The catalytic converter should last the lifetime of the car if the engine is operating properly. When it malfunctions, too much raw fuel frequently enters the converter as a result of an engine that isn’t firing properly. The catalyst can become coated with too much unburned gasoline, which will prohibit the converter from operating. Additionally, the converter runs the risk of overheating, internal breakdown, and plugging or restriction.
The vehicle’s emissions guarantee, which goes beyond the factory warranty from the manufacturer, covers the catalytic converter. Federal law requires manufacturers to replace a faulty converter for up to 15 years or 150,000 miles together with other pollution control systems. For details on your warranty, which differ depending on the state you’re in and the kind of car you have, consult your owner’s handbook.
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What does the Kia warranty not cover?
The following items are excluded from the KIA New Vehicle Warranty: As a result of normal wear and tear, replenishing or replacing oil, fluids, coolant, wiper blades, fan belts, filters, brake and clutch linings, spark plugs, light globes, gaskets, and so forth.
How long is the warranty on a catalytic converter good for?
According to federal emissions regulations, automakers must provide a warranty for eight years or 80,000 miles, whichever comes first, for the catalytic converter and PCM/ECM (powertrain or electronic control module).
Does the warranty cover the catalytic converter?
To put it simply, a car’s catalytic converter is typically not a component covered by an extended auto warranty or vehicle service contract, making replacement costly.
Catalytic converters are essential to a vehicle’s emissions system, thus even though they are not covered by a warranty, they are covered by the Federal Emissions Warranty as part of the Clean Air Act. This protection will cover the cost of a replacement if your catalytic converter is stolen for up to 8 years/80,000 miles of failure in your vehicle. However, your auto insurance company ought to pay for theft or damage brought on by an accident or bad weather.
With a comprehensive auto protection package like EnduranceAdvantageTM, you can shield your car against unforeseen breakdowns and repair costs. You may feel secure knowing that other essential parts of your car, including the engine and transmission, are covered and that you won’t have to pay for repairs out of pocket. Additionally, you are entitled to free basic maintenance repairs worth up to $3,500, including things like free tire rotations and oil and filter changes.
Is the catalytic converter covered by the powertrain warranty?
The bumper-to-bumper warranty and the powertrain warranty are two separate warranties that come with every new car sold. When combined, the two guarantees provide complete protection in the event that your new or nearly-new car experiences an early failure.
The most expensive parts of your automobile are covered by the powertrain warranty, but many car purchasers are unclear about what is included and what not. We describe in detail what is covered by the powertrain warranty.
What is the Powertrain?
The vital parts of a car’s powertrain are those that generate the vehicle’s power and transmit it to the wheels. These components include the transaxle, driveshaft, and transfer case depending on whether a car has front-wheel, rear-wheel, or all-wheel drive, the engine, transmission, differential, axle shafts, and the transaxle. In other words, a component is a part of the powertrain if it directly affects the generation or flow of engine power.
Since an engine or transmission are not simple devices, as you might expect, these components are sophisticated technical feats. Due to the number of labor hours required for maintenance as well as the price of purchasing replacement parts, the cost when one of these parts experiences a significant failure might be enormous. This is becoming even more true given how much technology is being incorporated into automobiles.
In addition, every car has a drivetrain, which is frequently mistaken for the powertrain. However, the driven wheels are the main emphasis of the drivetrain. The four different drivetrain types are all-wheel drive (AWD), four-wheel drive (4WD), front-wheel drive (FWD), and rear-wheel drive (RWD). The powertrain warranty covers the parts of these drive systems. Refer to our guides on drivetrains, 4WD vs. AWD and RWD vs. FWD, for more information.
What is Covered by a Powertrain Warranty?
The cost of any powertrain component repairs or replacements is covered by the powertrain warranty, a specific kind of limited guarantee.
The specifics of what is covered vary from warranty to warranty. Seals and gaskets, internal components such as the crankshaft, pistons, valves, fuel injectors, and timing chain, the cylinder block and oil pan, transmission gears and synchronizers, and all of the hardware that makes up the differential and axle systems are frequently covered parts.
It’s crucial to keep in mind that coverage for all these parts may be void if the car has been purposefully misused, altered from its original state, or used inconsistently. This implies that you shouldn’t count on your Mitsubishi Mirage’s engine warranty to cover any harm caused by off-roading.
The guarantee is also null and void in case of an accident. Your insurance will pay for any necessary powertrain repairs brought on by an accident, not the warranty.
When it comes time to file a warranty claim, make sure to only take your automobile to authorized service centers and dealerships; the services of a local independent mechanic will not be covered by the provisions of the factory guarantee.
