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:
8 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
6 / 0
Average Mileage:
54,811 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.
Was driving felt like I hit something and the car would not shift into any other gear. I stopped put it in park and no change after work,8 hours later, the car ran fine. It had been shifting rough for a while, at or around 50mph, it would jerk the whole car like it was shifting up or down
My transmission isn't shifting properly I cant even reverse 1st 2nd and part of 3rd gears are rough shifting. Its also causing it to make a clunking sound in the rear axel also wont shift while turning.
2011 Kia Sorento - while driving, the gears in my car stopped working and made a terrible loud noise. After getting vehicle towed, problem was found to be intermediate shaft on passenger side.below is the detailed recall info-however my VIN does not show this recall. But I think it should. Description of vehicles is mine. This is exactly what happened to me: Sb082B - recall to replace intermediate shaft. Recall: 11V258000 recall date 04/25/2011 component power train:driveline:driveshaft summary Kia is recalling certain model year 2011 Sorento 2wd vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions and 2.4L engines manufactured from the start of production through May 22, 2010. The intermediate shaft may suffer from noise and excessive wear due to a misalignment of the intermediate shaft with the right side output gear. Continuing to drive the vehicle in this condition leads to the development of a whirring/whining noise and can eventually cause damage to the automatic transmission. Consequence damage to the transmission may cause loss of motive power, increasing the risk of a crash. What owners should do dealers will replace the right side output gear and intermediate shaft free of charge. The safety recall is expected to begin during May 2011. Owners may contact Kia at 1-800-333-4542. * submitted a case to Kia #12833214, after 10 days I didn't get a reply so I called them. I spoke to haley and she advised my car was not manufactured in a location that had this issue. I think Kia got this wrong. My car obviously had the exact problem they are stating and should have been replaced by Kia free of charge. Instead, I had to pay $635 to replace the exact part this recall was on. Kia has refused to reimburse me. When I asked who I could complain to, they said there is no one. So I am reaching out to you.... thanks, evonne (Kia owner since Jun 2010)
This is the second time my car jolts when I am driving. Does not matter how fast I am going. It feels like the car gets really sluggish and it jolts before acceleration, it happened about two years ago and the dealership made me pay $600 to change the intake manifold claiming that it would fix that issue and it did not. After that it kept doing the same thing and I look it up online and saw that people were saying to request for a transmission update, so I went back and they did that and it "fixed" the issue. That time my engine light was on and came back on even after they fixed the supposed issue. This time there's no engine light on and the car jolts even harder. I have seen so many complaints about this online I don't understand why my car does not show as a recall for the transmission. This has been happening now for a few days and the jolting just gets worse every time I drive. Last night when I was on the highway going about 40 mph it did it and again after 50mph it was very scary.
My 2011 Kia Sorento has been trouble from day one. A week after I bought it, the wiring harness had to be replaced which took over a month to get the part from Kia. Then at 90,000 miles the transmission started failing and it took me forever to get Kia to replace that. Then the replacement transmission went bad less than a year later and they replaced that. Now, at 120,000 miles (out of warranty) the motor has died. Grindstaff Kia in johnson city, tn tells me it is a 'internal failure' of the motor, it could be a rod or cam, but they would not know unless they took the motor apart. Kia's product is terrible and a safety hazard. When the motor stopped my husband was in 65 mile an hour traffic and could have been injured when it started to loose power and then the starter stuck and wires started smoking which could have caused a fire. My motor was a 4 cylinder 2.4 liter engine that needs to be recalled by Kia for failures. They want to chage me $5500 plus tax to put another engine in the junk, which to me is adding good money to bad product. I also still owe a bank $$ for this car which is going to be negative equity I'm sure. Kia should stand behind it's product and recall this engine which is junk. I will not buy Kia again, that is for sure!
- Lebanon, VA, USA
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I bought the Sorento used 2 months ago, it has 76,000 miles on it. Has driven fine up until now. It seems to struggle going up hills, no power, at random times which are more frequent now it hesitates like it wants to stall, then jerks and then goes back to driving fine. It seems to have this issue around 40-50 miles per hour. I brought it to be looked at and they say there is nothing wrong with the transmission. Feeling very frustrated, this is a safety issue!
2011 Kia Sorento - while driving 60mph the car resists speeding up, rpms stay at 2 no matter the speed. While driving rpms stay at zero. While speeding up the car jerks, causing the rpms to drop to zero. Have to pull over turn the car off and start it again, it then drives normal. This occurs on the highway and driving around town. Instances where the car is sputtering while driving in town around 40mph the car dies when I come to a complete stop. This has occurred multiple times over the last year. I have taken the car to the dealership but because they can not replicate the issue they say they can not repair it.
