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.
Engine began regularly overheating. Problem began in May 2023. No warning lights, other than the temperature gauge going up. Thermostat was replaced, radiator was cleaned and checked, without defects found. No leaking hoses. Problem continued to get worse, requiring coolant be added every time the car was driven. Mechanic decided the head gasket was failing. Due to the nature of the head bolts, the recommendation was to replace the engine. This has not been done and the car is unusable and unsellable due to the failure.
17-year-old daughter driving 65 mph down the highway when engine just gave out. Loss drive power but was able to make it to the side of highway, once stopped coolant find blowing out. There was no overheating warning or light luminated on dash. Once towed to shop and inspected told head gasket blown out dur to loose head bolts & possible head crack due to lost coolant.
2016 Sorento 3.3L with approximately 136,000 miles on it. Did not have heat. Diagnosed with low coolant and possible head gasket leak due to loose head bolts. No warning lights. Seems to be a common manufacturing issue with these engines.
Engine stalled when merging in the freeway. Mechanic said that the engine stalled because there was not enough oil. I did an oil change a month prior, and no oil light indication came on until after the car broke down.
2016 Kia Sorento SX 3.3l engine failure at 87k miles. Head bolts backed out. Kia dealership verified the issue. The engine could have seized why driving which is a safety risk. No warning lights at all.
- Cleburne, TX, USA
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I was taking my mom to her knee appointment after her surgery, and my temperature gauge started to rise. No lights or warnings came on in the car what so ever. I pulled over before it reached the red, let it cool and checked fluids. From what I could see the oil, and coolant were fine. The heat in the car stopped working, and the car kept wanting to over heat in the lower gears. I got it to Lion Country Kia in St.College and diagnosed it as finding a cylinder head gasket. My car could no longer be driven, from St.College to my home in St.Mary-??s. I had to have it towed, as well as checked here as well to find they were right with a cylinder head gasket issue. I was under the assumption I had the power train warranty as well because it-??s under 10/100,000 but unknown to me I didn-??t. I could-??ve been in an awful accident if I wasn-??t paying attention to my gauges and my car overheated and locked up while driving. If anything would-??ve happened to my children and my mom in the car that day, all because of a fault in the car manufacturing, Id be knocking on doors! To see all the recalls on the years previous to this for the same issue, you would think it would-??ve either been taken care of, or a recall put on this year as well. From what I-??ve been reading it-??s been happening all too often. Something needs done.
I noticed one day when filling up my wiper fluid that the engine was just slightly below the coolant low level. I topped off the coolant and tried to see if there was any leaks under the car. I couldn't see any. I started the vehicle and noticed there was bubbling in the coolant reservoir.I called my local mechanic and scheduled an appointment to bring the car in. The car wasn't driven until the day it was going in to be looked at. When driving the car in it started rough and slugish but then went back to normal. I drove it to my mechanics and on the way the car started running very rough engine shaking and the check engine light started flashing. I was only a few blocks away from the shop so I coasted in. They took the car in said it had a code for a cylinder misfire and started the car saying it was blowing white smoke out of the exhaust. They ran a test on the car and said they didn't want to take anything apart and to tow it to Kia. The car was towed to Kia in Wheat Ridge, CO. Car was inspected and the diagnosis was that the engine had overheated. The block is made of aluminum and so is the head. The headbolts that hold the two pieces together are a different type of metal. This manufacturing defect caused the threads in the aluminum block to strip or pull and loose tension on the head gasket. This allowed coolant to enter into one of the cylinders. Kia is recommending the engine be replaced for $11,910 and change. Car was regularly serviced and drove perfectly fine up until the day it went into the shop. Dealer service dept says this is very common on Kia and Hyundai 3.3L engines. Multiple cases around the same mileage.
The engine threw a rod while driving on a flat stretch of US HWY 285. The vehicle is available for further inspection if needed. The engine has 61,300 miles on it. We were forced to stop on a small 2-lane highway and wait for hours for a tow. This was inspected by the dealership and needs to be replaced for the vehicle to be safe to drive again. This is not covered under warranty as I am the second owner with a warranty up to 60,000 miles. No warning lights or messages occurred prior to the rod being thrown.