What is Not Covered by a Powertrain Warranty?
Every warranty has a long list of exclusions that detail what is not covered; occasionally, this list appears to be broader than the list of items that are. As we previously noted, each manufacturer has different specifications for what is and isn’t covered, but a recurring trend is that cooling systems, all electronics, engine control module sensors, belts, and hoses are not covered. Other parts that could not be covered include wheel bearings, catalytic converters, oil pumps, and water pumps.
A solid generalization is that a powertrain warranty does not apply to anything deemed to be a worn item. For instance, don’t count on the dealership to cover the cost of a replacement clutch if your manual-transmission car’s clutch fails. The service department will simply label it a wear-and-tear item and hand you the bill, even if it only lasted 20,000 miles. The same is true of additional components like the timing belt or CV joints, which are regarded as wear parts and are not covered by a guarantee.
Brake pads, tire rotations, and other standard maintenance procedures won’t be covered either. The warranty is not intended to cover basic maintenance; rather, it is meant to shield automobile owners against unforeseen repairs.
You must read the fine print regarding your warranty coverage if you don’t want your local mechanic to be startled about what is and isn’t covered by your service contract. No matter if you’re purchasing a new car with factory coverage or a third-party warranty, the contract will expressly state the warranty’s terms.
How Long Does a Powertrain Warranty Last?
Every manufacturer has a different policy on the duration of a powertrain warranty, but the terms of coverage are typically stated as follows: five years or 60,000 miles, whichever comes first. The manufacturers with the longest warranties include Hyundai, Kia, Genesis, and Mitsubishi, whose powertrains are covered for ten years or 100,000 miles. Since the late 1990s, Korean brands have offered ten-year powertrain coverage; twenty years later, their guarantee continues to be the longest in the sector. A list of automakers and the duration of their powertrain warranties is shown below:
Does the Kia warranty cover the exhaust system?
Only a few other automakers, such as Hyundai and Mitsubishi, match Kia’s market-leading 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain guarantee, which has been available since 2008. In contrast, the majority of automakers only provide 3-year/36,000-mile or 5-year/60,000-mile warranties for powertrains.
Kia’s generous term limits reflect the manufacturer’s strong belief in the caliber of its goods and services. Additionally, it demonstrates customer care by providing assurance for longer than many rivals.
The Kia factory warranty is divided into a number of separate warranties:
With a small list of exclusions, a complete bumper-to-bumper guarantee that covers the majority of your car’s components is provided.
A toll-free helpline is available. For emergencies like dead batteries, flat tires (if you have a spare), and running out of gas, we are available around-the-clock, including on holidays.
radio, CD player, entertainment system for the backseat, or navigation system that came with the car originally
Additionally, the federal and California emissions warranties, which can last anywhere from 2 years/24,000 miles to 15 years/150,000 miles depending on where you reside, provide protection for the pollution control systems in Kia vehicles.
The trip interruption coverage of the Kia warranty is an added bonus. Kia will make a reasonable allowance for your food, housing, and rental car costs if your car breaks down due to a warranty-related disablement more than 150 miles from your home and repairs take more than 24 hours to complete. Additionally, Kia will pay up to $75 per incident for services like petrol delivery, flat tire assistance, towing to a dealership or another service site, and more.
Kia Warranty Exclusions and Caveats
What is not covered by your Kia warranty is just as significant as what is. There are some things that Kia’s warranty does not cover, just like with all manufacturer warranties:
- automobile abuse
- Accidents
- Vandalism or theft
- Hail, tree sap, floods, road salt, and other environmental harm
- adjustments or tweaks made after the fact
- Wear and tear” or typical deterioration
- Window glass that is scratched, chipped, or cracked
- User-caused harm, such as stains on carpet
- damage brought on by irregular maintenance or a lack thereof
- repairs to the UVO system (a touchscreen infotainment system offered by Kia that includes capabilities like Apple CarPlay)
- even more
The convenience of the Kia warranty is also constrained by a variety of other considerations. Caveats that should be noted include:
You must get your car serviced at a Kia dealership that is approved in order to obtain warranty service.
Not when you bought it, but on the day your vehicle was constructed, the warranty period begins. Therefore, the 10-year warranty on a 2018 model that was made at the end of 2017 but sold in 2018 would expire in 2027 rather than 2028.
The powertrain warranty, which is good for 10 years or 100,000 miles, is not entirely transferrable to new owners. The term limit is automatically lowered to 5 years or 60,000 miles. (However, the vehicle’s original 10-year/100,000-mile warranty is still in effect if it is later certified pre-owned by Kia.)
