In a recent article from TeamBHP, it has reported that despite being a new vehicle from KIA, all front LED lighting assemblies—headlights, DRLs, and fog lights— suffer from excessive and severe moisture condensation.
TeamBHP Highlighted Design & Manufacturing Flaw In Kia Vehicles
Further alarming the Seltos owners and prospective Buyers, the online platform
Reported a serious manufacturing defect in Kia Seltos 2023 which was purchased in February 2024.
This defect not only damages these light assemblies over time but causes compromises in road safety.
It happens due to dangerously low visibility caused by malfunctioning headlights, DRL’s and fog lights.
Due to the damage to LED’s inside light assemblies, they started turning yellow with reduced light output.
Interestingly, this problem persists with all the inspected Kia Seltos, Sonet, Carens with six to seven months of ownership or 15K-20K Kms on the ODO.
It appears that there’s no long term reliability for these Sealed LED light unit designs.
It is noteworthy here that these Sealed LED light assembly designs have a very high cost of replacement after the warranty period is over.
Further, the article reported that the headlight and fog light output in the Kia Seltos 2023 is unsatisfactory.
This provides a low intensity and poor light beam patterns, especially for a vehicle of this class.
The online platform highlighted that the trapped moisture in light assemblies leads to corrosion and degradation of the internal components over time.
The issue is severe to the point that it permanently damages these assemblies with LED chipsets.
In turn, the light starts turning yellow which reduces light intensity on the road, it worsens over time.
Car Owners Reported The Issue Already
This makes the vehicle highly unreliable as the consequential damage due to this defect causes the headlights to stop working completely.
It appears that several car owners have already reported failed lights in three or four months of newly purchased cars.
They have reported that the lights have stopped working and won’t switch on when needed.
This defect has been reported to Kia by various users of Seltos, Sonet and Carens.
The brand has considered the replacements of light assemblies, but it is a temporary solution since the defect exists in replaced lights as well.
Further, the platform wants Kia to acknowledge this as a design and manufacturing flaw at the earliest and also take responsibility.
An Urge To Kia India
In the said article, TeamBHP asked the brand to provide a permanent fix for all affected vehicles at the earliest.
Besides this,they are asking for extending the maximum warranty (life time) for vehicles suffering from these persistent issues until a permanent solution is provided.
According to them, It’s a design and manufacturing defect, so cannot be resolved by band-aid fixes which is going on now
In the meantime, TemaBHP has advised those who are considering purchasing the Kia Seltos or other Kia vehicles, should think twice.
According to the online platform, a vehicle with persistent safety defects must not be on the roads.
And why not! As the customer safety matters the most and it must be of the top priority in design and manufacturing of all cars.
When it comes to Kia India, they must resolve this serious manufacturing defect with these cars at the earliest, TeamBHP insisted.
