What 64 owners told NHTSA about the 2018 Kia Stinger

Steering wheel began making noises that sounded like grinding of gears that sounded like it was coming from outside of the interior of the vehicle. The noise was heard loudly when turning the steering wheel after the car sat idle and occasionally after driving the car after several minutes of the car warming up. The noise occurred increasingly more frequent over 4 weeks. The steering also became more difficult with tension felt during turning the wheel. Eventually, the steering wheel locked completely during turning and became unable to turn the steering wheel while driving and turning the wheel. The risk of crash which put me and others at risk was narrowly avoided by stopping in the middle of an intersection multiple times while driving the car. The car was taken to the Kia dealership 3/16/23 and the problem was reproduced and confirmed by the dealer on 3/20/23 where it was inspected. When the steering wheel locked, a message related to the Lane Assist feature on the car appeared.

NHTSA ODI 11512912

THE VEHICLE WAS IN CAR ACCIDENT. VEHICLE WAS IN MOTION AND HAD ADAPTIVE CRUISE CONTROL ON AND VEHICLE IN FRONT OF ME SO IT SHIFTED DOWN SO CAR WAS IN FRONT OF ME AND LANE ASSIST JERKED THE WHEEL AS I WAS APPROACHING THE CAR IN FRONT OF ME AND CAUSED ME TO GO INTO THE OTHER LANE AND AND THEN IT RESUMED SPEED BECAUSE IT DID NOT REALIZE A VEHICLE WAS COMING THE OTHER WAY. AT THIS TIME I HAD NO CONTROL OF THE CAR. BY THE TIME I COULD GET BACK OVER AND GOT CONTROL OF THE VEHICLE IT WAS TO LATE AND I HIT SOMEONE AND THEY DIED. THIS CAR HAS A DEFECT OR MALFUNCTION AND THESE SAFETY FEATURES ARE PUT IN VEHICLES TO HELP BUT I AM NOT SO SURE THEY HELP AND ARE

NHTSA ODI 11242708