2022 Kia Sorento Visibility & Wipers Problems

The contact owns a 2022 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the sunroof exploded without impact. There was no injury sustained. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired by an independent mechanic or dealer. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 86,296.

My wife was driving down the highway (XXX) after dropping our daughter off at school. The closest car was approximately 10 cars ahead of her and there were no vehicles behind her. The outside temperature was about 48 degrees, the A/C was set to about 70 degrees. She was driving about 70mph. My wife described the sound to be what she thought was a shotgun blast above her head followed by wind noise like if the sunroof had opened. She looked in the rear-view mirror and observed glass flying behind the car, and what sounded like glass continuously falling on to the cloth for the retractable headliner. When she arrived home I took pictures of the sun roof and noticed that the glass appeared to be pushed upwards (away from the car) as if the glass had been over-pressurized and "popped". By the looks of the glass it appeared as though something massive had been thrown from the inside of the car through the sun roof (although not possible as my wife is small and the retractable headliner was closed). My two youngest kids were in the car with my wife and if the headliner would have been retracted they 100%, without a doubt in my mind, would have been injured by the blow back of the glass "exploding". For context I am an Aviation Electricians mate in the Navy and it looked the exact same as when we have had windows on our Aircraft fail and they have blown outwards. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Without warning or indication, my windshield wipers stopped working in a heavy night rainstorm causing me to not be able to see anything. The dealership told me to bring my car in the next morning, while it was still raining, and they said they don’t know what caused it but stated that I need a replacement windshield wiper motor. They ‘escalated’ the issue due to the safety concern involved with lack of functional windshield wipers. As of today, 3/29, Kia continues to tell me there is no ETA of the windshield wiper motor. The wipers are stuck in reverse and only work occasionally… but in reverse. Most times they do not work. I have been in constant communication with the dealership and Kia customer care and no one is able to help or offer a loaner car, but everyone I speak to confirms that this is in fact a safety issue and continues to tell me the case is being escalated. How high does it need to be escalated before a part is received and the issue is fixed? I do not feel safe driving in this condition as it has been raining a lot and no one seems to care about my safety. I don’t want to get into an accident due to limited or completely obstructed visibility. It is now spring and spring in NY means alot of rain, and since 3/6 it has rained more days than not. Today, kia customer care sent me an email saying that the part was ordered on [XXX], but it should have been ordered on [XXX] which was the date I went to the dealership where they confirmed my windshield wiper motor needs to be replaced. I am getting the run around from Kia and associated dealerships and want to feel safe. Please help. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

While driving a vehicle on the highway, the sunroof exploded violently. The large, moving piece of the panoramic sunroof appears to have broken outwards. Large pieces of glass and smaller pieces landed in the front and middle of the cabin, including on the driver. Small chunks of glass landed on and cut the driver of the vehicle. A loud sound occurred. This was very startling, the glass was very dangerous, and we were lucky that no one was in the middle seats where the glass primarily fell. This occurred in a temperate (high 60s or low 70s F) climate and with no prior damage to the glass. No sign of an impact from anything on the glass. The sunroof cover was pulled back while the glass was in the closed position. The vehicle is at the dealer and we are reaching out to the manufacturer.

On January 4, 2023, the windshield cracked without any outside force (no rocks, vandalism, etc.) it began underneath the passenger wiper moved upward and curved toward the drivers side. As I drove the following days, the crack grew and eventually splintered in a third direction, also with no outside forces. The stress of the crack formed a bubble-like crack in the middle of where it splintered. By the time I was able to get it to the dealership, the bubble was more of a hole. It is no longer available for inspection because it is at the dealership to be repaired. It effected my visibility and with how quickly and easily it spread I felt I was in danger of the windshield cracking to the point of breaking out completely at any time which could have caused an accident. The dealership denied the defect claiming the hole that was produced where the crack splintered was the origin and was caused by a rock. I explained and provided an earlier photo showing the stress bubble, but they still denied the claim. It was inspected at the dealership but pictures are forwarded to an outside source who makes the decision whether it is a defect of damage. There were no warning signs this would happen, no objects hit my windshield, I saw it happen as I was driving. It has been raining steadily and I believe the defect is near the installation point of the wipers which caused the crack.

