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:
3 / 18
Injuries / Deaths:
7 / 0
Average Mileage:
62,369 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.
The contact owned a 2011 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that the vehicle caught fire without warning. The contact was notified of the fire by a car alarm that sounded from the garage. The contact noticed flashing lights coming from the vehicle upon entering the garage. In addition, the contact noticed flames coming from the rear of the vehicle. The contact called the fire department to extinguish the fire. The vehicle was destroyed. There were no injuries sustained. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was 60,243.
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that the engine experienced a loss of power; however, the radio, bluetooth, and exterior lighting still worked. In addition, the vehicle could not be shifted except between neutral or drive. The check engine warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was stopped after rolling into a parking space against a curb. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence where the tow truck driver was able to get the vehicle out of gear into park. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure could not be diagnosed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 91,000. Updated 04/08/16
Original owner '11 Sorento 4cyl, AWD w/tow package & approx 88K miles. Problem 1st noticed about 2 mos ago when seat belt light began flashing with audible clicking coming from relay behind dash. It was daytime when this happened 1st few times & I could not duplicate problem. This issue seemed to happen after starting car & would go away after a few moments of driving. Releasing & re-connecting seat belt had no effect. The 1st time it happened @ night I realized that the headlights & dash lights would flash on & off also. Still could not duplicate problem, but being a mechanic I watched for it to happen and tried different things to see if they had any effect on the issue. Always would begin after initially starting car, but not do it most times. Then 3 evenings ago, I found it happening every time I would start the car & would even do it afterwards driving down the road. I was 70 miles from home & tried to get back. It didn't matter whether the headlight switch was on, off or auto, it would still flash all lights & seatbelt light w/clicking from relay. On the way home, while driving a rural road, the lights again started blinking on & off causing me to hit a metal pole a drainage ditch thru farmer's fence into his field. Accident pushed metal bumper (behind bumper cover) back about 12", tore the entire front end &lights from car & bent hood back 1 1/2 feet and buckled it upward - all of this without ever deploying the airbag.these problems are prevalent in this car as I have read, but I now have a vehicle which despite it's damage will now duplicate the lights going on & off every time the car is turned on. Have contacted Kia Corp in hopes that they will want to use my car to get to the cause of this issue & finally correct it. As a mechanic I very well understand the need to be able to duplicate problem to find cause..... Kia now has no excuse.
The bulbs for the low beam headlights have been "burning out" at the rate of once a month. Last month, the entire assembly plugin to the bulb was melted due to "a poor contact" or short in the wiring". unfortunately they said I need an entire headlight assembly (about a $400 part and $250 labor) as they won't just sell the connection plug. Frustrated I found a great mechanic who cut and spliced a new connection plug and it seems to be working. However the concern is that there is still a "short" in the wiring and will eventually do the same thing to the new plug. I have now had the same issue with the other side and am hoping that someone else has found the source of the problem. The other complaint is that this is not covered by the any warranty. There have been numerous complaints about this isse and I stillhave not seen a recall from Kia. This is my 2nd Kia and I am rethinking about buying another unless this issue is resolved.
I have a 2011 Kia Sorento, 106,000 miles on it. First I saw a headlight had burnt out, I bought a new one, by the time I got home, it was out again. My mechanic had to replace the wire harness on the passenger side, said the wires were melted. Soon after, as I am driving in the early mornings, I would turn on the right signal and the lights would turn off for 10 second, all the lights, inside, outside, but turn back on. It wouldn't happen every day, but once a week at least. I took it to my mechanic and he was unable to replicate the problem. Today, I touched the bright lever and the car lights inside and outside turned completely off, for about 30 seconds. I was scared to death as it was pitch black out and I couldn't see in front or anywhere and no one could see me. I turned the corner and they again went off, this time longer. Thankfully I was able to get my hazards on so I could pull off the road and people around could see me. I hit the brights again and everything came back on. I drove the rest of the way to work (45 minutes) without using any turn signals or brights. I am scared to death to get back into this car. I travel alot with my 4 grandchildren in the car. There needs to be an immediate recall, as I have seen dozens of people complaining about the same thing. The website directed me to this site. Please help, I am afraid to get in the car now, I travel in the dark every morning 45 min to an hour.
- Lehigh Acres, FL, USA
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The contact owns a 2011 Kia sorrento. The contact stated that when the interior light switch was in the auto position, the interior lighting would not turn off. The failure recurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 63,800.
2011 Kia Sorento airbag light came on out the blue. Took to dealership was advised either defective passanger airbag or the sensor for passenger seat. Would have to pay $$$ to put on diagnostic. Car jerks forward when switching gears. Also, car just accelerated by itself.. put the car in park and it jerks forward. Its jerks so hard I could get whiplash.like the car doesn't want to stop.scarriest thing ever. I am really concerned how sometimes I don't even have to press the brake to put in gear. Last, went to change headlight, rightside extremely jot and could hear boiling like something cooking.