Vehicle is burning excessive amounts of oil. The check engine light nor low oil light has came on and vehicle was (4) quarts low (according to independent mechanic). Was told by KIA dealership that they would not repair unless the engine was completely blown up. I was told to add oil, get more frequent oil changes, trade vehicle, or come up with $8,500. The engine only has 61,000 miles on it and is a 2016 model. This is a widely known issue and KIA needs to admit the failures and fix the problem.
My car has been having high oil consumption. I have taken it to my Kia dealership. They informed me this is a problem with the make and model. They told me this is the beginning of an engine problem that will ultimately cause engine failure affecting connecting rods and bearings. My options are to drive the car until it fails then Kia will replace the engine. I a, so co tacted Kia corporate Customer service a d was told the same thing. I ask her to file a complaint and accelerate it. She said 5hat was. Ot he process. I am 77 year old widow. I'm active and drive my car day a night almost every day. I am usually alone. The solutions are not acceptable. There is a danger for me getting suddenly stranded alone at my age. I think the engine should be replaced now. Can you help me with this? Thank you
In November last year, my car caught fire while I was driving on a highway at a rate of about 70 mph. Some good Samaritans flagged me down and I was able to pull off the road and escape injury. My car was a total loss as were the contents of it. The fire department tapped out the fire. Kia admitted responsibility saying it was a manufacturing defect (I have the email conversation saved) but only wanted to pay my insurance company back and refund me my deductible. Kia would not pay for my lost iPhone and belongings because they said they could only do so if I provided a receipts for those items. Who has a receipt for everything in their car? I didn't claim to loss a Rolex or anything crazy. I refused the offer and am out for the loss of my car, deductible and its contents (though insurance cut me a check for the blue book value of my car minus the deductible). Kia is the worst.
Car started making a knocking noise and before I could pull over the car shut off. Told now engine needs to be replaced. Kia could not look at it until November 1st and will not give us a car to use. We only have this car as a mode of transportation.
car has been burning oil, I'm filling it every other week and i barely drive it (less than 30 miles a week). Was driving to the dealer to have it looked at and it failed - I suddenly could not accelerate on a busy highway over 3mph! No warning lights came on at all and it is not throwing any codes. I was almost rear ended. One Kia dealership told me "just keep topping off the oil and drive it till it fails" That seems like an unsafe solution. Will Kia be responsible if I get into a collision if my car suddenly fails?
Engine burned oil with no warning lights. Engine failed on highway with no warning lights. Regular maintenance and oil change done to vehicle, this was not negligible.
premature engine failure due to excessive oil consumption, without indication from warning light of low oil. Checked my oil and registered 0 on the dip stick. the engine knock became present pulling into my driveway
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that the vehicle was consuming an excessive amount of engine oil. The contact stated that the engine consumed 2 quarts of oil for every 1,000 miles driven. The dealer was made aware of the failure and performed an oil consumption test. The vehicle failed the oil consumption test twice. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 71,000.
Car ran fine until we stopped for gas, went to get back on the highway when the car wouldn't accelerate >25mphs, almost got hit from this. The car was then towed to the near by Kia dealership and they found that it was a compression issue with a known issue in the engine and now we need a new engine or scrap the car. Kia is not willing to fix their horrible product and has told us to just suffer.
Driving vehicle and check engine light came on, pulled over to an advance auto to have codes pulled. When lifting the hood to double check everything while waiting on codes to be pulled, I could smell a burning smell. After codes pulled, I sat in parking lot and researched codes P001100 and P208800. With codes and smell of burning, I had vehicle towed to Ferber's Tire & Auto Service, Inc. at 10383 Leadbetter Rd. Ashland, VA. 23005. They pulled codes and found that a recall was issued by KIA for this issue with CVVT Assembly. I called KIA and I was told that my VIN was not covered for this recall but that if the recall was expanded and covered my VIN that they would notify me. At this point I had no choice but to repair vehicle on my own even though KIA knew of this issue with their product. This repair is not cheap! Because of the location and what you have to do to get to part that needs to be replaced. My bill was $2,492.23 just to fix a car that KIA is aware. So aware that a recall was issued, just didn't go far enough for all the VIN. If my vehicle had caught fire or engine locked up because of the metal and plastic now sucked into the engine, I would have no car and all because KIA not doing right by the customer. I still have parts the old parts that were replaced.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Harrisburg , SD, USA