Concerns - Popping/Creaking Noise from Sunroof

[TimT]

I think a lot of people's noises are coming from the Velcro not being fully seated. My car had intermittent noise also from the sunroof. I pressed up on all the edges and I couldn't feel anything seat....at first. I wasn't pressing in the right place or hard enough.

With the sunroof fully open and standing on the road/driveway outside the car with the window open on the passengerside/drivers side and my head above the car roof, I could then see exactly where the Velcro on the headliner meets the roof. I then reached my arms in through the windows and pressed exactly where the Velcro is and I pressed much harder. Only then did I feel the Velcro fully seat in two of (I think) four places.

Since then, I have no noise or creaking.

Could you manage to do a video on what is the exact area that needs attention, to push the velcro? I'm having a bit of a hard time understanding the solution.

 

[FitR6]

Is this happening on 2019 models as well?

Yes. Mine is a MY19 and my sunroof creaking is getting worse as time goes by.

 

[Dodger Blue]

Yes. Mine is a MY19 and my sunroof creaking is getting worse as time goes by.

Same. It's been serviced once too. The rattle came back within 500 miles.

 

[FitR6]

Same. It's been serviced once too. The rattle came back within 500 miles.

Mine was still there when I drove it out of the service yard lol.

 

[FitR6]

So as predicted, took mine in for the 4th time to get sunroof creaking fixed, and when I went in to pick it up and started her, the creaking was still there. I hadn't even left the premises and walked back in to rebook it for the 5th time on Monday. Ridiculous! I videoed the noises on the drive home to avoid the typical "we couldn't reproduce the problem" excuse.

 

[Spaceme17]

Could you manage to do a video on what is the exact area that needs attention, to push the velcro? I'm having a bit of a hard time understanding the solution.

I’ll take some pictures and post later.

 

[FitR6]

Update: Took my Stinger in for the 5th time to get my sunroof creaking fixed (after picking it up late last week from the last "so-called "repair"). Have to say I lost my SHIT with them today (but no yelling or swearing so my son says he is proud of me hahahaha), but I gave them a piece of my mind and told them what I thought of how they have been conducting things. I insisted to speak to the lead mechanic (the manager is away until tomorrow, but he got a lovely email from me over the weekend), and told him that I am over him pretending that he has fixed the issue when in actual fact he has made it worse. I told him that the car should never be returned to a customer as "repaired" when it obviously has not been. I also mentioned that the 7 year warranty on Kia cars means nothing if problems aren't actually fixed as they arise. As I left I told the supervisor not to dare call me to collect the car until it is near perfect! She told me that they have contacted a Kia specialist to come and take the car for a test drive to look at the problem, and I replied that I thought their mechanics WERE Kia specialists!!! I had videoed the noises that it made on the drive home from the last time it was "fixed" and showed them. They asked me to send to them but the file was too big and I could only send them trimmed sections. Regardless, I told them to take it for a drive now and make their own video of it. It's not a sometimes issue. It happens EVERY time I take the car for a drive.

I have found a new problem since they have replaced my transmission as well. The seat does not move back in the mornings like it used to. It does almost every other time, but every morning it stays put. This is another issue they say they could not reproduce yet I had videoed it to show them.

I have contacted Kia Australia and made a formal complaint with them as well, and they say they will be chasing this up. If nothing is done, I guarantee you Mt Vesuvius will erupt and they will have a war on their hands. For their flagship top of the range car, these issues should NOT be happening, and at the very least, be repaired effectively before returning to the owners.

Here is a link to a video I took on the way home from the last "fix". Noises start at 17 sec. At first they sound like a pen clicking, and then around 1:16 it sounds like a creaking ship.
20200709_170906.mp4

 

[ShannonC]

Don't mess with FitR6

 

[FitR6]

Don't mess with FitR6

 

[Stinger GT SS]

Update: Took my Stinger in for the 5th time to get my sunroof creaking fixed (after picking it up late last week for the last "so-called" repair". Have to say I lost my SHIT with them today (but no yelling or swearing so my son says he is proud of me hahahaha), but I gave them a piece of my mind and told them what I thought of how they have been conducting things. I insisted to speak to the lead mechanic (the manager is away until tomorrow, but he got a lovely email from me over the weekend), and told him that I am over him pretending that he has fixed the issue when in actual fact he has made it worse. I told him that the car should never be returned to a customer as "repaired" when it obviously has not been. I also mentioned that the 7 year warranty on Kia cars means nothing if problems aren't actually fixed as they arise. As I left I told the supervisor not to dare call me to collect the car until it is near perfect! She told me that they have contacted a Kia specialist to come and take the car for a test drive to look at the problem, and I replied that I thought their mechanics WERE Kia specialists!!! I had videoed the noises that it made on the drive home from the last time it was "fixed" and showed them. They asked me to send to them but the file was too big and I could only send them trimmed sections. Regardless, I told them to take it for a drive now and make their own video of it. It's not a sometimes issue. It happens EVERY time I take the car for a drive.

I have found a new problem since they have replaced my transmission as well. The seat does not move back in the mornings like it used to. It does almost every other time, but every morning it stays put. This is another issue they say they could not reproduce yet I had videoed it to show them.

I have contacted Kia Australia and made a formal complaint with them as well, and they say they will be chasing this up. If nothing is done, I guarantee you Mt Vesuvius will erupt and they will have a war on their hands. For their flagship top of the range car, these issues should NOT be happening, and at the very least, be repaired effectively before returning to the owners.

Here is a link to a video I took on the way home from the last "fix". Noises start at 17 sec. At first they sound like a pen clicking, and then around 1:16 it sounds like a creaking ship.
20200709_170906.mp4

I hope they now get these issues resolved for you now you’ve rattled their “cages”.
I find it incomprehensible that dealerships can treat customers this way, you stick to you guns, if you still don’t get satisfactory result from Kia I would then get the ball rolling with the NSW Dept. of Fair Trading, it’s amazing what sort of results you can get once you tell them you’ve spoken to Fair Trading & you are now aware of your legal rights as a consumer.

 

[FitR6]

I hope they now get these issues resolved for you now you’ve rattled their “cages”.
I find it incomprehensible that dealerships can treat customers this way, you stick to you guns, if you still don’t get satisfactory result from Kia I would then get the ball rolling with the NSW Dept. of Fair Trading, it’s amazing what sort of results you can get once you tell them you’ve spoken to Fair Trading & you are now aware of your legal rights as a consumer.

Oh I have told them this, and also that I am prepared to take civil action in court. It is a shame that you have to stamp your feet to get things done. I was polite and courteous and accommodating for all this time and they treated me like a fool. So now I will show some teeth and they can call me what they like for doing so, but if that is what is needed to get them to take this seriously then so be it. As you know, I don't give a damn about popularity and whether people like me. If you step on my toes too many time I will snap at you like there is no tomorrow.

 

[Stinger GT SS]

Oh I have told them this, and also that I am prepared to take civil action in court. It is a shame that you have to stamp your feet to get things done. I was polite and courteous and accommodating for all this time and they treated me like a fool. So now I will show some teeth and they can call me what they like for doing so, but if that is what is needed to get them to take this seriously then so be it. As you know, I don't give a damn about popularity and whether people like me. If you step on my toes too many time I will snap at you like there is no tomorrow.

Totally agree, we are all entitled to be served as human beings & not treated like fools & it gets to a point where ones patience runs out so they only will have themselves to blame when it all gets too hot.

 

[Nasscar]

T

Oh I have told them this, and also that I am prepared to take civil action in court. It is a shame that you have to stamp your feet to get things done. I was polite and courteous and accommodating for all this time and they treated me like a fool. So now I will show some teeth and they can call me what they like for doing so, but if that is what is needed to get them to take this seriously then so be it. As you know, I don't give a damn about popularity and whether people like me. If you step on my toes too many time I will snap at you like there is no tomorrow.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

 

[Nasscar]

Or in this case the squeaky sunroof. Fingers crossed for you.

 

[Marc Collins]

The bigger issue for me here is how every dealer is expected to deal with this individually (and more often than not incompetently)--even though any idiot with the Internet can come here and discover that this is a well-known issue with many already-failed attempts to fix it all over the world. Save most of your vitriol for the corporate office rather than the dealer. The dealers are just order-takers who follow instructions provided by the head office. In the absence of any guidance or documentation, they will muddle through, usually incompetently, trying their best and milking warranty dollars as they go.

The real problem is why has KIA not sent info to all their offices in the world acknowledging this problem and providing info as to how it should be resolved (including what not to waste dealer and customer time and money doing because it is already known to not be a solution)? Remember the fiasco of the rear hatch latch rattle? The ultimate fix is a 59-cent washer you can buy at any hardware store and install yourself, yet months of agony and trips back and forth to dealers continued on long after we here discovered the solution. Eventually, an official fix was documented and released.

