CarComplaints.com Notes: As long as catastrophic engine failure at under 60,000 miles is the top owner complaint, it'll be pretty hard to recommend the 2012 Sorento.

10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 40
Injuries / Deaths:
6 / 0
Average Mileage:
76,616 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.

2012 Kia Sorento engine problems

engine problem

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2012 Kia Sorento Owner Comments (Page 18 of 20)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #48

Apr 242015

Sorento

  • miles

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

This is the third time that the 2012 Kia Sorento has surged on its own when stopped with the engine running. If you don't have your foot on the brake the car will run away.

- Bellingham, WA, USA

problem #47

Apr 212015

Sorento

  • 113,000 miles
While driving down highway at 55 miles per hour with a semi tractor trailer behind me. My Kia Sorento just shut off. I just pulled over on the side of the highway in time so I wouldn't get hit by the semi. It took me about 6 hours to get my car home. I was out in where there wasn't a garage or nothing around. After getting it home and jump start the battery it started. Then on 4/22/15 I was taking my wife to a appointment and it did the same thing and the engine is knocking before it shut off going done highway. I bought this Kia used with 52,000 miles on it in July 2014. Have extended warranty for 6 months or 36000. Well 6 months is passed and now I am struck with this problem. Called dealer where I got it. They wont help. I hope that you can help me with this problem because it is a dangerous thing that the car just shut off driving down highway. I am paying for a car that is faulty and they mislead you on the mileage to. Only get 20-23 at 55 miles per hour. Not now 30 or so like they say. I hope you can help me. I still have to get my car yet. It is getting pricey to keep a car that suppose to be good car. Thank you [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Grandvalley, PA, USA

problem #46

Apr 062015

Sorento

  • 36,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Sorento. While driving at 70 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The failure only occurred once. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The vehicle was diagnosed, but there was no failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 36,000.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

problem #45

Feb 252015

Sorento

  • 63,381 miles

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

The contact owns a 2012 Kia Sorento. While driving approximately 70 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle restarted, but the failure recurred on several occasions. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who diagnosed that the throttle engine sensor failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer for unknown repairs; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures. The approximate failure mileage was 63,381.

- Midland, GA, USA

problem #44

Jan 162015

Sorento 6-cyl

  • miles
The first incident occurred at a traffic light. I went to accelerate and realized that the car had shut itself off. I put it in park, and restarted it without incident. When I brought it into the dealership, they said there was nothing they could do and that I should bring it in as soon as it happens next time. The second time, March 28, 2015, I was trying to pull into a parking spot when I was unable to turn the wheel. Again, I realized that the car had stalled, so I put it into park, and restarted it. While there was no harm done, my main concern is that something like this will happen while driving at a higher speed, and cause an accident. I have seen this same occurrence in other reviews and wonder why this is not more of a concern for the manufacturers. What will it take for a recall?

- Sarasota, FL, USA

problem #43

Nov 072014

Sorento 6-cyl

  • 81,000 miles
Vehicle began leaking oil, oil light came on. Refilled with oil to try and find the leak without success. Mechanic found a bad oil pressure switch. The oil pooled up in a valley in the engine. This valley had a manufactured hole in the top of it and that's were the oil was dumping out onto the ground. Made it appear that it was a rear main seal leak.

- Salisbury, VT, USA

problem #42

Oct 312014

Sorento

  • 98,000 miles

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

I was driving to work at 55 mph and all the lights on the dash came on and my head lights shut off. My car restarted right after that and now it has done it three times since then. I am nervous when I drive because, I fear I will be stalled somewhere and it will be winter. I drive 47 miles one way to work. I am seriously thinking of trading the car off. I know I won't get anything for it but, at least I will be safe. We were told by Kia that if the car shuts off it is resetting the computer and they will be unable to diagnose if a dummy light doesn't stay on. I see there are more complaints about the same issue I am having with my Kia and I think Kia should do a recall on them. This is a serious issue and I think it needs to be resolved asap.

