CarComplaints.com Notes: Kia really changed the design of the Sorento in the 2011 model year. Instead of a truck-like body-on-frame more capable of offroad adventures, the newest Sorento is a unibody construction and is much more crossover than sport utility. The changes brought a whole slew of problems, including a frustrating problem where the door that won’t open. Is it too late to go back?

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
2 / 8
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
65,098 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2011 Kia Sorento body / paint problems

body / paint problem

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2011 Kia Sorento Owner Comments (Page 11 of 12)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #32

Feb 202016

Sorento

  • 88,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

2011 Kia sorrent - I've had to replace the driver side-outside door handle (approx last 6 months), driver side back door outside handle (replaced 12/2015 now broke again 2/16), and now the back passenger door will not open from inside. I am very concerned about life safety. Bad situation if something tragic happens and the doors won't open or can't be opened.

- Deltona, FL, USA

problem #31

Aug 132015

Sorento

  • 130,000 miles
2011 Kia Sorento rear driver side door failed to open. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the door actuator needed to be replaced. Did not fix. This is a Kia problem. It can be a really bad situation if I can't get to my children in the back because my door will not open. The panel on the door also sticks. There are so many complaints about this Kia needs to fix the problem.

- Cleveland, TX, USA

problem #30

Feb 092016

Sorento

  • 72,000 miles
Driver door only able to open from within vehicle. Will not open from outside. Had been working fine. No bad weather. Simply stopped working and will not open. Have noticed similar complaints online for same vehicle.

- Springfield, MO, USA

problem #29

Jan 062016

Sorento

  • 63,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Door locks will not open front doors. Driving snow and rain, I have to get in the back seat climb over to open front doors. The key does not work either. I find it hard to feel safe in this vehicle if I get into an accident you can not open door from outside. When this happened two children in car safety locks on., close my door to assist them out can't get back into vehicle. Remote will not activate locks key will not open front doors so I can get in. Had to climb in rear hatch.

- Quincy, MA, USA

problem #28

Jan 182016

Sorento

  • 54,027 miles
The supports holding the trunk lid open no longer hold the lid open. Rather allow the trunk lid to fall causing a dangerous potential threat of the trunk lid falling on my head!

- Horseshoe Bend, AR, USA

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problem #27

Dec 222015

Sorento

  • 101,000 miles
Front passenger door can not be opened from the outside. Repaired once and within a week disabled again.

- Columbia, MD, USA

problem #26

Dec 212015

Sorento

  • 89,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

After experiencing issues with the shifter assembly not properly locking and unlocking my doors and I was not able to take the car out of park. I had to literally turn off the ignition multiple times and after about 5-10 attempts the car would lock the door and go into park. However, I have now been experiencing issues with the driver side door not unlocking from the outside and the interior door handle is also literally cutting my hand and not properly opening the door from the inside. I took the car to the dealership and they replaced the SC124 shift assembly due to the federal recall for this part. They also informed me that there was a recall on SA203 interior door handle. But they wanted to charge me $384.92 to repair the door lock.. (81310-2P000) $209.70 part cost / and $126.88 labor.. this is absolutely absurd.. the problem is a direct result of the broken, malfunctioning shifter assembly and any associated repairs should be covered as well by the dealership. This is absolutely absurd that as a consumer I should be held financially liable for repair costs caused by a mechanical failure that obviously broke several other parts. Not being able to properly enter and exit my vehicle is a safely issue. I could very easily get locked into this car if this issue is not properly repaired as the door locking mechanism is directly connected to the electronic shifting assembly. How and why should I have to be inconvenienced or placed in danger because a manufacturer chooses to pick and chose which parts it chooses to repair as a result of their poorly manufactured defective parts.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

problem #25

Dec 182015

Sorento

  • 72,300 miles
The front driver's side door fails to open from the outside, it works from the inside. I was out running errands, just got car washed then went into a store. I came back out and door would no longer open from the outside door handle. The weather temps were above normal about 60 degrees. I had to crawl thru from passenger side to pull door handle to open door.

- Kernersville, NC, USA

problem #24

Dec 012015

Sorento

  • 97,000 miles
The contact owns a 2011 Kia sorrento. The contact stated that while in the park position, the driver and the rear driver side doors failed to open. The failure recurred several times. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the lock mechanism needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacture was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 97,000.

