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 / 9
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
55,668 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.
Truck doors unlock while driving, alarm goes off randomly while driving or parked, all the fuses blew, starter has been changed 3 times, due to faulty wiring beneath the motor. Battery has been changed due to wiring.
Vehicle was statiomary and not on. Started smoking from dash and smoke coming out door, caught on fire went up to the roof and across to the passenger seat. When fire department came they had to cut open the hood, car randomly started while on fire to unhook the battery.
Rear sunroof suddenly exploded while driving on I5 near everett, wa. Did not see any trucks or obvious source of flying debris. Upon examination later glass was bulged outward. With a 6 inch hole missing. The interior sun shield kept glass from entering the car over our granddaughter.
Bought the car used in 2013 and since I've had the car makes a knocking noise when stopped. It's not all the time, but most if the time. I asked the mechanic at the dealership about it and he said it was normal and going to get louder which it has, but gave no explanation as to what it was or why it was happening.
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.
The panoramic sunroof apparently exploded when the car was parked. The was a circle about 3' around the car with small pieces of glass, glass over the entire vehicle, metal pieces from he sunroof were on the hood and windshield, the headliner was ripped from the ceiling with a large hole ripped out of the middle and pieces of glass were piled throughout the interior. The car had been parked one day. No one witnessed the explosion.
The shift gears wont move. The gear will stay in drive. Won't go into reverse or park. When I have to put veh in reverse I have to hold gear in reverse. There has been times when I had to leave my keys in the ignition, leave car in neutral and have emergency brake down. There was a recall on this Kia claim they fixed the issue, but I'm still having the same problem.
3 doors the front passenger and the two back passenger doors will not open from the outside.the door latches are broke. They replaced the inside latches because of the chrome coming off well it is cutting hands again less than a year later the chrome is coming off again. This seems T be a growing problem with Sorentos. This is a safety issue that will cause your car to fail inspection. Kia has wekll over 100 complaints about this and many dont complain they just fix them at 400 a door is what Kia dealers wants to fix them. Kia needs to recall these 2011 Sorentos again this will be the 7th time can I get a car that actually drives more than in the shop....car has 110000 miles on it they all broke after the Kia 60,000 warranty on door latches
The ABS light, traction control, and hill acceleration control lights would come on all at once then go back off. Then they would remain on but when the car was turned parked they would be off when the car was driven again. Now they are on continuously. I am not sure what has caused these lights to come on all at once but I fell like this must be some kind of default. Sending to the dealership soon.
Back driver side door will not open, I went online and searched my vehicle and this seems to be an ongoing problem. Middle back seat belt is stuck down in the seat and you can't not get it out
For several months now, the dashboard warning lights have come on, usually four at a time as I'm driving. It seems to happen most often when it's raining. I had the Kia dealer in las cruces, nm try to determine the problem when I had the car in for a couple recalls about two years ago. They could not determine the cause of the problem. About 3 months ago I had a shop with a aaa master mechanic try to determine the problem and they also could not determine the reason the warning lights were coming on. They could not find a short in the wiring that I thought might be the cause. The lights eventually go off, usually after the car has not been driven for several hours or overnight. I'm concerned that, although I've not experienced significant problems when the dash warning lights come on, could a possible real safety issue occur if one of the systems indicated by the lights actually malfunction? for a while when the lights came on, the car's steering seemed to be effected--on windy curvy roads the car would definitely over steer on curves, as though someone else were in control. I would appreciate any information you might have on similar problems and how they were corrected. Thank you.
Parked vehicle, front driver side door fails to open from outside handle but will open from inside handle. Keyless entry click doesn't sound like it's working right as well. Kinda weak sounding. Looking at door latch while using key fob for lock/unlock nothing moves but other doors are heard and seen locking/unlocking.
The passenger side door handle completely fell off in my hand when I attempted to open the door to get my grandchild out of the car. The car handled was defective and my grandchild remained in a car in extreme heat while I tried to get into the car another way. I crawled over the driver's set and pushed the door open from the inside to be able to pull the child out. I should not have to crawl around in my car to get a minor out of it. Nor should anyone be exposed to Texas heat for any amount of time due to car failure. Called Kia customer center and was told to take car to be evaluated at a dealership near me - they chose. The service area didn't even look at the car -- saw the car handle I brought in and said 'well why you bringing it in. It's broke. I can tell that by looking at it." He said he would open a work order that day. No response, I called Kia and they called this person who said he was just then writing up the order. Weeks later I called Kia customer service and I was told that some sales manager (no name, would not provide phone number) had denied covering the repair of the part. I told the Kia service to appeal it -- this plastic part is on the passenger side of my car. For 6 years, this car has been used by me exclusively M-F to an from work. Once in awhile on the weekends, I take a grandchild to an event or sometimes I have carried husband to ymca.. if the part failed due to use, the drivers side handle should have failed. I looked online after learning from Kia that there would not be a recall on this issue. I saw hundreds of people in the same situation I was in - warranty didn't cover it since it was over 70,000 miles. The 'fix' repair is over $500. I saw that a class action is being discussed. Since it is always the passenger door handle that fails for 2011 Kia, it is obviously due to Kia using a substandard part.
My sunroof exploded. It sounded like a shotgun and then raining glass. I was driving with a speed around 35-40 mph when this occurred. It was very traumatic.
My neighbor bumped the back of the Kia with his Buick no visible damage to either cars bumpers the Kia was in park no one was in it the Kia it then started moving down the street it rolled about 400 yards went thru some hedges and then stopped in a neighbors yard no injurys but the vehicle was in park the whole time, I took the Kia to the local Kia dealer they had the vehicle 4 days and couldn't replicate what happened I told them I had read about a recall with a similar problem they said my VIN # wasn't part of it I feel Kia should adress this it wasn't imagined there were 3 or 4 neghbors that saw the empty vehicle just rolling down the street a responce would be appreciated thank you
Just started having problems with the car dying out when driving. For a while, you could start it right back up and it would not do it again for another week, two weeks, maybe even a month. Took it to a car shop and they cannot figure out what's wrong with it, they say everything is coming out normal. But, just dying out is not normal. Just recently, car died out while I was waiting in a fast food drive through, it to six tries to get it restarted.
The front drivers side door will not open from the outside. Online research has revealed that this is a common problem & design flaw that Kia refuses to recall. Extensive labor is required to fix the problem (broken plastic clip inside the door), resulting in expensive repair bills.
Cannot open drivers or front passenger side door from the outside. Vehicle was stationary in my driveway when this occurred. I have to crawl in my back driver side door to open drivers side door from the inside. This is dangerous not to mention very inconvenient. I have read online that there has been numerous similar complaints. Dealerships charging a fortune to replace the outside lock. I simply cannot believe that a recall has not been issued for this problem with Kia.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Lansing, MI, USA