| Issue ID | 1185486 |
| Internal NHTSA # | 10717885 |
| Manufacurer | Kia Motors America |
| Brand | KIA |
| Model | SOUL |
| Model Year | 2015 |
| File date | 12/03/15 |
| Component | SEAT BELTS |
| Product type code | VEHICLE |
| Description of the problem | After buckling the seat belt on the front passenger seat and going down the road if you try to lean forward one finds that the seat belt is locked and will not permit any movement you have to release the seat belt and then return it to its parked position and then pull it back out again. Once that has been done you can move forward or pull on the belt only once before it locks up again. I feel very unsafe when the seat belt does this because i feel that in a serious accident one might not be able to release the seat belt if there was a lot of tension on the belt from its own tightening. One should be free to lean forward to open the glove compartment or turn to attend to matters in the back seats. I have actually simulated a scenario where there was extreme tension on the belt from pushing back in my seat and tightening the belt by pushing the belt back up over my shoulder and when i tried to release the belt it was so hard to press the release button that i had to ask my wife to get a rubber mallet and a long screwdriver so that i could hit the release button with the screw driver against the release button. It finally di disengage. I told my wife to go to the dealer and tell them to fix it and she was told there was nothing wrong with it. We had a 2013 kia soul and the seat belts did the same thing. I find this situation to be extremely unsafe and in certain situations this problem could be the root cause of fatalities. I have mentioned this to the dealer in regard to the 2015 and they said they checked it and it works fine. It does not work fine by any standard. I think the dealer/kia know there's a problem but need to be told to fix it. At best this is a major nuisance and at worst it is a death trap from which without a knife one cannot escape. |
| Vehicle Mileage at Failure | 512 |
| Number of Occurences | |
| Source of the issue | NHTSA WEB SITE |
| City and State | WARWICK, RI |
| VIN pattern | KNDJN2A28F7XXXXXX |
| Was vehicle invloved in a crash? | N |
| Was vehicle involved in a fire? | N |
| Was incedent reported to police? | N |
| Was medical attention required? | N |
| Was part original equipment? | |
| No. of injured persons | 0 |
| No. of fatalities | 0 |
| Date of purchase | 07/08/26 |
| Was original owner? | N |
| Anti-lock brakes | N |
| Cruise control | N |
| Number of cylinders | |
| Drive train type | |
| Transmission type | |
| Vehicle speed | 50 |
| DoT tire identifier | |
| Tire size | |
| Location of tire code | |
| Type of tire failure code | |
| Was defective tire repaired? | |
| Date of manufacture | |
| Type of child seat code | |
| Type of restraint | |
| Dealer's name | |
| Dealer's telephone number | |
| Dealer's city | |
| Dealer's state code | |
| Dealer's ZIP code |