Gov't Probing Steering Problems In 2010 Kia Soul

The government has opened an investigation into possible loss of steering control in the 2010 Kia Soul, a boxy vehicle aimed at appealing to urban motorists.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says in a posting Monday that it has received one complaint alleging complete steering loss.

The complaint said the steering shaft also interfered with the driver's ability to hit the brakes.

The government says it is "very concerned'' about the incident because the vehicle was only two months old and had low mileage.

WWJ Auto Analyst John McElroy said investigators are taking no chances.

"We've seen a spade of problems that Toyota has had especially with its Lexus cars on a number of models where the steering was braking," McElroy said.

"So I think this has actually put all the steering-problem kind of thinking front and center," McElroy said.

McElroy said the investigation could take months.  "Is it something that is improperly put together, improperly designed?" he said.

McElroy said they're going to have to get to the bottom of what caused it, then they're going to have to look and see if this is something that could have been replicated or duplicated in many other models.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it has received just one complaint, but the agency is very concerned about the incident because the vehicle was only two months old and had low mileage.

The preliminary investigation covers more than 50,000 vehicles.
  
(Copyright 2010 by WWJ Newsradio 950. The Associated Press contributed to this story.  All Rights Reserved.)