Kia recalls 5,469 vehicles in KSA

The Commerce and Industry Ministry on Tuesday announced the recall of 5,469 Kia cars in the Kingdom manufactured between 2007 and 2011 because of faulty parts.
The ministry alerted the public through its website and called upon owners of affected Kia cars to visit the nearest company showroom for repairing the faulty parts.
The callback covers 1,159 Kia Carens made between 1/3/2008 and 30/11/2009, 374 Carnival made between 21/11/2006 and 27/6/2007, and 131 Soul made between 1/6/2010 and 14/6/2011.
Other Kia cars involved in the recall are: 1,592 Optima made between 6/5/2010 and 24/4/20111,192 Sorento XM manufactured between 14/5/2009 and 24/4/2011 and 1,021 Sorento BL made between 1/5/2007 and 22/12/2008.
Saadi Al-Ghamdi, a Saudi, thanked the ministry for alerting the public against faulty cars in order to repair the faulty parts free of charge from the company. He praised Kia cars for their good features and urged its agents in the Kingdom to improve its services.
Another Saudi, however, said he expected the recall announcement from the auto agent rather than the ministry. He also pointed out that most of the cars listed for recall have become old and would not serve the purpose.
Commerce and Industry Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah has set up a committee to investigate violations by car dealers and issue verdicts in accordance with the law to ensure good service and protect consumers.
The law insists that car dealers have to supply spare parts, ensure quality of vehicles, and provide maintenance services.
The ministry had earlier conducted a survey that showed 61 percent of customers were unhappy with car dealers’ after-sales services. The survey showed only 11 percent of clients have expressed their satisfaction over the standard of services being rendered to them while the remaining 28 percent opined that they are satisfied to a certain extent. 
“The ministry will demand the companies that are present in the Kingdom to supervise and monitor the performance of their agents so as to improve the services rendered to the clients,” an official statement said.
The ministry has also decided to carry out survey among the customers in the beginning of January and July every year in order to follow up on the performance of these agents and ensure the satisfaction of customers in a sustained manner, it added.
The survey was conducted among more than 22,000 customers, of which over 12,000 responded through the ministry’s website and more than 10,000 were contacted through the field survey carried out in university campuses, public places and government and private firms across the Kingdom.