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NHTSA defect investigation · Defect Petition

Kia defect petition DP24002

3.3L Engine Loss of Motive Power (LOMP). NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this defect petition about the engine on 1 model year (2016). Opened Feb 27, 2024, closed Mar 5, 2024 after 7 days without a recall. closed

What NHTSA says

Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filed

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a petition on February 20, 2024, requesting the opening of an investigation into an alleged defect of the "engine" on the following vehicle model stated by the petitioner: 2016 Kia Sedona vehicles equipped with the 3.3L V-Shaped GDI Lambda-II engine. The petitioner raised the issue of a Loss of Motive Power. On November 13, 2023, ODI opened PE23-019 to address allegations of loss of motive power, on the 3.3L V6 Lambda-II engine for 2016-2017 Kia Sorento and included the 2016 Kia Sedona as a peer vehicle. This investigation is ongoing and addresses the potential safety-related defect raised by the petitioner.  In view of the open Investigation, PE23-019, ODI considers the petition moot and is closing this action.  The closing of the petition does not constitute a finding by NHTSA that a safety-related defect does not exist.  The Agency reserves the right to make that determination at the close of PE23-019.

Stage Defect Petition — NHTSA works to complete one within four months Opened Feb 27, 2024 Closed Mar 5, 2024 Manufacturer Kia America, Inc. Components Engine

A Defect Petition is a petition from a member of the public asking NHTSA to open a defect investigation; the agency grants or denies it and publishes the reasons. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.

The paperwork NHTSA filed

Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov
DocumentCodeFiledAt NHTSA
Opening resumeINOA2024PDF
Closing resumeINCLA2024PDF
Filed documentINOV2024PDF
Filed documentINDA2024PDF
Filed documentINCV2024PDF
Filed documentINFD2024PDF

These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.

What owners had already reported

Source: complaints on file the day it opened

When NHTSA opened this on Feb 27, 2024, owners had filed 212 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 50 named the engine NHTSA went on to investigate. Owner complaints are the agency’s main early signal: ODI screens them, and a Preliminary Evaluation is usually where a pattern in them ends up.

This is what the complaint file held on that date, not a claim about which reports prompted the investigation — NHTSA’s complaint records carry no investigation number, so nobody can make that link from the data alone. The opening resume linked above names the reports ODI itself cited. Complaint records on this site begin with 2016.

What this means for an owner

Source: and what happens next

An investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.

This one closed without a recall. That means NHTSA found no defect trend it chose to act on at the time, or the manufacturer addressed the condition another way (a service campaign or a bulletin, which have their own pages). A closed file can be reopened if new reports arrive.

Model years it names

Source: as NHTSA filed them

A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.

Common questions

Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation

Is DP24002 a recall?

No. A defect petition is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one closed without one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.

Is DP24002 still open?

No. It closed on Mar 5, 2024 without a recall.

Which vehicles does DP24002 cover?

NHTSA opened it on 1 model year: 2016 Kia Sedona. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.