Kia Will Respray All Sunset Yellow Stingers Because Of Defective Paint

Jul. 16, 2018 7:03 AM ET by Jay Traugott Recall / 11 Comments

Each vehicle respray will cost how much?

According to CarAdvice, Kia will soon issue a recall for Stinger owners who checked the box for Sunset Yellow exterior paint. The problem? Defective paint. All of the affected Kia Stingers will receive a full respray. So what's exactly wrong with the paint? Apparently the specific issue involves an oil ingredient in the paint that causes a failure in long-term durability. It can also more easily crack from stone chips and other forms of direct contact.

As usual with recalls, Kia will cover the full cost of the respray, which will continue to have a lifetime guarantee. The automaker has already started to contact owners in some countries, and we assume those who haven't received a letter from Kia yet will do so very soon. We don't know specifically how many Sunset Yellow Stingers are being recalled (a total of 50 in Australia), but because the vehicle itself debuted for this current model year there can't be that many. But still, a full respray isn't exactly cheap. CarAdvice estimates the respray to manufacturer standards that includes the lifetime guarantee will likely cost more than $10,000 AUD, or around $7,400 USD.

Because this is not a safety recall, the NHTSA is not expected to be involved. This is purely cosmetic. But still, spending around $40,000 to $50,000 on a new Stinger GT ($31,000 for the base model) is still quite a chunk of change. One of the last things an owner would want is for the car's paint work to suddenly show its defective nature. But hey, at least Kia is fully owing up to the problem and fixing it completely, no questions asked.