- Gaylord, MN, USA

problem #41

Nov 222012

Sorento 4-cyl

  • 850 miles
While in regular traffic when gas is applied, car will start to move forward then act as though the motor had been turned off. If you add more pressure to gas pedal nothing happens, than all of a sudden the car will lurch forward at a high rate of speed as if you had pushed the gas pedal to the floor. This condition has happened as least 40 or more times in 14K miles. This condition happened at least 6 times while on vacation in nv. While making a right turn from a dead stop, the car lurched forward, almost causing me to have a head-on collusion with another driver. I reported this condition to Kia when it first happened during service, and they said they could find nothing wrong. The last time I reported it when car was in for service, Kia, kept my car. That was about three weeks ago and since then I have had two calls from the Kia factory, telling me they were looking into this issue and if I have any questions I was to give them a call. The phone number I was given was 1-800-333-4542 ext. [xxx] and my case # is [xxx]. as today Aug 4, 2014, Kia still has my Sorento and I'm driving their loaner car. " also" my wife will not drive our car until this problem is corrected in fear it might happen to her. She was a passenger in a bad rollover accident and has become fearful of any condition that's out of the ordinary with a car. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

- Harker Heights, TX, USA

problem #40

Mar 072013

Sorento 6-cyl

  • 15,000 miles
Car would drop its speed to about 1 mile an hour, brought car to dealer, told needed software re-set, occurred again in about July 2012, told again a software problem, but could not tell me why or that it would not happen again. Rear camera and entire radio-council goes out on occasion. Sun roof jams and won't close. In shop to repair sun roof over one week.

- Capitola, CA, USA

problem #39

Jun 102014

Sorento

  • 25,000 miles
I was driving my car in a parking garage and without warning as I was making a left turn the car shut down completely, no lights, no engine, no power steering, stiff brakes. I was unable to even turn on my hazard lights. Someone was kind enough to help push my vehicle to the side and eventually I was able to restart the car. When I took it to the dealer, they found nothing and were unable to recreate the problem. This could be a real danger on the road and now my trust in the car is shaken! scary to see other people reporting the exact same problem.

- Nashville, TN, USA

problem #38

Mar 212013

Sorento

  • 40,217 miles

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

It has been 3times on the road. The first time was when I drove in highway about 35 mph (had traffic) my engine was turned off so I did not know what I to do so I put my gear to park and restarted it and it was turned on. And couple weeks later I was drove in rocal road it happened again so I called Kia dealer they asked me to bring my car to dealer and I left in the morning and picked it up at afternoon and they said it should be ok. Then was been ok but it happened again June 2nd and I brought to Kia dealer again they said "we can not fix it because this problem is not recall" I was so mad if my wife or daughter drive this car and turn off the engine while in driving it can make big accident on the road or on highway.please can you find out what's the problem is in this car and make Kia to fix this problem. Thank you.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

problem #37

Aug 222013

Sorento

  • 45,564 miles
I was driving my 2012 Kia Sorento on a flat residential road in fair weather and came to stop at a stop sign. After going forward about 20ft after the stop sign my car just died. It completely turned off, all electrical, the engine, everything and I had to put it in park to restart the engine. This has happened on 4 separate occasions, 1 time on a hill, 1 time in rush hour traffic with a tractor trailer behind me, and again on my way home in a residential area. I took the vehicle to the Kia dealership and was told that they could not re-create the problem and no error codes came up. I do not know what to do. I am scared for my life driving this car.

- Bowie, MD, USA

problem #36

May 132013

Sorento

  • 17,000 miles
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while driving approximately 10 mph, the vehicle stalled as the engine warning light illuminated on the instrument panel. The failure recurred twice. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing however, the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 17,000.

- Brookfield, CT, USA

problem #35

Jan 152014

Sorento

  • 15,000 miles
My Kia Sorento stalled in the middle of road while crossing a stop sign. The engine shutoff and all the lights on the panel lighted on. This has now happened three times. Last two times we went to the dealer and they said they could not find anything wrong. There are not error codes saved in Kia so they don't have a proof that this condition happened. This is very serious. We were lucky that this happened on the neighborhood streets with no traffic. I was able to start the car back by putting it in parking brake and pressing the start button again. I have seen several other posts with the similar problem. I hope this is thoroughly investigated as dealership is not ready to acknowledge or try to even re-create the problem.

- San Francisco, CA, USA

problem #34

Jun 042014

Sorento 6-cyl

  • 34,853 miles
I was in traffic and the engine stopped running. I noticed that engine stopped with all the indicators on including the check engine light on but my car was not running anymore and will not drive even when I pressed the gas pedal. I put it on park and turned it off and restarted. It started. This happened twice within 10 minutes of each other.

- Santee, CA, USA

problem #33

Jul 102013

Sorento 6-cyl

  • 25,000 miles
We have had two incidents where the engine just stops. The first time was last summer, and the second this past weekend. It stalled while my wife was making a right turn onto a street. She is thankful that the traffic was light. The thought of stalling while making a left turn in front of traffic or while on the freeway could cause a serious accident.

