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2020 Telluride AWD rear end jerking thumping and vibrating

I ordered an SX AWD but switched it to a FWD due to the reports of all these vibrations. I understand that the vibration happens with AWD models. Has anyone ever reported it with FWD?
I also changed my order from AWD to FWD b/c of vibration reports. A little over 2,000k miles on my FWD & I'm loving it!
 
My 2021 SXP AWD has this problem. It's noticeable from about 68-72mph and it's a little aggravating (in big part because this is a very common highway speed around here), but I don't know if I have the energy to deal with Kia especially based on everyone else's experience here. Interestingly, I did not notice it very much over the winter, even during regular 2-hour highway drives every weekend. I was paying attention, because I do remember noticing this shortly after receiving the car last fall. I feel like it's worse in warmer weather and very minimal in cold weather. I'm in MA, so there's quite a bit of temperature swing between summer and winter. I could be wrong about the temperature as a factor, but I'm not sure how else to explain it.

If someone is successful in getting this fixed with an easily followed "playbook" (what exactly to tell Kia and how to get the right part fixed/replaced) then I'd definitely get it repaired. But I'm not interested in wasting time with repeated calling and multiple visits to the dealership and non-fixes like wheel balancing. This is part of a small but growing list of issues that'll give me pause before jumping at the value of Kia next year when it's time to replace my other car.
 
My 2021 SXP AWD has this problem. It's noticeable from about 68-72mph and it's a little aggravating (in big part because this is a very common highway speed around here), but I don't know if I have the energy to deal with Kia especially based on everyone else's experience here. Interestingly, I did not notice it very much over the winter, even during regular 2-hour highway drives every weekend. I was paying attention, because I do remember noticing this shortly after receiving the car last fall. I feel like it's worse in warmer weather and very minimal in cold weather. I'm in MA, so there's quite a bit of temperature swing between summer and winter. I could be wrong about the temperature as a factor, but I'm not sure how else to explain it.

If someone is successful in getting this fixed with an easily followed "playbook" (what exactly to tell Kia and how to get the right part fixed/replaced) then I'd definitely get it repaired. But I'm not interested in wasting time with repeated calling and multiple visits to the dealership and non-fixes like wheel balancing. This is part of a small but growing list of issues that'll give me pause before jumping at the value of Kia next year when it's time to replace my other car.
i feel the same way 100% . i am in same boat and hit the lottery. Just picked up 2 weeks ago and i have this issue. 2021 sxp with tow. so disappointing and frustrating . so people if you think its an older issue and its not happening anymore you are wrong. test drive before you sign. when i test drove it was raining pretty hard and highway was like 15 min away . i did my best to speed up but never went over 68 and assumed its fine. little that I know. btw car was built in March.
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What can you do.
they are going to start with you wheel balancing.
 
What can you do.
they are going to start with you wheel balancing.
yeap thinking of starting with that at least have a record. but i don't have it in me to start that battle and also seems like major work on the car. we normally use it for city driving and don't go past 60.
 
I had a 2021 EX on order back in late Aug and received a call in early Oct that it had arrived. I had agreed to 4K over invoice and when it came time to take possession, I bailed on the deal due to some issues I had read about and the thought of paying over invoice. It felt like a feeding frenzy going on so I knew someone would take my place in line.

On Dec 4, I took possession of a 2021 Toyota Highlander EXL for 4K less than what the Telluride was going to cost me with basically the same feature set.

The Highlander has nowhere the appearance appeal of the Telluride and some of the features aren’t as nice as the Kia but I came to the conclusion that what really matters to me is dependability and reliability. I don‘t want to have an adversarial relationship with my dealer nor have the vehicle spending time in the shop repeatedly being diagnosed for problems without resolution.

I just returned from a 3K road trip to California with cruise set at 78mph for the majority of the trip.
I handled like a champ and in fact felt as though it settled into my driving habits nicely.

It goes in to the dealer for its maiden service on Tuesday. She isn’t the prettiest thing on the road but she’s mine and I think I’m gonna keep her even though I’m jealous of the looks of the KIA. I keep telling myself it looks like a police cruiser and that relieves a bit of the pain for me.

The thought of repeatedly having to deal with having my vehicle in the shop gives me anxiety just thinking about it. I hope everyone here finds satisfaction with their Tellurides, and to those who have yet to buy, think of what is most important to you when plopping down your hard earned dollars.

KIA will eventually get it worked out but is it already there to your satisfaction, or is it maybe a model or two yet away?

Best of luck to all!
 
