10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
1 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
42 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.

2021 Kia Sorento engine problems

engine problem

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2021 Kia Sorento Owner Comments

problem #9

May 192024

Sorento

  • miles

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

While in the process of pulling into marked stall in parking lot car accelerated unexpectedly jumping over a concrete stop and crashing into the wall of a building. Car sustained eleven thousand dollars worth of damage and the wall that was hit was caved in. Cost of wall repair is unknown at this time. After the collision an attempt to dislodge the car was attempted by putting the car in reverse. The engine RPM was still racing and the car jerked backwards uncontrollably requiring the engine to be shut off to stop the car. Nobody was injured only property damage.

- Massapequa Pk, NY, USA

problem #8

Jun 112023

Sorento

  • miles
My 2021 Kia Sorrento has shut down and died while on a Highway drive 2 days in a row. The engine light comes on, the oil light comes on, and and the phrase -??Engine Off. Shift to N then start engine-?? comes on. Prior to this, other issues were happening. Originally, my automatic start wasn-??t working properly, and a Kia service advisor told me to -??turn that feature off-??. After that, while driving down the road last month, all symbols on my dash began flashing and the phrase -??Check forward safety system-?? appeared.

- Mckinney, TX, USA

problem #7

Nov 042022

Sorento

  • miles
10/25/2022 started the suv at a Wal-Mart parking lot and as I drove out of the parking lot onto a street my suv made a motorcycle sound then it started to loss power with my foot still on the gas pedal. Suv came to a complete stop and was towed home. 11/03/2022 Picked up suv from Kia dealership. Drove 43 minutes home and parked inside garage. An hour later started the suv to go pick up kids from school. The suv wouldn't reverse out of the garage. I restarted the engine 4 times then it finally reverse out of the garage then when I put it on drive. There was no power to drive. I restarted the engine again 2 more times then it finally drive and I parked it back inside the garage. 11-04-2022 I attempted to drive suv to Kia dealership for help. I made it onto the freeway with a speed of 74 mph for about 8 minutes then my suv started to loose power with my foot still on the gas pedal. I almost got rear ended by a big rig before I can even put my hazard light on and pulled safely to the side of the freeway. My suv was towed into Kia dealership that same day. 11-12-2022 Picked up the suv from Kia, drove it 43 minutes then stopped at Chevron to top off gas. When restarted the suv my engine light came on the dash board. I drove it back to my house. I notified Kia asap with a picture of my dash board and it's been in my garage since yesterday. Today is 11/13/2022. All incidents are not able to be duplicated by the dealership's mechanic everytime they had the suv. No actions were taken. I showed them videos and picture of the proof that I do have but because it's not happening for them while they have my suv. They can't fix my suv problem. It's an accident waiting to happen and I already had a near miss on the freeway. An extremely concerned 2021 Kia Seronto owner.

- Fernley , NV, USA

problem #6

Sep 022022

Sorento 4-cyl

  • miles

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

On Aug. 24, 2022 I was out shopping at a few different places. My car at this point had never given me any issues, still practically brand new with barely a little over 10000 miles on it. I got in it and started it up. I go to put it into gear and it would not go. I tried again and again then noticed a check engine light on. I turned it off then started vehicle again. I tried putting in reverse, it would not move, drive, it would not move. I called dealership and they sent over service tech along with wrecker driver. The service tech duplicated the same issue I had. He drove me back to dealership to put me in a loaner. Next day he said the wrecker driver said it started and drove just fine however the check engine light was still on so service tech said they were going to look into it. Finally by Sept. 1, 2022 I was told it was ready to be picked up. Was told that the engine computer needed a software update for transmission and it cleared out the light. I picked up vehicle on Sept. 2 and along the way home all of a sudden my car went from 70 mph to a sudden halt! I managed to move off the freeway after almost being rear ended and stopped the car. Frantically I called dealership but they were already closed for the day. Once my fiancé showed up he was able to get it to go into drive but the max speed was around 15 mph which he drove to our house which was about another 7-8 miles as I followed in his vehicle. Had car towed to dealership next day on Sept. 3. Finally on 16th of Sept. I was told a new transmission was needed, which was going to be on back order. Now, as of Nov. 6, 2022 I am still waiting for my car to be fixed and returned to me. So in summary, my 2021 Kia Sorento which is barely a yr old and a little over 10,000 miles is waiting to have the transmission replaced. I was told it would have to be a re-built one, not even a brand new one, go figure!

