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hannahrose · 01-02-2011, 12:25 AM

I recently purchased my Forte, brand new, and ever since I first start driving it, I've been trying to make CDs to play in it. I have tried both Sony and Memorex brand CD-R and DVD-RW, and a variety of formats (Audio, MP3, and File Format on both) and programs (iTunes, Windows Media Player), with a few different responses.

Usually, it will play the CD for a while (one or two songs length), then it will start to make the sound it does when it loads the CD. I will take the CD out, inspect for dust/scratches/etc, and put it back in. Sometimes, it will load it and try again, but usually it will just tell me there is a "Reading Error".

I have consulted the owner's manual, but to no avail.

Has anyone else has this problem? If so, have you any advice/solutions?

Thank you so much!

**ItsaRuck!** · 01-02-2011, 02:31 AM

Sounds like a warranty issue. We never use the CD in our Forte. $15 and you can buy a 4Gb thumb drive and load a massive amount of mp3 music on it. Much easier.

KoupCoupe · 01-02-2011, 04:16 PM

I haven't used a CD in my Koup yet...LoL!

mschiavoni · (This post was last modified: 01-02-2011 05:50 PM by mschiavoni.)

it wont read DVD's anyway...

if you keep having problems, take it to your dealer Wink

b0Ss · 05-20-2011, 11:28 AM

I am leasing a 2011 Forte for a couple months now. I was impressed with the feature to use a USB drive, and I have been using it. The only problem, more of a minor nuisance, is you have to remove the drive prior to starting the vehicle, and I even remove it before shutting it off. Now because of that, when you start the car and put it back in, the radio starts at the first song on the drive instead of where you left off. With CD's, you don't experience any of this.

The radio can handle MP3 CD's which is a very nice feature as well. So I made a few of them, which hold approx 100-200 songs each on them, depending on the size and if I decided to fill it all the way or not. Anyway, I was having the same exact issue as described with the Reading Error. I thought it narrowed down to being hot outside when this always happened. Then it cooled off for a bit and it would play it, even though I didn't use it too much due to the USB and Satellite radio. But just a few days ago, I was listening to a CD, and it stopped in the middle of a song. I ejected, put it back in, Reading Error. Before if I swapped out CD's finally it would start working again. I literally tried 20+ CD's (Regular, MP3, different brands, etc) with the same result. I am under the impression that the CD player is dead completely now. And no its not that hot out as it was when I thought I narrowed the problem down in the first place.

The car doesn't even have 2k miles on it and the CD player is already dead on it. Now I just have to find the time to take it to Kia to get it fixed. I wonder if I would have to be there all day, or will I have to drop it off and come back some other time, but more importantly, is this a defect radio and its just going to keep happening over and over the lifespan of the car and possibly every 2k miles? I shouldn't have to give in and forget about it and strictly use USB cause of a Kia radio defect. Also prior to writing on here, I see similar posts on Google from other and older Kia models doing the Reading Error problem. So it's not like it just started with the 2011 model, its been around. I am surprised there is only 2 of us reporting this error here. I will update here once I get time off to spend a day at Kia to get it fixed, but meanwhile if anyone else has any insight on this issue or a possible quick fix please share.

desert fox · 05-22-2011, 06:23 AM

I have 6cd changer and no issue at all.

b0Ss · 05-22-2011, 09:51 AM

(05-22-2011 06:23 AM)desert fox Wrote: I have 6cd changer and no issue at all.

I forgot to mention that from my research, I believe the problem only occurs on vehicles without a CD changer.

forteOwner · 12-14-2011, 10:30 PM

[Ok, so this thread isn't completely cold yet. ;-)]
Just wanted to add that it truly does seem there's a problem with the Kia Forte CD player.
In my case it "ate" the CD - just stopped playing, made an awful high-pitched whiny sound like a belt or rubber wheel was slipping (perhaps the spindle couldn't spin the disc?), and wouldn't eject the CD, tried multiple times. That was two weeks ago. I have 16K on it, bought it in May. So real new.
Today I had it serviced and when I asked the service manager for the CD, he laughed and told me they simply pull the whole radio unit out, slap in a new one and send the old one off to warranty HQ... say bye bye to the CD :-(
The happy ending is that the mechanic actually had the presence of mind to extract the CD for me and left it on the dashboard! The CD looked fine, no real apparent machinery gouges. And of course, everything still under bumper2bumper warranty, so there was no charge. Yay! Just the pain of scheduling and waiting.

b0Ss · 05-07-2012, 11:41 PM

I was cleaning out my email inbox and was reminded of this post. I just wanted to add a quick update from my experience. I brought my car to the dealership for the one and only free oil change and mentioned the issue with the CD player. They did the oil change, full inspection, rotated tires, and verified the CD player was indeed bad all for free.

They said they would call when the CD player arrives, but they never did. So I mentioned it 3,000 miles later at the next oil change. They still had the replacement radio and fixed it quite fast. I even got another free month of Sirius radio along with it. So that being said it was almost worth it happening.

The funny part is I was so long without access to my CD's, that I adjusted to using a flash drive. I tested leaving them in at all times and still have not had one go bad on me yet. I do keep a mixed mp3 CD in the drive too though for even more music on hand.