It is this too-slow and too-opaque process that is the problem. Some customers received entirely new sunroofs and assemblies. Some have been treated like @FitR6, and everything in between. This inconsistency is more infuriating (and surprising in today's modern world) to me than an incompetent dealer. I expect that as the default.

 

[FitR6]

The bigger issue for me here is how every dealer is expected to deal with this individually (and more often than not incompetently)--even though any idiot with the Internet can come here and discover that this is a well-known issue with many already-failed attempts to fix it all over the world. Save most of your vitriol for the corporate office rather than the dealer. The dealers are just order-takers who follow instructions provided by the head office. In the absence of any guidance or documentation, they will muddle through, usually incompetently, trying their best and milking warranty dollars as they go.

The real problem is why has KIA not sent info to all their offices in the world acknowledging this problem and providing info as to how it should be resolved (including what not to waste dealer and customer time and money doing because it is already known to not be a solution)? Remember the fiasco of the rear hatch latch rattle? The ultimate fix is a 59-cent washer you can buy at any hardware store and install yourself, yet months of agony and trips back and forth to dealers continued on long after we here discovered the solution. Eventually, an official fix was documented and released.

It is this too-slow and too-opaque process that is the problem. Some customers received entirely new sunroofs and assemblies. Some have been treated like @FitR6, and everything in between. This inconsistency is more infuriating (and surprising in today's modern world) to me than an incompetent dealer. I expect that as the default.

I completely agree that the main problem lies up the chain with Kia themselves, and said that very thing to the dealer, but I completely disagree that the dealer did their best because in my case they did far from it. Saying you can't hear an obvious noise is not doing your best. Tapping the roof a few times and saying the issue is fixed is not doing your best. They are Kia representatives and so they will have to endure my criticism and bear the consequences for THEIR part that they have played in this too. Your dealer may be innocent in what they have done, but mine certainly aren't.

 

[Marc Collins]

I completely agree that the main problem lies up the chain with Kia themselves, and said that very thing to the dealer, but I completely disagree that the dealer did their best because in my case they did far from it. Saying you can't hear an obvious noise is not doing your best. Tapping the roof a few times and saying the issue is fixed is not doing your best. They are Kia representatives and so they will have to endure my criticism and bear the consequences for THEIR part that they have played in this too. Your dealer may be innocent in what they have done, but mine certainly aren't.

No, every dealer I have encountered in my entire life has been the same as yours. And that includes so-called premium vehicle brands that I would expect far more from than KIA. I don't use my purchasing dealer for service because they rate a 2/10, so I now use one farther down the road (I'm lucky to live in a big city with lots to choose from) that rates a 4/10.

 

[TimT]

This week I did the first steps to start a war with Kia similar to @FitR6 - luckily for me the person who deals with Kia related warranty issues in the dealership I use is someone I know for over 10 years and he also dealt with my previous car (Opel / Vauxhall) since the company owns representative rights also for Opel (and Chevrolette, Cadillac, Peugeot amongst others).
But even he said that this is something that will take a while as the creaking requires certain conditions (mostly related to temperature outside) to creak really loudly but the first goal will be to get clear instructions from the head office and if those instructions do not work then get the sunroof assebly changed.
Currently the only instruction from the head office in general has been to lubricate the velcro areas if creaking starts to happen.

When it comes to DYI solutions, I have no doubt that some of these work, we have tried loosening the bolts and even removing a few and even though that has a positive effect, it still is not enough and I can't be bothered to try the others on my own. I bought the Stinger largely because of its 7 year warranty (compared to competitors like BMW & Audi who have a noticeably shorter one) and that's why I'm gonna push it until the dealership gets a solid fix for it.

 

[FitR6]

No, every dealer I have encountered in my entire life has been the same as yours. And that includes so-called premium vehicle brands that I would expect far more from than KIA. I don't use my purchasing dealer for service because they rate a 2/10, so I now use one farther down the road (I'm lucky to live in a big city with lots to choose from) that rates a 4/10.

I also use my own mechanic to service the car. My dealer tried to tell me that my mechanic won't have access to their special diff oil that needs replacing at I think the 40k service and that if I don't use the dealer I will void my warranty lol. Funny. Yet their service fee for this one is literally double the cost at more than $800 than what my mechanic will charge me (just over $400).

 

[TimT]

And to continue my post about starting a proper tug of war regarding getting the sunroof assembly changed to a new one, this is what my sunroof sounded after coming from the dealership and my 30 000km service, where they could not replicate the issue because they tried to replicate it after the car had been indoors for 2 hours. This is what it sounded like after it had been in outside temperatures for 45 minutes..