- Cypress , TX, USA

problem #5

Jul 072022

Sorento

  • miles
As my vehicle was in drive and I was actively driving, an error displayed on the dash stating to "stop safely immediately." The vehicle would neither accelerate nor decelerate and would not generate any RPMs. The check engine light came on, went off hours lately and the vehicle appeared to perform normally thereafter. Nonetheless I had the vehicle towed to the dealership and was told they were unable to duplicate the error although. I was told that although they could download the code for the error, it was unlikely that Kia would replace the faulty sensor that needed replacing as it was located on the side of the transmission. I was told to video the issue if it ever happened again. 7 days later, the exact same thing happened while I was in the middle of an intersection with my children. I leased this vehicle in May of 2021 and this issue occurred in July 2022 with 7800 miles on the odometer. There were zero issues with this vehicle prior to this and I have all service records and video footage of the incident.

- Oceanside, CA, USA

problem #4

Jun 072021

Sorento

  • miles
Car jumps when going into reverse, going into a stop and coming off a stop. Hesitates off of stops. Feels like it goes into neutral when going around bends. When I-??m park, it rocks back and forth and rpm-??s go down. It-??s been happening since I bought the car a year ago.

- Furlong, PA, USA

problem #3

Dec 172021

Sorento

  • miles

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

I was on a straight road no cars around the collision sensor went off and slowed me down. Another time it kept slowing the passenger side wheel down as the traction control was going off it did this 2 separate times. Got down the road some and it did it 2 more times but with the driver side. Last week I pulled into my drive way and was in park when it started telling me traffic was coming from the left, like I was about to back into something, I can't remember if I had shut it off at this time due to someone had fell out of the 3rd row when her foot was caught in the seat belt trying to exit the car. I called my nearest kia dealer and was told they were so far behind and since I did not buy my vehicle from them it would be last. I asked if an accident was to happen who would be responsible and he couldn't answer me.

- La Fayette, GA, USA

problem #2

Jun 022021

Sorento

  • miles
On Wednesday June 2, 2021 around 12:15pm I was leaving a teacher summer workshop and I started the car as usual, no issues, and proceeded to leave the parking lot to make a right turn onto the street. I was about a mile away from home. As I proceeded to hit the gas the car moved forward into the street then failed to shift into the next gear, which left me stranded with traffic quickly coming up behind me. I turned the wheel really hard to get as close to the curb as possible. I proceeded to press the gas pedal all the way to the floor and nothing happened except high rpms around 3-4k. I looked at the dash to see if there were any warning lights, at the same time I am pressing the gas pedal trying to get the car to move forward. It suddenly moved forward so I merged over to the left lane, with traffic coming up behind me, and it happened again. It failed to shift into the next gear and seemed to be stuck. I am moving forward about 1-2 mph. I stop in traffic and within 15 seconds it caught second gear and moved forward and I was able to make it to the middle lane. The Sorento started to act normal, shifting gears and moving forward, so I proceeded towards the light to make a left-hand turn. I waited until all the oncoming traffic passed by to make my left-hand turn, then I hit the accelerator and it lurched forward and wouldn-??t shift into the next gear, it just continued to rev to 4k. I-??m coasting along at about 1-2mph trying to get through the intersection so I don-??t get hit by another car. I move the shifter into a different gear to see if it would catch and it didn-??t. I continue pressing the gas pedal and it all of a sudden lurched forward and started acting like normal. I was about a half mile from home at this point. The car acted like normal and I was watching the dash to see if any warning lights were illuminated, no lights every appeared on the dash. Dealer can't replicate issue.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

problem #1

Feb 202021

Sorento

  • 375 miles
I've had vehicle for approximately two months and two days. Intermittent issue where vehicle fails to accelerate when making a turn after stopping (no vehicle in front) or accelerating forward after a stop (stop light with vehicle in front). Issue occurred first on 20 Feb 21 and again on 23 Mar 23. Vehicle was purchased 23 Jan 21. Issue so far appears to occur monthly around the same time of the month. Issue not easy to replicate. Concerned that issue could cause an accident as vehicle literally accelerates about 1-2mph and when out of "danger zone" acceleration picks up. Very scary. Refer to this forum thread - it appears a couple other people may be having a similar issue. Https://www.Kia-forums.com/threads/sporadic-issue-no-acceleration-from-stop.350565/

- Baltimore, MD, USA

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