I was driving North on RT28 traveling at 65mph I took my exit. After stopping at the sign, I hit the gas to go and the vehicle was sluggish then it shifted hard. I stopped about.25 miles down the road and put the vehicle in park and back into drive and the same thing happened. It shifted hard after a sluggish start. I got the vehicle home luckily and found the transmission fluid leaking everywhere. After having it towed to a transmission repair shop, the repair person informed me that there was a hole in side of the transmission.
Takata recall when driving at higher rate of speed when trans kicks in to higher gear it has a loud bang feels like the transmission is gonna fall out. Sometimes it looses power when driving
Car shifter is not engaging and disengaging resulting in not being able to place car in park. This issues was a recall before however; the fix didn't resolve the problem and Kia has not offered a new fix. Also, air bag light still illuminating after recall fix. Again Kia refuse to fix and issue could cause air bag not to deploy in an accident. Also, back rear passenger door won't open from the inside or outside.
While driving on the highway, the car suddenly jumps forwards and I feels like someone hit me from behind. The same thing happens while rolling down a hill or slowing down with or without applying the breaks. It feels like it wants to shift and something is holding it back for a fraction of a second. On sports mode, when manually shifting from 2 to 3 I can experience the same response. On gear 5 sports mode, you feel the sudden jerk. The problem seemed to be more significant when the engine is colder. I noticed the hesitation lasted longer before the jerk in the winter. I have been to many mechanic shops and they tell me the car is shifting fine and that they aren't to fully replicate the problem. I hope this adds to the millions of complaints and gets Kia to do something. This problem has been persistent for over a year now.
I am having the same problems I have read about with the 2011 2.4 engine. Sudden loss of power when the pedal is depressed, stalling upon acceleration, jerking motion and a loud clanking noise when shifting from park, hard shifts from 1st and 2nd gear, and a constant whirring noise in the motor while driving, not while in park. I believe the same defect that affected the transmission on the 4 cylinder engines needs to be investigated on the V6 engines.
Was driving my Kia and suddenly could no longer drive pulled over N traffic and could only put the E brake on. Nothing else would go in to gear drive reverse and the brakes were not working properly. So put the E brake on and called tow truck..took it to made in America made in Japan..and the say its the input shaft..exactly described on recall for my VIN # [xxx]. manufacture call#SC124. NHTSA# 15V626.this happened on 225 placerville rd folsom on Friday 1/5/2017.its currently still at made in America made in Japan..please contact. Me a.S.a.P [xxx]. [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
The car has a no-star condition, uneven engagement when shifting gears. Whenever driving and if I want to suddently speed to avoid an object or to adjust to traffic speeds the car hesitates for a second or two. I almost crash today due to this problem, putting at risk my whole family... I believe there a some recalls on similar vehicles with this problem but my VIN is not on the list yet
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Sorento. While driving 40 mph, the accelerator pedal was depressed, but the vehicle failed to accelerate. The vehicle suddenly jerked forward without warning. The failure was persistent. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer (archer Kia, 11614 southwest fwy, houston, tx, 77031), but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and opened a case for the contact. The failure mileage was approximately 28,000. The VIN was not available.
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Sorento. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 15V626000 (power train). While attempted to shift the gears, the vehicle lunged. On several occasions, while the accelerator pedal was depressed, the vehicle failed to accelerate. On several occasions, while driving, the engine stalled and lost power. The contact mentioned that all of the instrument panel indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who stated that the vehicle needed to be taken to a Kia dealer. The dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 132,000. Parts distribution disconnect.
While driving the car it loses power, I start to smell burnt transmission fluid so I take it to Eagle transmission here in mckinney tx. To find out the transmission needs replacing. Whis is costing me $2100 that includes new transmission & price of labor. I googled this problem on 2011 Kia to see if it's a recall but unfortunately its not but it was for the 2011 Kia Sorento 4, cylinder. But it's a lot of topics on our 2011 Kia V6 engine but never became a recall
While I was driving on a city street and turning a corner the car made a loud clunking sound then stopped. The engine continued to run but the car wouldn't move forward. Tried to shift gears but engine just reved up but would go. Had to put the emergency brake on to keep it from rolling. Finally had to have it towed off the street. We took it to a mechanic and he thought it was the same issue as the NHTSA campaign id 11V258000 and group service campaign number SC 082 [rev 5] so he called the local Kia dealer to confirm. Despite my car fitting make/model/year/manufacture date they said this VIN was not part of the recall. He suggested that I do further research.
I was driving at 65 miles an hour on flat roads and the car went to shift to a higher gear and clunk the transmission feels as though it is going to break. This has happened numerous times. I have also had trouble with the clunking noise when I am going 40 and getting ready to speed up. Please help fix this problem for the saftey of others.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Indianapolis, IN, USA