the right when driving on a flat straight road. Steering wheel will tighten up and then the pull starts to occur. Resistance must be applied in order to keep the car on the road. The lane keep safety feature has to be turned completely off or car will jerk back due to the pull issue. The pull issue becomes more noticeable after taking right turns. Car was taken to dealership with around 500miles on the car due to this issue. Dealership has attempted to fix this issue 5 times and each time said it was a alignment issue and was fixed. On the 6th time they said it’s normal and that’s how this car drives. Car was kept at the dealership for over 2 months straight with confirmation that it has a pull. Every time the car has been in the shop they have acknowledged the pull. During this time the emergency brake has activated twice while driving around 40mph for no reason.
The contact owns a 2023 Kia Forte. The contact stated while pulling out of the driveway and making a left turn, there was an abnormal clunking sound coming from underneath the vehicle. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and test driven the vehicle and diagnosed but no issue was found. However, the contact stated that the failure reoccurred increasingly while making left turns with a clunking sound coming from the floorboard. The contact related the failure to the federal safety agency Campaign Number: 22V906000 (Steering); however, the VIN was not included. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 80.
Issue seems to be with the steering of the car. It is very stiff and difficult to maneuver. Steering needs to be hold tightly to keep car in the lane, else car keeps on going towards the right side. I took the car to service center as well and they also acknowledged the problem and as per my understanding they fixed some steering angle issue. But, issue is still persisting and I tried to take the appointment but seems like no Kia service center has appointment available before one month. Requesting to look into this issue so that it can be fixed or I can return the car.
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