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The Automobile Protection Association has filed a request in Quebec Superior Court for authorization to launch a class-action suit on behalf of owners of Kia Forte automobiles equipped with a two-litre engine.

The APA contends it has found a serious fault manifested by knocking in engines in cars assembled between 2010 and 2015.

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The association argues that an assembly error causes the engine’s pistons to abnormally wear at their cylinders. After a certain time, the engine emits a small noise once it’s started, but one that intensifies with use.

The APA maintains that many consumers who complained about the problem during their five-year or 100,000-kilometre Kia warranty were told the noise was normal for that model of car.

Later, car owners learned that repairs were in fact necessary but that the warranty had run out and the solution often involved major repairs to the engine block, a measure that Kia dealers estimated would cost $5,500.

The APA also alleges that in certain cases, Kia Canada did pay for the repairs on the condition that consumers sign a confidentiality agreement forbidding them to share the information with other Forte owners.

Persons owning a Kia Forte manufactured between 2010 and 2015 and possessing a two-litre engine who think they have detected an odd sound from their engine and to whom free repairs have been refused are urged to register on the web page of the law firm of Trudel Johnston & Lespérance.