10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
28,901 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.

2016 Kia Sorento lights problems

lights problem

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2016 Kia Sorento Owner Comments (Page 2 of 3)

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #37

Aug 212021

Sorento

  • miles

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

While driving down the road both headlights just turn off. I can turn the light switch off and on and they come back on.

- Carriere, MS, USA

problem #36

Jul 262021

Sorento

  • 94,000 miles
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Sorento. The contact stated while his wife was driving approximately 40 mph at dawn, the headlights, side marker lights, and turn signals became inoperable. The vehicle was examined by an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the front light module was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 94,000.

- Whitewall, PA, USA

problem #35

Jun 102019

Sorento 6-cyl

  • miles
I purchased a new 2016 KIA Sorento Tow Package that stated on the invoice it included a Mobius part number C6061 ADUS9 (Tow Hitch Harness) -?"Sorento. They part failed June 2019 and was reported to the KIA Kearny Mesa dealership. They initiated a request for the part and it was not received to date. The KIA Customer Care Irvine center said the vehicle was not listed as having the part and therefore I was not entitled to the KIA internal recall SC142. (Google search C6061 ADUS9) Their explanation was the VIN didn't include the Mobius part number C6061 ADUS9. I emailed a copy of the purchase invoice that showed otherwise. Please force KIA to update their build database to include purchased options. This is the second time I have submitted this Safety Recall. Consumer would like to provide an update complaint number 11390630 with 11420441. Essentially the PROBLEM is KIA customer service will not honor its INTERNAL RECALL SC142 with consumer's vehicle and suspect they won't honor others with the same issue. The sell their new vehicles in California without a Trailer Brake controller and defective CLASS III tow hitch harness. Mobius part is C6061 ADUS9 (Tow Hitch Harness) -?" Sorento

- San Diego, CA, USA

problem #34

Apr 082021

Sorento

  • 76,555 miles

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

There are numerous safety issues I have found with this car I just financed. First, at random many different lights just blow, then on my dash various warning lights will go on and off, on top of that my ABS and traction control is off for no reason and so are my passenger air bags. My brakes scream somedays and are touchy others ive replaced the battery twice and only owned it 3 months. I have brand new tires yet the suspension is awful the fuel is going fast and my oil needs changing very often and it is under 100000 miles.

- Odenville, AL, USA

problem #33

Sep 082020

Sorento

  • 98,000 miles
I bought my 2016 Kia Sorento in 2019 since I purchased it the motor has went out in it which had to be replaced which I had to pay the warranty fee plus other cost not included in the warrenty, I have had to change my back tail light at least once a month because it keeps going out and I don't know why the transmission seems to stall when I try to accelerate it makes a noise that sounds like open air the car jumps slightly sometimes and at times it won't accelerate here recently on 2 occasions the accelerator still accelerated after I removed my foot from the pedal this scared me mainly because my kids were in the car and it seemed like it was accelerating to full capacity after tapping the pedal with my foot multiple times if finally released.

- Longview, TX, USA

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problem #32

Apr 152019

Sorento 6-cyl

  • 20,000 miles
Kia kearny mesa, ca dealership performed a class III trailer hitch tow package installation with VIN purchase that included part numbers C6061-adu00 and recalled part number C6061-adus9. The California law required electric brake controller was excluded. I completed the class III tow package myself for ~$500 parts charge and used it as a legal tow vehicle with a 3000 # rv for about 5 months then experienced the trailer light SC142 failure. I replaced the SC142 recalled part number C6061-adus9 with an etrailer company part number tekonsha 118269 successfully and found out about the recall later. I provided the receipt of dealership installed incomplete tow package part numbers and the etrailer part installed to both the dealership and Kia corporate customer care without resolve for over a year. I request the Kia dealership and/or Kia corporation reimburse $500 parts and current labor costs for neglect to install a complete class III tow package at time of purchase and denial of reimbursement for recalled part number replacement costs.

- San Diego, CA, USA

problem #31

Dec 302020

Sorento

  • 45,000 miles

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

Drivers side rear running lights don't work. No power going to the bulbs (bulbs are good). Except brake lights and turn signals work. Fuses okay. And only one of the two light sockets over the rear license plate has power and works. Kia dealer claims it replaced the burned out bulb in rear license socket, but I checked within a week and no power to the socket. No fuses blown.

- Burke, VA, USA

problem #30

Dec 122020

Sorento

  • 6 miles
With the headlights are in the auto position, while in motion, the headlights randomly turn off when the turn signal is activated and when changing to high and low beam. While in the auto position, the headlights also come on randomly when the car is parked and not running.

- Glade Valley, NC, USA

problem #29

Dec 022020

Sorento

  • 38,097 miles
The headlights went out while I was driving on the highway going 70 miles per hour. I was getting ready to brake and turn and was unable to see anything outside of the vehicle. The lights were off for approximately 10 seconds.

