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.
On two separate occasions, I have experienced unintended acceleration, once when the cruise was on and once when it wasn't. the Kia Soul would not respond to braking or slow down to less than 20 mph. Luckily I was on the interstate or four lane both times and had time to get over on the berm and put car in neutral and then park and then turn off immediately. I tried to restart and the engine revved up to 7,000 in park. I let car sit for about 15 minutes...first time when I tried to restart it seemed to be okay. I drove it for about a month before second occurrence. This time car would not reset and when trying to restart, engine was revving to 7,000 RPM in park. I told all this to my local dealership. They ran diagnostic but found nothing wrong...I am scared to drive it and after some research, looks like there have been numerous people experiencing the same issues.
The contact owns a 2005 (na) Kia Soul. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 15V123000 (vehicle speed control) and 15V736000 (steering); however, the parts for the recall repairs were unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repairs. The contact had not experienced a failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. Parts distribution disconnect.
My wife and I were driving on the highway going about 70 when all of a sudden the car seemd to shift down to 3rd gear almost having the car behind us rearend us. Has been happening all the time if we go over 65 or 70.
I own a pre-owned 2010 Kia Soul! with approximately 47K miles, clear title and no accidents. On Sunday 12/29/13 my car experienced sua (sudden unintended acceleration). I was driving approximately 35 mph, approaching a rotary, when my car suddenly accelerated on its own. The rpms spiked up to 4000-5000 and my car lunged forward and the engine was racing very loudly. I had to pump the brakes multiple times to decelerate and bring the car to a complete stop. This incident is now the 4-5th time I have experienced sudden acceleration (within 1 year), usually happening between the 35-45mph range. The car will accelerate on its own (even if I've been at a complete stop, it will jump forward with rpms running abnormally high) and I'll have to press on the brakes significantly. I brought the car to lev Kia in framingham MA where they ran a diagnostic test (12/30/13) and apparently found no recorded "trouble codes" and said they had never heard of this problem before and there is nothing they can do about it if they cannot recreate the incident. With some minimal research online, I was able to find other Kia owners reporting the same issue, including another 2010 Kia Soul that resulted in a severe accident due to the speed control. This is obviously not a secluded incident and further research must be done. I feel unsafe driving my Kia Soul!
- Boxborough, MA, USA
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Factory cruise control was in use at approximately 45 mph. When the brake was applied, the cruise control did not disengage. Instead the engine raced in an attempt to maintain the car speed at 45 mph. I tested the cruise control the next day 2 times at different speeds and each time the cruise control would not disengage with application of the brake. It did disengage each time when the cruise control on/off switch was depressed. The cruise control has worked without any problems prior to this.
The contact owns a 2010 Kia Soul. The contact was driving approximately 5 mph when the vehicle abnormally accelerated forward until the contact applied the brakes. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where they were unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. This failure occurred intermittently in the past. The failure and current mileage was 4,100.
The contact rented a 2010 Kia Soul from a local vehicle rental facility. The contact stated the brake pedal was set at an angle and was abnormally small. The accelerator pedal was also the same. The contact stated on several occasions, she barely missed a crash due to the abnormal design of the pedals. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact was unable to provide the VIN, failure and current mileages.
2010 Kia Soul 5 door wagon 2.0 L mt 5 speed transmission the car over revs between shifts and has a soft brake pedal that goes to the floor and as your brake pedal goes down at stops your foot touches the foot feed and causes the car to revs up while stopping. I have made many visits to Kia in lake manawa Kia in council bluffs, ia and Kia of grand island, ne. I have talked to 2 Kia service reps and they say that"S just how the car is and they can't do anything with it. I took them to BBB arbitration court for a vehicle buy back and they said they would fix the problem but only fixed one the roof damage from assembly and one recall on master cylinder. The car still over revs and at stops signs they have never been able to fix it. The brakes worry me and the car is slightly dangerous. I think Kia should replace my car or fix it or being the 5 speeds have these bugs yet in the 2010 models they should get me into a automatic that doesn't have this problem. I have had this problem since I bought the car on March 17, 2009. I called them within a week of getting the car and they said they would fix it when I came in for my first oil change and they said the service rep would look at it. But the rep could come in for 3 month due to an accident he was in. When he was in he said that?S the way the cars were but I didn't buy that because the car is unsafe and I have been a mechanic for over 50 yrs and I know this isn't how a car should perform. Also the car was so new I didn't also buy that"S how they perform he did say he doesn't even have a shop manual for it yet. Previously I had recommend a Kia to my son and he went to witchita, ks Kia and they told him you don't want a Kia Soul 5 speed because they over rev between shifts. I also recommended Kia to my daughter and brother-in law and they bought automatic transmission cars and they have no problems with over revs. After this I will never recommend Kia to anyone else after my problems with Kia service.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- San Juan, PR, USA