- Ridgecrest, CA, USA

problem #32

May 272014

Sorento 6-cyl

  • 59,000 miles
For the third time in a 2 month span, my 2012 Kia Sorento has completely shut down as we have been driving it. We are at the 60K miles mark. This is very dangerous. Two of the three times we have been doing around 40 mph on very busy streets and thank god, we did not hit another car or get hit. The vehicle with zero warning, will just die and we will lose all power steering, we can't shift gears, and the brakes do not work like they normally do. The first time I thought it was just a battery, so I replaced it. But since then we have had it at the dealership twice and they do not know what is wrong with it. They will get it running again and then a couple of weeks later, it will die again. I have two babies that ride in this vehicle and I am looking at my options to getting rid of it. This vehicle is very dangerous!!

- Denton, TX, USA

problem #31

May 252014

Sorento 4-cyl

  • 38,000 miles
Wife driving from NY to conn, vehicle losing power, extreme shaking, grinding/rattle noise, engine light came on, stayed on, then blinking on and off, vehicle really running bad at this time. Following day, engine light still on, need to pump gas peddle to get started. Idle very rough. 2012 Kia Sorento with 38;000 miles. Very concerned that vehicle will shut off completely, as is common per numerous complaints, at speed on the highway. Will bring to dealership tomorrow, however, have been researching Kia Sorento engine problems this afternoon and it does not look good. 1) dealership techs unable to duplicate problems. (common) 2) recall to replace ECM but customers not notified as deemed not a safety issue by Kia. Really"??" 3) throttle actuator failure part of problem but not widely known by consumers.(common) important for 2012-to 2014 owners. New York has lemon laws. If your vehicle is less than 2 years old or has less than 18,000 miles and you have had to take it back for repairs several times, there are attorneys who live for this type of thing. I am in this group and sent E-mail today to just those type of sharks. Be pro-active, not re-active. I plan on having plan B in place if I find myself going down the path of "we don, T know what is wrong, the computer says your car is fine, just because you need to rent a room at the dealership because you are there so much does not mean we don, T care". what we really mean is we really don, T care!! reality check.. fyi check this out...........ps in NY don, T forget class action law-suit that is currently going on, does not cost anything to add your name to the list of plaintiffs.

- Miller Place, NY, USA

problem #30

Mar 122014

Sorento 6-cyl

  • 25,000 miles
A few months ago I was driving my daughter to her volleyball practice and upon leaving the parking lot and driving into the street I lost all power and control of my car including my power steering etc. I almost crashed the car into the side of a house but lucky I was able to press the brakes hard enough to finally get the car to stop. I then pushed the power button and all of the lights came on the display but no power to the car. I pressed the power again and the car started. Then three days ago I was in the car pick up line picking up another daughter from school. I had the power of the car off and when I went to start the car it would not start. I pushed the power button and again all of the light on the display came on. Then I pushed it again and it started. I believe this is a very serious issue. If myself or my husband are driving any of our 4 children on the freeway at 65-70 miles and hour and the car decides to power itself off it could become a catastrophe one of which I am not willing to risk. I have done my research and found several other complaints about these exact issues however nothing is ever done about. It's the same old story you take it into your dealer and they run the diagnostic and it doesn't show anything wrong. Which is what happened to me both times I took my Kia in. This automobile has a defect, which is terribly dangerous to drivers and passengers, and which the automobile manufacturer appears to be ignoring, much in the manner that GM ignored serious, dangerous, and sometimes fatal defects in one or more of its models. I truly don't understand how this same exact problem can keep happening and Kia is choosing not to ignore it rather than issue a recall on the car.

- Moorpark, CA, USA

problem #29

Mar 252014

Sorento 6-cyl

  • 45,000 miles
On 3/25/14, my 2012 Sorento just shut off while driving. The car was put in park and it started fine. Took it to the dealer and it spent 2 days at the dealer. The problem could not be recreated, no fix, no issue they kept stating & there was nothing to fix. Now we're in May 2014 and the car shut off again. I was at a light and the car just shut off. I put the car in park and it started again. The is a huge safety issue and Kia is taking no action for this and there seems to be alot of complaints about this on your website. I think an investigation should be opened and something should be done for Kia Sorento owners. We are paying for cars with a huge safety issue and obviously need the cars we are paying for.

- West New York, NJ, USA

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