- Fruitvale, TX, USA

problem #28

Oct 102020

Sorento

  • 32,010 miles
Front headlights periodically turns off without warning, goes back on as soon as you touch the light switch. Safety hazard when driving at night! happened several times! the vehicle was in driving motion both on a freeway and also on a highway and street!

- San Diego, CA, USA

problem #27

Jun 262020

Sorento

  • 97,000 miles

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

Car kicks when driving. Oil burns out after oil change. Every week or 2 I have to put oil in. Problem still continues after kicking problem was somewhat fixed. Car still kicks but not as hard today. Engine oil is still burning up quickly

- Ocoee, FL, USA

problem #26

Jul 042019

Sorento

  • 58,000 miles
The headlights go off while driving for no apparent reason. Apparently has happened for over a year. Recently my son drove the car and mentioned it and then my daughter said that it has been happening since last summer.

- Havre De Grace, MD, USA

problem #25

Aug 022020

Sorento

  • 70,700 miles
Multiple times, with vehicle in parked, with the lighting settings set to "auto", the headlights have turned "on" by themselves with the car locked and empty more than 4 times that I know of - could have drained battery overnight if I did not catch and cycled lock mechanism. Multiple times, with vehicle in motion, with the lighting settings set to "auto", the headlights have cycled randomly from off to on, and vice versa, and quickly reversing to normal operation again more than 10 times that I have noticed when it should not have happened (by August 2nd 2020), both during daytime and night external lighting conditions, both on roads and highways. Note that when this happened, the lighting level outside did not warrant a change in condition. Probably an electrical defect with the automatic external light level detector. Could cause an accident when headlights turn off by themselves at night while driving on roads or highways. This happens randomly with wide time spacing (10+ days between occurrences). Vehicle has 70800 miles.

- San Diego, CA, USA

problem #24

Nov 122019

Sorento

  • 10,600 miles
I purchased the car as used in 2019 and no active recalls were listed and still arent. A bout a month later I noticed my low oil pressure light was popping on and off at random intervals while driving on city and rural paved roadsi checked and engine was empty of oil. Oil was replaced and two week later the same thing. My 4th cylinder has now died. The spark plugs were replaced and it was fine for two weeks then stopped working again while I was on the highway. Replaced coil pack but this did not change anything. Upon investigation I found out the engine had been recalled but no evidence or recall was showing for this vehicle. Per website replaced engines have bright orange dip stick for the oil which this vehicle does, but all the problems associated with original recall information exists. I filed complaint with Kia only to be directed to a dealership. The front left low beam has burnt out twice within 6 months as well.

- Biddeford, ME, USA

problem #23

Mar 202020

Sorento

  • 30,000 miles
Sometimes while driving at night with my lights in the auto position, they will turn off for about 5 seconds before coming back on. This is very dangerous and has happened to me while on a dark highway before.

- Seattle, WA, USA

problem #22

Dec 012019

Sorento

  • 80,000 miles
Auto headlights go out randomly while driving at night

- Highlands Ranch, CO, USA

problem #21

Dec 202019

Sorento

  • 25,000 miles
We have experienced random events where the headlights go out for 5-10 seconds. This makes for a very scary situation for me and my family when driving in the evening and it all gets dark. We notice when the vehicle is in motion, city street or highway, we could be in the car for short amount of time or longer amount of time, warm and cold weather, wet and dry weather, haven't noticed while turning but have on straight roads, dashboard goes dark too when the headlights go out. The local Kia dealership cannot replicate the issue since it is very random in nature. This has happened a number of times over the past two years. There have been no injuries due to this yet.

- South Hadley, MA, USA

problem #20

Sep 042019

Sorento

  • 92,000 miles
While driving down the road my headlights will occasionally go off.

- Branchland, WV, USA

problem #19

Jul 292019

Sorento

  • 83,233 miles
Steering- while driving at highway speeds the steering gets tight as if the power steering was out. When you fight to compensate it would normalize causing you to jerk the wheel. I could have easily lost control of the vehicle. Lightning- while driving at night on a dark highway all the light turned off. We were completely in thdark. We pulled over and moved the switch from automatic to the manual light on position. We later moved it back to the automatic position and it was again working properly. Both problems can easily cause you to lose control of the vehicle.

- Mitchellville, MD, USA

problem #18

Jul 022019

Sorento

  • 18,000 miles
Both headlamps are crystalizing in the far top corners and are continue to spread rapidly. The plastic is rough over the areas and cannot be buffed out or removed with headlamp restore products. Every day this is expanding in area and will lead to headlamps not projecting the light on to the roadway. This is happening in driveway of my home.

- Hampton, VA, USA

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