A friend bought an EX Tellulride the day after I bought mine here in Port Charlotte, FL. He drove his from Florida to New York last week and reported that he lost two of the four plastic end caps on his roof racks on the trip home. He promptly called the dealer and they reported that some of the racks have a manufacturing defect and need to be replaced. I brought mine in for inspection and were OK. Although, i'm not to pleased with how they stay in place.
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Roof Rack Issue
- Thread author Langelic
- Start date
akupferberg
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- Jan 17, 2021
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I’ve had the same issue - lost one of the end caps and my Kia dealer told me he didn’t know where I should go to get a replacement.
I got tired of dealing with this manufacturing defect and decided to fix it myself. I installed stainless steel screws into each plastic cap to keep them in place. I painted the screw heads black so they don't show. Dealer replaced them twice and they still came off in the car wash before my permanent repair.
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G-171718
NorthEastAlex
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Could someone post a picture of the part that goes missing? I am expecting to take delivery in a few weeks and would like to ensure that I do not lose this part from the get go. Thanks.
PittPa
Well-known member
As much as I like the Kia cross bars, this is a design issue. The plastic clip just doesn't stay engaged and lifts. I imagine wind causes it to pull out (very easily) and then it comes apart. These aren't integral and cover the lock shown. Not sure what the work around is. Driving a screw into it would not be my solution.
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HillCountry
Well-known member
Thx for posting pics. I was inspecting my roof rails y’day looking for something missing. Now I know it’s the cross bars!
NorthEastAlex
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Thanks for posting the pictures. I agree with not driving a screw into the base as I would not want to mess with the structural integrity of the plastic that is holding things in place at 80mph. Perhaps a rubberized zip tie would be sufficient if it doesn't look terrible:
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I wonder if a few carefully cut pieces of square velcro usually sold at the hardware store would help keep it down? It seems right under the lock there is a flat space where you could affix one side of the velcro and the other side to the back of the plastic cap piece. Not sure if that's going to counter the wind that's pulling it out in the first place but the first thing that popped into my head that wasn't so "permanent". I'm getting cross bars too so I'll have to think about some solutions here...hmm...
GregS
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I lost mine to a car wash, which ripped the plastic anchor off. KIA says you cannot replace just the cover - yet another example of very poor customer service. I like the idea of a velcro securement, but the first issue is how do we find a replacement cover. 3D printer? This will be a growing problem for KIA that will push owners to other vendors racks. Appreciate any ideas...
