A man is upset after buying a 2024 Kia with a strange sound coming from the engine. Why does it sound like that? And is the man to blame?
TikTok user Trace (@nowaytrace) posted a video on Tuesday from outside his running 2024 Kia. It’s unclear what the model is, but based on the headlights it could potentially be the Sportage. Trace is more concerned with the sound coming from inside the car.
He puts his phone near the front tire and lets the phone pick up the sound for a few seconds before getting up and focusing on the front end. “It’s my engine,” he guesses.
Viewers blame the TikToker
The video has already amassed more than 169,000 views. In the comments, viewers didn’t exactly express sympathy. That’s because Kia is notorious for engine issues.
“That’s because you bought a Kia/Hyundai product, lol,” wrote one user.
A second user simply wrote, “Kia??”
A third user wrote, “It’s a Kia, bro, what did you expect?”
However, other users said they don’t think there’s anything necessarily wrong with the Kia.
“It’s direct injection… nothing wrong with the engine,” wrote one user.
A second user said, “It’s the high pressure fuel pump. It’s normal.”
A third user agreed, “That’s just the injectors, because it’s GDI. My Elantra sounds the same.”
What does all that mean?
This is not an uncommon question from Kia owners. Two years ago, one owner posted to Reddit a video from under the hood of his car. It is exhibiting a similar noise to Trace’s Sportage.
In the comments, a user explained, “It’s a GDI (gasoline direct injection) engine and those tend to make more noise than traditionally used MPI (multi-port injection) engines in other sedans. The noise is likely the fuel injectors. My 2017 Forte Ex also has a GDI engine and does make a similar noise when idle.”
Chevron backed up this commenter. “A GDI engine may produce a distinctive tickling or clicking noise, especially when the engine is cold or idling,” reads this blog post. “This is caused by the high-pressure fuel pump and the fuel injectors working at high speed and pressure. A port injection engine may not produce this noise, or produce it at a lower level.”
@nowaytrace and this happened, is it toast?? 😳#cars #fyp #viral #carsoftiktok ♬ original sound – nowaytrace
The Daily Dot reached out to Trace via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We also reached out to Kia via email for comment.
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