Kia Warranty vs. Other Manufacturers
The 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty from Kia is among the longest in the auto industry, as was previously mentioned.
On the surface, that term length alone appears to guarantee an easy victory against rivals. The full warranty has several restrictions due to the fine print, and Kia omits some items that other firms with similar term limits provide to customers, such as free maintenance.
Even yet, Kia came in third place overall among manufacturers in our thorough analysis of the best new car warranties.
How to Find Out if Your Kia is Under Warranty
Your car is still covered by its original warranty even if you bought a certified pre-owned Kia from a dealership. If you bought a newer model car from a private seller, the factory warranty from Kia, which includes the shortened 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain coverage, might still be in effect.
Calling a dealership that specializes in Kias and giving them your vehicle identification number is the quickest and most straightforward way to find out if your Kia is still covered under warranty (VIN). Even if you acquired a used car, the dealer should be able to check the condition of your warranty.
Should You Consider Extended Warranty Coverage?
Kia is so sure of the quality of its cars that it extends the duration of the guarantee up to ten years. But what happens if your insurance expires and you are now responsible for paying for all repairs?
Based on the price, frequency, and severity of both unscheduled repairs and maintenance, RepairPal has determined that Kia has an above-average reliability rating. Over the lifetime of a Kia car, just 10% of repairs are deemed significant. All Kia models cost an average of $474 annually, which is less than the $652 average for all cars. Owners of Kia vehicles that experience more severe issues, however, should prepare to pay far more.
For instance, according to RepairPal, the typical cost to replace the water pump in a Kia Sportage ranges from $409 to $519. Owners of the Kia Sorento can anticipate paying between $696 and $1064 to replace the air conditioning compressor in their car.
In the end, even the most dependable vehicles may experience problems. These typically increase in frequency as the car ages and after the manufacturer’s warranty expires.
Kia Extended Warranty Coverage Overview
There are various levels of Kia extended warranty coverage available with the Kia Distinction Vehicle Protection Plan. Here are the fundamentals of what you can anticipate from each level of coverage, while there is a lot of fine print describing what is and isn’t covered, much like with the factory Kia warranty:
comprehensive strategy that leaves out some worn components, such as the catalytic converter and exhaust system
includes front and back springs, a variety of fuel system components, as well as essential electronics that might be among the most expensive repairs to do.
includes a wide range of engine and steering system parts, electrical parts such electronic ignition modules, power window motors, and a number of components necessary for powertrain performance.
includes information on some steering, braking, and air conditioning system components, as well as information on the front suspension, the alternator, the starter motor, and a longer list of hybrid elements.
discusses a number of critical hybrid components as well as numerous major engine, transmission, and drive axle parts.
There are advantages and disadvantages to continuing with Kia for protection after your factory Kia warranty expires, just as with any manufacturer extended warranty.
If a covered mechanical breakdown occurs more than 100 miles from your home, Kia extended warranties cover travel expenditures for food and housing in addition to compensation for rental car and towing costs. The proposals also relax the original factory warranty’s requirement that all repairs be performed at dealerships, enabling you to take your car to any one of the country’s roughly 6,000 “approved service centers or any licensed repair facility.”
When compared to independent vendors, the Kia extended warranty is less comprehensive in terms of covering time. Your vehicle will only be covered for the maximum term of 120,000 miles.
Benefits of a Third-Party Extended Warranty
Kia owners are among the most devoted consumers in the world, claims USA Today. However, if you have options beyond what the manufacturer offers, it can be worthwhile to think about extended auto warranties.
Purchasing an extended warranty from a business like CARCHEX, Endurance, or Protect My Car has the following advantages:
- Older vehicle coverage: The majority of the most expensive repairs will be required later on in your car’s life. Longer-lasting protection is frequently offered by third parties than by manufacturer extended warranties. Some even extend their coverage to your car for up to 250,000 kilometers.
- No deadline: You are not required to obtain an extended warranty from a third party at the same time as your vehicle. Waiting until after your manufacturer warranty on your Kia expires will save you money on extra overlapping coverage.
- More options for mechanics: Although Kia’s extended warranty does not mandate that you have the work done at one of its dealerships, a third-party extended auto warranty can provide you with even more options in your neighborhood.
- Plan adaptability: Each provider provides a range of coverage alternatives, allowing you to choose the one that best suits your requirements and price range. Before you sign on the dotted line, we strongly advise doing some comparison shopping and requesting quotations from several service providers.
Our staff examined a variety of outside sources and created a list of the top extended vehicle warranty companies in order to assist you get the best plan for you. Start comparing our top selections for extended protection using the widget below.