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I had a 2021 EX on order back in late Aug and received a call in early Oct that it had arrived. I had agreed to 4K over invoice and when it came time to take possession, I bailed on the deal due to some issues I had read about and the thought of paying over invoice. It felt like a feeding frenzy going on so I knew someone would take my place in line.

On Dec 4, I took possession of a 2021 Toyota Highlander EXL for 4K less than what the Telluride was going to cost me with basically the same feature set.

The Highlander has nowhere the appearance appeal of the Telluride and some of the features aren’t as nice as the Kia but I came to the conclusion that what really matters to me is dependability and reliability. I don‘t want to have an adversarial relationship with my dealer nor have the vehicle spending time in the shop repeatedly being diagnosed for problems without resolution.

I just returned from a 3K road trip to California with cruise set at 78mph for the majority of the trip.
I handled like a champ and in fact felt as though it settled into my driving habits nicely.

It goes in to the dealer for its maiden service on Tuesday. She isn’t the prettiest thing on the road but she’s mine and I think I’m gonna keep her even though I’m jealous of the looks of the KIA. I keep telling myself it looks like a police cruiser and that relieves a bit of the pain for me.

The thought of repeatedly having to deal with having my vehicle in the shop gives me anxiety just thinking about it. I hope everyone here finds satisfaction with their Tellurides, and to those who have yet to buy, think of what is most important to you when plopping down your hard earned dollars.

KIA will eventually get it worked out but is it already there to your satisfaction, or is it maybe a model or two yet away?

Best of luck to all!
I've got a Telluride S AWD, I paid MSRP, 2500 miles, not even a hint of vibration at any speed, a pure joy to drive. Kia Telluride has the highest satisfaction and reliability of any 3 row mid size SUV...

The number of people having problems are relatively small.
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I've got a Telluride S AWD, I paid MSRP, 2500 miles, not even a hint of vibration at any speed, a pure joy to drive. Kia Telluride has the highest satisfaction and reliability of any 3 row mid size SUV...

The number of people having problems are relatively small.
I think the concern outlined by the post is the reaction of the service departments at the dealerships and Kia when a problem is reported.

Every vehicle has issues. For instance in March 2020 the Toyota Highlander had a recall because of the ECU was causing it to stall and the fix is a reprogram. If it required a new chip during this shortage I can image based on volume alone Toyota would be in huge trouble.

The concern of response is a valid one if you fall under the unfortunate group with an issue. Before a problem is escalated to an NHTSA mandatory recall how does the dealership and manufacturer deal with the issue before volume requires it to be dealt with. It has been reported that Hyundai had similar reports of AWD vibration on the Palisade and issued a technical safety bulletin at least acknowledging there is an issue and giving some guidance to the service departments on what to tell the customer before people complain to the NHTSA. However, there have been more Palisade made worldwide over Tellurides so that could be why.

Take for instance the Palisade headrest problem. Hyundai owned it while it was starting to get reported and turning off new buyers but then resolved it for existing buyers after they found the resolution. Sales are no longer being impacted. I personally think telling someone in a patronizing tone that they can’t replicate heavy vibration that is unreasonably high is like saying “what smell?”. Demand being higher than supply shouldn’t be an excuse to dismiss good customer service. The dealerships who have stuck by the customers to resolve the vibration should be commended.

For 2020, 6 of the 12 AWD powertrain complaints reference vibration, or 4% of 163 total complaints.

For 2021, 4 of the 5 AWD powertrain complaints reference vibration, 13% of 31 total complaints.

The cost of the fix should not be a factor when it comes to acknowledging there is a problem. The PR cost will end up being much higher eventually. I’m willing to bet some of the 10 people that went through the effort to file the NHTSA complaint could have been converted to huge Kia warranty and service department evangelists if their problem had gotten the appropriate attention to resolution.
 
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I've got a Telluride S AWD, I paid MSRP, 2500 miles, not even a hint of vibration at any speed, a pure joy to drive. Kia Telluride has the highest satisfaction and reliability of any 3 row mid size SUV...

The number of people having problems are relatively small.
The number of people having this problem is small until / unless you are affected by it.
Cars today are very complicated and almost all of them have problems.

it’s the customer service that makes the difference.

So far I haven’t seen good customer service from them.
I was even asked whether I had bought the car from their dealership and told there might be a charge for diagnosing.
 
Totally agree with this sentiment. It's the customer dealership experiences reported here that most concerns me (not necessarily this specific mechanical issue). Our other car is an Audi and it's still under warranty. If it exhibited this problem then I would not hesitate to bring it to the dealer with confidence that it would be a good experience and they'd work with me until resolution. Reading people's experiences here just makes me feel defeated before even trying to have the problem fixed, and reminds me that you really do get what you pay for.

