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Originally Posted by morphique I do not own one, but I did two test drives of Sonet Diesel AT from different dealers, and noticed this on both the vehicles. |
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Originally Posted by jasjotbains Hi. I too have a GTX DAT. I tried to recreate your scenario however without luck. |
Thanks for the quick reply and I apologise for not getting back to you people earlier. I was busy with the whole car buying process and I was also busy because I just started a new job.
Anyway, in my last post, where I had mentioned the problem that I am facing, I think I hadn’t explained the issue clearly. That’s because, back then, even I didn’t exactly knew in which circumstances was the issue being caused. To rectify the issue, I drove my car in traffic and in my apartment’s car parking area to see when is the issue being caused. Here’s what I have found:
The issue
The issue that I’m talking about is being caused when the car comes to a halt (for example, at a traffic signal) and stays in the standstill position for more than five seconds. When the traffic starts moving again and I lift the foot from the brake pedal and press the accelerator pedal gently, the car moves forward just a few inches and then I feel a jerk/pause before the car starts moving again. That being said, the problem is slightly noticeable even if I don’t press the accelerator pedal. In either case, there is a slight drop in RPM as well.
It is important to point out that the issue is being caused only when the car is in the standstill position for more than five seconds. I’m not facing this issue if I bring the car to a halt just for a second or two and then I accelerate it again. Plus, this issue takes place mainly when I keep the gear in the ‘D’ position even when the car halts rather than shifting the gear to the ‘N’ position when I stop at a traffic signal.
It is also worth pointing out that I’m not facing the issue every time I halt the car for than five seconds. It happens once or twice in five times I come across this scenario. Another thing that I’d like to point out is that I am noticing this issue more on inclines than on plain roads or declines.
Switching to Manual Mode solves the problem
To further explore the issue, I stopped the car at a traffic signal and then I shifted the gear from the ‘D’ position to the Manual Mode (here the screen shows that the car is in the first gear) and then I lifted my foot from the brake pedal and pressed the accelerator pedal when the traffic started moving. When I did this, I didn’t notice the jerk/pause that I did when I left the car in the ‘D’ position at a traffic signal.
Test drive vehicle has the same problem
Now, here’s the twist. Since I was quite worried about the issue, I went to the showroom and drove the test drive vehicle to see if this was normal behaviour or of it was just related to my car. As it turned out, even the test drive vehicle has the same issue and that relieved me a bit.
Got the car checked at service centre
However, I still wasn’t satisfied. So, I went to the service centre and asked them to check if there was any problem. At first, they simply refused to acknowledge the issue. According to them, there was no jerk/pause at all. However, upon showing them/recreating the issue many times, they agreed that there is slight jerk/pause. However, according to them, this was a normal behaviour.
Asked them to check other vehicles too
I wasn’t satisfied with their answer though. So, I asked them to drive another Kia Sonet Diesel Automatic and check if it has the same issue. While they didn’t have another Kia Sonet Diesel Automatic, they did have the Kia Seltos Diesel Automatic GTX Plus. To be honest, this was even better as I would get to know if the issue is limited just to the Kia Sonet or if the Kia Seltos has it too.
Kia Seltos Diesel Automatic has the same issue
Anyway, I drove the Seltos Diesel Automatic and to my surprise, even the Seltos had the same issue. As soon as I lift my foot from the brake pedal and press the accelerator pedal, the car moves a few inches and then there is jerk/pause and also slight drop in the RPM before it stats moving again. However, it is worth noting that the jerk/pause in the Seltos wasn’t as pronounced as that in my Sonet.
What’s causing the issue?
What I think is happening here is that whenever the car stops for more than five seconds, the gearbox shifts the gear to the neutral position. Now when I lift my foot from the brake, the car moves forward a few inches because of the pressure that had already been built up in the gearbox/torque converter unit. When this happens, the car realises that it has to move forward and then it changes the gear from the neutral position to the first gear. So, the jerk/pause that I’m experiencing is because the gearbox is shifting gears from the neutral position to the first gear. At least that’s what my theory is.
What now?
Well, after I got to know that this issue isn’t limited just to my car, all I could ask the service centre people to do was raise the issue to the company. However, they said that this is a normal behaviour of the car. So, I guess, they will not raise the issue to the company.
Now, the issue is quite irritating in traffic. Whenever I am in stop-and-go traffic, there are plenty of times when I have to quickly lift the foot from the brake and press the accelerator pedal. And whenever that happens, I’m experiencing a jerk/pause. Some people might be okay with it but it’s not pleasing for me.
So, what should I do now? Well, I think all the Kia Sonet Diesel Automatic owners should try to recreate the scenario that I described above and check if they are also facing the jerk/pause. If majority of people are facing this issue, we can bring the issue to the notice to the company. If other people aren’t facing the issue, I need to go to the service centre again and ask them to rectify it
Here’s what you need to do to recreate the scenario in which I’m facing the issue:
1. Drive the car for a few meters on an empty road.
2. Stop the car and keep it in the standstill position for more than five seconds.
3. Leave the gear in the ‘D’ position when you stop the car. Don’t shift it to the ‘N’ position.
4. After five seconds, lift the foot from the brake and press the accelerator pedal gently. You’ll notice a jerk/pause for sure.
5. If you don’t face the issue, repeat the process for four to five times. When you are repeating the process, vary the speed at which you lift your foot from the brake pedal and also vary the speed at which you press the accelerator pedal. You’ll definitely face the issue.
6. Try accelerating the car from a standstill position in the Manual Mode to notice the acceleration difference between the Drive Mode and the Manual Mode.