Four problems related to underbody shield have been reported for the 1999 Kia Motor Sportage. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I was driving on the interstate and hit a bump when my car began swaying back and forth from side to side. I had a very hard time maintaining control. I slowly drove home and upon further inspection underneath my 1999 kia Sportage I discover the frame is totally rusted to the point of falling apart. The passenger side of the frame is almost non existent and the drivers side isn't much better there are holes and pieces of the frame gone. I have been reading on line that this is a huge problem my 11 year old daughter or myself could have been killed because of this defect, please do something so others will not have to worry about this.
Cracked chassis in a 1999 kia Sportage due to corrosion.
The contact owns a 1999 kia Sportage. The contact constantly heard loud noises when her 4 wheel drive was activated. She took the vehicle to the dealer and they discovered that the cross member in the rear differential rotted and detached from the vehicle. The vehicle is currently unable to be driven. The VIN was unknown. The current mileage was 119,000 and failure mileage was 101,000.
While driving home at the end of novemeber with my 4 children 13,12, 2 and18 month old twins my car began to rock from side to side out of control. I pulled over and figured it was a flat tire. It was not. I proceeded to drive home and thought maybe it was my power steering. In order to drive the car home I had to drive about 2 miles an hour. Luckily I was only a few miles away . . After I had a friend come by to check out the car and that is when we realized that the back sway bar was hanging to the ground. It had completely broken off the frame at the bracket where it was welded to the frame. There was about a 10-12 inch hole in the frame and both the bracket and the frame where broken were covered inside and out with rust. I called the dealer and they said that my warranty was up. I asked them to reference where in the handbook they would warranty the frame. After going back and forth with them for the last 3 months they have done nothing for me. They keep saying that it is not a warranty item. I had my insurance company come look at the car. They took digital pictures and he said that is clearly a manufacture defect and a terrible insufficient weld job and it was not sealed would explain the rust. No one will fix it not even the dealer because they said that it is not safe to fix. The insurance company also said that the other side is beginning to rust as well. This could have caused a horrific accident if this would have happened 5 minutes prior while I was driving on a highway 70 mph. They refused to give me any answers or help and keep telling me to refer to my warranty.