For now I'm just waiting to see if they issue a TSB for this problem or if someone chimes in with a clear playbook for how to get this taken care of. I still may try to address it with the dealer at some point because once you notice it then it's hard to stop being aggravated by it.
 
Totally agree with this sentiment. It's the customer dealership experiences reported here that most concerns me (not necessarily this specific mechanical issue). Our other car is an Audi and it's still under warranty. If it exhibited this problem then I would not hesitate to bring it to the dealer with confidence that it would be a good experience and they'd work with me until resolution. Reading people's experiences here just makes me feel defeated before even trying to have the problem fixed, and reminds me that you really do get what you pay for.

For now I'm just waiting to see if they issue a TSB for this problem or if someone chimes in with a clear playbook for how to get this taken care of. I still may try to address it with the dealer at some point because once you notice it then it's hard to stop being aggravated by it.
Damm I feel exact same way..
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A warranty is a contract. A good warranty is not about how many years or miles, it’s about confidence that you will be protected should you need the warranty. I’d rather not have to use the warranty and that’s where reliability and build quality scores matter. But if I did have to use the warranty, I want to feel protected and that’s more about customer service and confidence. Feeling dismissed as not having an actual problem is not part of the deal.
 
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To me it seems very counter productive to buy another brand because your concerned about dealing with a warranty issue, when the brand your walking away from is the the best there is right now at producing quality vehicles of the type you want.
 
To me it seems very counter productive to buy another brand because your concerned about dealing with a warranty issue, when the brand your walking away from is the the best there is right now at producing quality vehicles of the type you want.
Consider that people are walking away to get a Toyota that wrote the book for quality that Kia is following. There is plenty of brand confidence, track record and inventory. Kia has a good product but they can’t assume they are the market leader. To be the best you still have to beat what people believe to be the best.
 
In living this nightmare much of this headache falls on the shoulder of the dealers and Kia employees called District Service Managers. They are Kia employees who say yes/no to warranty repair work.

My dealer for example took my entire case to this District Service Manager who denied any reimbursement to my dealer for said warranty work. The dealer won't fix it for free unless you bought the vehicle from a very reputable dealer who is willing to help you up front and deal with the Kia DSM after the fact.
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I have dealt with many warranty issues with my previous Audi I owned as well. Primarily dealing with a water leaking issue into the cabin. They weren’t able to reproduce the problem until about the 5th time I brought it in for the issue. Over the course of 5 years because it had to rain a lot to see the water pooling in the footwell.

Luxury dealership service visits are nice in the sense the waiting room is much more comfortable with leather seats and free coffee and pastries. But they can give you the run around just as easily. They act like they care about you, but the next time you visit they don’t even remember or acknowledge you if you are assigned to another service agent.

They all follow the same protocol when it comes to servicing, repairs, warranty coverage. If it is an obvious or well documented fix that follows a TSB, the repair process will be straightforward. But if it is not well known across dealership service departments and Kia warranty database, particularly in the case of a new car model, it will take longer than desired.

So what I am trying to say is, if you are trying to avoid Kia to avoid frustrating dealer visits and warranty repairs, just be aware frustration exists in other brand dealerships. Even Audi.
 
I have dealt with many warranty issues with my previous Audi I owned as well. Primarily dealing with a water leaking issue into the cabin. They weren’t able to reproduce the problem until about the 5th time I brought it in for the issue. Over the course of 5 years because it had to rain a lot to see the water pooling in the footwell.

Luxury dealership service visits are nice in the sense the waiting room is much more comfortable with leather seats and free coffee and pastries. But they can give you the run around just as easily. They act like they care about you, but the next time you visit they don’t even remember or acknowledge you if you are assigned to another service agent.

They all follow the same protocol when it comes to servicing, repairs, warranty coverage. If it is an obvious or well documented fix that follows a TSB, the repair process will be straightforward. But if it is not well known across dealership service departments and Kia warranty database, particularly in the case of a new car model, it will take longer than desired.

So what I am trying to say is, if you are trying to avoid Kia to avoid frustrating dealer visits and warranty repairs, just be aware frustration exists in other brand dealerships. Even Audi.
Excellent points. Still trying to understand why Hyundai would issue a TSB for what seems to be a very similar issue with the same parts on the Palisade but radio silence on the issue from Kia.
 
I feel like there are several examples stated in this (lengthy) thread that I would not expect to experience with Audi. But point taken, you can experience frustration with any brand.
 
Excellent points. Still trying to understand why Hyundai would issue a TSB for what seems to be a very similar issue with the same parts on the Palisade but radio silence on the issue from Kia.
I'm wondering the same as well. Now I'm very worried and may just wait for the new honda pilot.
 
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