- Kennesaw, GA, USA

problem #23

Dec 062015

Sorento

  • 108,000 miles
On Sunday December 6th 2010 at approximately 10:00, I was traveling in my 2011 Kia Sorento ex. It is equipped with 2 panoramic sunroofs one in the front and one in the rear. The front sunroof is only mechanically functional roof. While traveling down the interstate at approximately 70 mph I heard a loud explosion and had a few shards of glass blowing into the passenger compartment. At the time of the incident the sunroof was completely closed and the sunshade was pulled forward. This prevented me from being injured by the glass. I pulled to the side of the interstate to assess the damage. Damage assessment: The majority of the front sunroofs glass was missing from the middle.there was an approximate 2 inch strip of glass that was buckled upward still attached to the mounting rail on the drivers side. One the passenger side there was a longer piece still attached. It was triangular in its shape coming to a point that was approximately 9-10 inches moving towards the center of the vehicle. It too was buckle upwards towards the sky. There were scratches to the rear panoramic sunroof. The satellite radio antenna was missing. The rear spoiler had hundreds of scratches on it with glass shards impelled in it. There was minimal glass in the front interior and a few shards found in the rear as well. I was returning home from work on this morning. I work as a flight paramedic and in my job we have to continuously monitor the weather in our area out to a 90 mile circle from our base. Conditions during the day. The sky was clear and sunny. The temperature was in the mid 50's. winds were calm. Traffic was very light on the highway. I did not have anyone in front or behind my vehicle at the time of the incident. There were no over hanging limbs from trees. In addition conditions the prior evening and night were clear, with temperatures only dropping into the lower 40's.

- Brandon, MS, USA

problem #22

Nov 192015

Sorento

  • 73,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The drivers side door will not open from the outside. The door opens from the inside and the exterior door handle appears fine but the door will not open.

- Silver Creek, NY, USA

problem #21

Apr 082014

Sorento

  • 47,638 miles
Driver side door handle no longer functions, unable to open driver door from inside vehicle at all. Dealer "repaired" free of charge at 47,638 miles (under 60,00 mile warranty) but did not replace parts. Handle did work for a while but again became non-functional (at approx 75,000 miles, out of warranty), mechanic inspected and showed several broken plastic components. It is not repairable, must be replaced.

- Orlando, FL, USA

problem #20

Nov 202015

Sorento

  • miles
Suddenly, the passenger door is not opening. Sometimes it is open, sometimes it is not. There is a manufacture defect for this

- Middletown, NY, USA

problem #19

Sep 152015

Sorento

  • miles
Forgot to add a few weeks ago back driverside door stopped opening from outside. Opened from inside put child lock on don't know why... now door won't open at all. Checked recall on Kia website with VIN and showing none for my vehicle. I can't believe that. So many people and we all have similar problems. Kia is lying about number of recalled vehicles to keep money in their pocket. They can careless about our safety.

- Union City, GA, USA

problem #18

Oct 092015

Sorento

  • 89,800 miles
Kia Sorento AWD 4 cylinder. At approximately 89800 miles, the driver side door no longer opens from the outside. I have to reach in from the back door and open door from there. After researching online, it looks like this is a known issue with the Kia's.

- Chester, NY, USA

problem #17

Oct 062015

Sorento

  • 68,157 miles
Driver rear door latch failed.

- Columbus, OH, USA

problem #16

Oct 012015

Sorento

  • 76,000 miles
The exterior drive door handle stopped unlatching the door. When you remove the exterior handle, there is a cable it pulls on to unlatch the door. I pulled on the cable and it has pulled loose from the latch end. There have been other reports of this happening on the internet. The interior door panel cover is metal and prohibits you from reaching the latch. The new latch assembly is $90 but should not have broken. Almost all of the assemble and door handle are made of plastic. Prior to this, the left rear door handle fell of going down the road. The plastic piece that keeps the handle in place broken around the brass threading the bolt holds it on with. When that piece fell of just the vibration going down the road allowed the door handle to fall off.

- Mims, FL, USA

problem #15

Jun 012015

Sorento

  • 82,592 miles
Drivers side rear door wont open from outside. If window is down can reach in and hit inner panel and it will open. Inner panel getting hung up on stripping so when you try to open door it pulls clips from panel breaking them.

- Fairport Harbor, OH, USA

problem #14

Jun 062015

Sorento

  • 94,455 miles
The driver's side back door would not open from the outside. Only the inside. Now a few days later, the driver's door is doing the same thing. Not opening from the outside, only the inside.

- Baltimore, MD, USA

problem #13

Dec 132014

Sorento

  • 160,000 miles
Drivers side passenger door will not open from outside but can open from inside.

- Temecula, CA, USA

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