Exclusive: Kia Tasman structural flaw exposed

carsales testing has revealed an apparent structural flaw in the new Kia Tasman ute, which the Korean giant has confirmed its technical and R&D teams are now investigating.

When a substantial load is tied down in the tub of the Korean dual-cab using the lower rear side-wall-mounted hooks the tailgate fouls on the edge of the load box.

The tailgate can be forced shut and opened with effort, but rub marks quickly became apparent from where it was contacting the tub – no other ute carsales has tested in this way has had this issue.

After it became apparent during testing of a Kia Tasman X-Line, an X-Pro was also tested and the fouling recurred.

carsales subsequently supplied a package video and photographic evidence of the issue along with written details and a series of questions to Kia Australia, which in turn passed them on to headquarters in Korea.

While we have been informed by Kia Australia the issue is being taken very seriously in Korea, the official response it passed back was dry and cautious.

“Kia Australia appreciates carsales bringing this specific load-securing observation to our attention,” a company spokesperson said.

“While we have not received any customer responses on this specific scenario, we take all media and customer feedback seriously.

“Our technical and R&D teams are currently investigating this matter.

“Any necessary countermeasures or ongoing improvements would be developed in due course to ensure the Tasman continues to meet the high expectations of the Australian market.”

This is more bad news for Kia when it comes to the Tasman, which has been criticised since launch for its divisive styling and failed to ignite in the ute sales race.

carsales reached out to a highly experienced automotive engineer who agreed a structural issue has been exposed and said repositioning the rearward hooks to the floor would likely resolve the problem.

“From a structural point of view, it’s better to put the hooks on the floor,” he said.

“Perhaps this was not so clever to have them higher up.

“If others put their hooks on the floor, then the Kia structure might not be any different, just the load is being applied to a softer region of the tub.”

The fouling was exposed as part of carsales’ usual procedure for testing dual-cab utes with load, which involves strapping down two 325kg lead boxes secured by the load hooks in the tub.

We attributed the fouling to the force applied on the low-mounted rear hooks by the tie down ratchets pulling the box walls inwards.

After a couple of hours of driving the X-Line’s tailgate opened and closed slightly easier, presumably because the ratchets had loosened off a small amount.

Experiments were conducted with different ways of securing the boxes.

The standard set-up is to secure the rearward box by using a ratchet hooked to the two rear hooks.

A diagonal front to rear attachment also produced tailgate fouling.

When the tie-downs were attached from front to rear hooks on the same side the tailgate was easier to open and close, but still tighter than when unladen.

This set-up was only possible because the lead boxes have rings in the top. Obviously, not all loads have this option available.

Well there’s a problem, we know that. We just don’t know if Kia is going to judge it necessary to address.

We’ll keep you posted.

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