This safety issue involves the windshield wipers. It is available for inspection upon request but must be inspected when it is snowing or freezing rain. When there is inclement weather such as temperatures dropping to create ice or wet and slushy snow, the wipers can not function correctly and you can then not see out your windshield and must drive with them stuck across the face of your windshield. The channel that holds the wipers fills with ice easily. Since the wipers on the 2022 Kia Sorento must retract under the hood during normal operation, they are not able to if ice or slush has accumulated in that channel. Therefore instead, they go up and down only about 5 inches. Even if you turn them off to try to clear and break up the ice in the channel, you can not do so as they are still moving. The only way to stop them from making this 5 inch movement is to shut the vehicle off. Warming up the Sorento does not prevent this from happening. Our safety was put at risk because every time this happens, we are unable to see out the windshield clearly at all. We must pull off the road and manually wipe the windshield off which is dangerous and could cause an accident. Someone could run into us outside trying to clear the windshield, rear end our vehicle putting their lives at risk as well. The dealer today could not replicate this action, the formation of this ice, as it was above freezing. We were advised to record the action (or lack thereof) with our phone video next time it happened. The manufacturer did not see this happen. There were no warning lights. We are hesitant to drive our new AWD vehicle in the snow as we could be put in a dangerous situation. This is the whole reason we bought an AWD vehicle! So we could get safely around town in the winter. We are also afraid of the wiper motor burning out or having a shortened life span.

We purchased a 2022 Kia Sorento in August of this year. Our front windshield from the seal to the middle of the window on the driver side has dots and they are migrating now to the passenger side as well. We took the Kia to the Kia dealership in Princeton, WV and they opened a ticket on the vehicle and a few days later we were called and told Kia recommended us to use Bar Keepers Friend on the windshield, which is a very abrasive cleaner and using it on the inside would scratch it. We then took it down the road to SafeLite for a second opinion to see what they would have to say. The gentleman cleaned the windshield with a magic eraser and cleaner and the window looked great, but not even for 24 hours. We called Battleground Kia to ask them if it was one piece window or a two piece, which they stated there was no such thing as a two piece window which there is. We took the vehicle back down to Battleground Kia in Greensboro, NC where we purchased the vehicle at, and were asked questions such as if we had an air freshener in the vehicle or had sprayed any kind of cleaner in the vents all which to our answers were no. Battleground Kia told us that there was nothing else that they could do for our windshield. If you are driving into any kind of light it is like putting a white sheet up and you can't see anything. Having a child of our own it is dangerous to put our lives in danger or anyone else's driving with the windshield the way it is. They have refused to replace the windshield multiple times and it's brand new. It is currently in the service department for a brand new transmission as well. This makes the third time it has been in service for a transmission issue.

I HAVE REPLACED MY DRIVER'S SIDE WIPER BLADE THREE TIMES AND CONTINUE TO GET STREAKS IN MY FEILD OF VISION CAUSING BLIND SPOTS ON MY WINDSHEILD

We have a new 2022 kia Sorento. the windshield without any impacts at all cracked overnight in our garage. from lower driver corner up across to passenger side right in line of sight of driver. Kia refuses to answer there phones to remedy this problem. there are several complaints and a possibly class action suit.

We were driving and did not even hear anything hit the windshield which tells me how small the pebble or whatever it may have been was in size. Saw a small crack and within minutes it spread to about 6-7 inches long. A day later it’s spread halfway across my windshield. I have owned different cars and having this one BRAND new off the lot for barely 5 months - this should NOT have happened. This shows how weak and poorly made these windshields are by Kia. Shame on them for making a poor product and then not having responsibility to fix it.

Windshield cracked by a tiny pebble. The main windhsield of my 2022 Hybrid cracked while driving in the freeway. Its been less than a month since I bought the car and windshield cracked. I wasnt around any car at the time, It was late night and I saw the chip it made to my windshield.. a couple minutes later the crack spread out to 4 inches long. The windshield is not strong enougha nd causes a danger.

My Sorento was purchased on 17/01/22. My windshield started cracking on the middle to the passenger’s side from the hood to the sunroof. I am unaware of how it even got there.

I purchased my 2022 Sorento brand new in Dec 2021 and by end of January 2022 a small crack appeared near the top left corner (driver side) of the windshield near the edge; note the windshield is frameless/no cover or border on the glass. There is no indication that anything caused the crack; there is no indention as if anything hit it. I park in a private temperature controlled garage at my home. The crack has grown diagonally across the front of my entire windshield at this point since the dealership refused to help and I was quoted 1,300 to replace which is unfair.  I am driving a 2022 which is visibly unsafe and who has an extra $1,000 to fix a defective windshield on top of paying a car note. This is a inconvenience and a safety issue because of my increased risk of crash or injury. I have seen numerous posts about this problem which indicates this is not just a me problem. I believe my windshield cracking is a defect caused by the manufacturer and I should not be responsible for the repair.

My vehicle (2022 kia sorento) was purchased 11/08/21. It only has 1777 miles at this exact time. My windshield started cracking on my drivers side from the sunroof down. This is ridiculous for a vehicle so new. I've read this is a chronic issue with the tellurides. Kia refuses to do anything about it