Out of curiosity, I dug a little deeper on the subject. Since Kiatechinfo.com is vague about the subject, I contacted Autodata limited a independent technical source of information. Spoke to a Manager and Tech (Todd) 800-305-0338 and this is what their tech sheet says regarding the Sportage 2.0 16v engine 1995 - 2002.

Caution: This engine has been identified as an INTERFERENCE engine in which the possibility of valve-to-piston damage in the event of a timing belt failure is MOST LIKELY to occur. A new belt must be installed and all cylinders checked for compression before removing the cylinder head.

I advised him of some of the comments about belts breaking and no apparent valve train damage and this is what he said. There is a chance that there may not be any damage or noticeable damage in certain circumstances, mainly during low rpm failure. This doesn't mean there's no damage at all because it still runs! Catastrophic failure generally happens during higher rpm or freeway speeds.

So, again for those of you who still think you have a non-interference motor and no damage will occur during a belt failure, good luck with that!!

It's almost beer thirty and I'm done with this subject! <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />