kia carens 1.4l petrol: poor low rpm response & how kia solved it

This fix is applicable only for 1.4 Turbo Manual – DCT or Diesel models are unaffected by these.

BHPian ptaneja recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

A long pending update !!

As some of you are aware, I did initially note a lag or sluggishness in initial 1st and 2nd gear – but I blamed my prior diesel vehicle with initial torque missing.
After about a couple of months of purchase, and having struggled a lot with inclines in hilly areas, I became more and more assured that something is not right.

Contacted many owners, and slowly and steadily a group of disgruntled owners formed – all having the same issue.

Major Issues can be explained as –

(Applicable only for 1.4 Turbo Manual – DCT or Diesel are unaffected by these )

1. Major Lag in lower gears –

  • RPM drops when the car is going up the incline and as soon as we slot to 2nd gear. RPM drop is so pronounced that the car stalls unless we drop it down to 1st gear.
  • It lags majorly in 2nd Gear and stops/stalls on inclined surfaces which makes it an unsafe car to drive in hilly areas.
  • Even if we leave hilly areas apart, then also it struggles while coming out from basements of malls/societies/offices to ground floors and stops very frequently due to which there are chances of some major mishap which till date you are not acknowledging.
  • Moreover, it even struggles when we try to park the car on the ramp areas of houses and stops frequently due to which there is a hard/tough time to park the vehicle.
  • Driving in 2nd gear on a plain surface with potholes and speed breakers is not possible – as even after a speed breaker you would eventually have to slot to 1st gear.
  • Many owners who defended their purchase/Kia Turbo Engine, prompted and advised us to keep the engine in turbo range. This is not practically possible all the time; especially when you are climbing up an incline, and have a long line of cars behind you.
  • You slot the car to 2nd gear at 1500 RPM or so, and it drops to 600 and the car just about stalls. For how long are you going to crawl up the incline on 1st gear / 15km limit ?

I have a demo of this issue here (video)

2. Hill Assist / Hill Hold Feature –

Second issue is the opposite of what we have in their own owners manual. Hill Hold does not release the brake when the accelerator is pressed, but it takes its own preset time of 2/3 seconds. With this, the car stays stationary even when you press the accelerator – RPM increases, speed stays at 0.

Demo of this issue is here (video)

Both the above issues can be related, or not – but this was in June / July when momentum of this issue started, and I started opening up trouble tickets with Kia. Initially, Kia SC was adamant that there is no issue, and you need to “adapt”, “learn” on how to drive turbo engines. But eventually, SC GM drove the car, and tried going up an incline – he immediately accepted that there was an issue. But on verbal grounds – nothing was provided on email.

At the same time, our group of affected members grew, and we started exerting pressure on Kia, by opening repeated tickets via their website, sending emails to Kia with top management in loop , phone complaints, Instagram or twitter. People started posting their genuine feedback and displeasure of driving a 1.4 on all prominent Youtube Carens reviews.

Finally, got a response from Kia’s management sent an email to all, stating that we are working on a solution. The solution, though was not mentioned in email, was given to us by Kia regional heads over phone – that Kia Korea is in the process of developing a software patch to solve this, and expected date of release is Oct 2022.

To my surprise and pleasure, the software was developed before time, took approvals by government regulators like ARAI etc, and it reached SC in the first week of Sep 2022.

kia carens 1.4l petrol: poor low rpm response & how kia solved it

The patches are provided to affected individuals only – to only those who complain.

I have just recently got the software updated, and my findings are –

  • The initial sluggishness is solved about 80% easily. There is no lag while picking up the car, one can drive easily in 2nd gear over speed breakers/potholes without pressing the clutch and accelerator. The car is finally driving as expected.
  • Hill Assist still needs a bit of work – I have not tested this extensively, but just for a couple of instances. Hill Assist does not leave the brake for a good 1 or 2 seconds even after you press the accelerator.
  • Idle RPM is still the same as before – car starts with 1100 RPM which drops to 700 after 2/3 seconds.
  • Software Patch is composed of two files – one for Engine, and another for ABS/ESP.

Firmware Details –

kia carens 1.4l petrol: poor low rpm response & how kia solved it

The process of upgrading is pretty standard, just plug their connector to the OBD port, use their tablet/software and do a scan. It will detect the newer version available and will install it. The whole process will take a max of 20 mins.

With the above fix, I can conclude that –

  • Kia listened, and provided a fix. Though this should not have happened in the first place, but still.
  • Where was Kia’s QA team who did the testing ? !
  • Customer Satisfaction Rule – Provided a fix before a tentative timeline.
  • Customer support is a joke – you open up tickets, and they’ll keep on closing them without your consent.
  • There is no escalation matrix for Kia. First time I am seeing a public dealing MNC, but without ANY form of escalation or grievance redressal mechanism posted on their site. All you have is a global email address, where you’ll get standard copy paste responses.
  • Kia should have come out in the open and declared publicly the issue and solution. Till date they are quiet about it, and just doing the patches on each customer basis. If someone complains, do it, else let it be. Better would have been a recall !!
  • For owners who still think that their car is perfect, and not facing this issue, need not patch it. Or better still drive SC’s demo vehicle and see the difference.
  • SC is doing this patch in their new cars present in stockyard – so probably those who buy now will already have this patched.
  • For all 1.4 owners who still feel a lag, or as others say “not in turbo range”, please get the software installed.
  • Would have loved Kia to fix HA too, but that’s still manageable by using handbrake.

Keyword: Kia Carens 1.4L petrol: Poor low RPM response & how Kia solved it

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