Heated seat element on drivers side started on fire. Caused driver to be burnt. Heated seat had been turned on for about 2 minutes. Car was in motion on city street.
Recently my 2011 Kia Sorento ex will not shut down. When I press the engine start/stop button the engine will shut off but the dashboard, navigation touchscreen & lights all remain on. It can sometimes take up to 3 minutes of pushing the button, turning the car back on and trying to turn it back off before it will actually shut all the electrical components down.
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Sorento. While driving approximately 20 mph, the engine stalled and the check engine warning indicator illuminated. The engine was able to restart. The vehicle was taken to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the cpu needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 64,000. The VIN was unavailable.
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Sorento. While driving at any speed, the air bag warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the clock spring failed and caused the air bag warning light to remain illuminated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 49,800.
While driving at night the headlights will go off then come back on after being off for approx 2 seconds. It also occurs sometimes when changing lanes and using the turn signals. I feel that it may be a defect in the turn signal headlight assembly switch on the steering column.
The only way you can open any of the doors is from the inside. First it was drivers side. A couple of weeks later it was the back drivers passenger door. Now it's the front passenger's door. Makes no sense I have one door to get inside my car. Please help.
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that the 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. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 64,050.
The interior dome light quit working took to a mechanic, he looked into the wiring harness and said that all the wires had melted together. This problem could affect all the electrical parts of the truck. Also of note is that the truck indicator light showing that the truck is open, even when its not. So far no fire has started. Cost to fix per the mechanic is over $1000, or more.
On 04/16/15 pulled into parking space. Car would not go into park or reverse. Parking brake would not engage. Warning lights on didn't make sense., accessories would not turn off. Car rolled w/O hard depress to brake. Brake wouldn't fully engage (wouldn't plunge all the way). Put into neutral, could not fully shut off. Car warning signal blasting. Could not secure car, lock car or or turn car off. Could only drive forward slowly with drag when able to get out of parking spot. Drove forward to get out of paking lot before trapped in there again and reverse rolling occurred. Went to side of road for towing. Huge drag while driving slow 5mph aprox. Ignition finally turned off after putting into neutral again. Warning sound finally went away but accessories still were on. Parking brake would now engage. Car not drivable or fully functioning. Car towed to dealership..diagnosed- failure of recall part put in at time of recall to fix had failed. Resolution: Replaced defective recall fix part with same recall part that just failed, no accident resulted because of this failure but I could not properly, drive, secure, car. Left stranded with medically fragile child with limited cellular reception. Concern: Driving unsafe car with known failure part that could lead to serious accident do to symptoms of failure posted by Kia. Kia resolution was to put same part in that is know to fail and was part of a fix for voluntary recall due to know serious results of part failure. I am driving a car that is on it's third recall which is proven to have special needs medically fragile son would not have had immediate medical emergeny services if failure happened where there was no signal. Lack of brake lights could result in collision resulting in death or serious injury. Summary, driving car with know safey issues by Kia with no resolution.
Vehicle has had repeated head light issues since purchase. Last visit to the dealer they are recommending changing out headlight assembly at an excessive cost. In researching this issue it seems that many consumers are having the same issue and needs to be recalled to fix.
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Sorento. While traveling approximately 40 mph, there was a loud noise coming from the front of the vehicle. Also, the contact mentioned that smoke emitted from the engine compartment. Upon pulling the vehicle over, it was further noticed that the engine compartment was on fire. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed that a rod fractured into the engine affecting the other components caused a fire. Also, the mechanic diagnosed that the pistons may need to be replaced but further extensive diagnosis was required to repair the vehicle. The contact was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 10V388000 (electrical system). The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 102,000.
Car began to act like it did not want to crank. Once I got to destination, radio went off first, then everything started dimming, then it shut off. Tried to jump it off, got it down the road 1/2 a mile then shut off again. Took battery out and tried to charge it but it was dead. Bought another fully charged battery, drove the car home. Tried to crank next morning, wouldn't crank again. Charged it up took it to 2 different places..it was the alternator. According to a service bulletin #SA061, there was an issue where the battery light was illuminated causing the alternators not to charge. This was the same issue mine was doing..the battery light was showing but I did not know about the alternator. This is third battery in 3 years for this car! after looking around everywhere with no alternators in stock and no one knowing how to re-build them, the Kia dealership wanted to charge me $443 for an alternator and another $300 to put it in! not to mention I would have to probably tow it over there! that is crazy! this is not the only issue with this car! my sunroof, back-up camera, right front light, radio knob has fell off, passenger head rest has fell off, oil pan seal issues....list goes on and on! it is ridiculous! this service bulletin covered dates 07/12/10 - 09/18/10. My alternator was built in 10/04/10. Wow, ,,,it miraculously got fixed!! there was noooo way!!! the same issue is happening to mine!!! but...Kia wants me to pay for it!!! it is insane!!! I have had nothing but trouble out of this vehicle from day 1.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Winneconne, WI, USA