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.
The engine is consuming motor oil in excess after conducting oil changes. If it goes unaddressed after oil changes, it causes the pins in the engine to not operate properly. This results in a check engine light requiring the owners to get another oil change prior to actually needing one. Kia motors is aware of this issue; however are only willing to replace the engine if it fails due to pins and not the excessive oil consumption if your mileage is over the 10 year/100,000 miles. Both issues are interrelated and the engine needs to be replaced regardless!
Oil consumption and catalytic converter clogging. My car burns through 5 liters of oil about every 1,000 miles. I've already had the catalytic converter replaced and my mechanic said it's from excessive oil leaking, and the only alternative to fix it is to replace the engine.
Three repeat incidents, a few months apart, introduced same hazard to passengers and others: End of year 2022 (date not remembered): Car was stopped at stop sign at T-intersection to enter busy roadway. Break depressed. Engine RPMS started high revving, and unexpected forward motion of car lurched into busy intersection - almost collision. April 2023 (two incidents in same month): 1. Car was at lighted intersection on state highway. Break depressed. Engine RPMS started high revving (loudly noticed). Was familiar with condition so heavily leaned on break while RPMs continued to climb. When intersection light turned green, break released, and car lunched forward. 2. Car traveling in heavy stop-and-go city traffic in downtown urban area. Break was momentarily depressed and held. Again, engine RPMs regain to REV loudly. Pressed down on break harder and harder and could not control forward motion of car - almost bumped into car ahead of us. So, next put car in neutral and then in park then back in drive. Revving condition stopped. Made appointment with Kia dealership 6/1/23 to address, but I think this might be a recall condition to report.
Catalytic Converter malfunction and it was check by my mechanic at Hillebrand Automotive. It causes my 2014 Kia Soul to stop running in the middle of the highway. There were no warning lights, massages or any other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure. This happened 3 months ago. On January 21, 2023. It's still down because i can't afford to have it fix.
check engine light came on the evening of 3/08/2023. Auto zone said it was a knock sensor code and was listed as a recall. Next morning while driving on highway to ft Wayne Kia dealership my car engine lost rpm while driving at 65 mph on i-69 chapel exit in ft Wayne indiana. The car engine compartment almost immediately ignited into flames with an explosion. Driver barely got out before fire was in the dash. The front interior dash and front seat areas were caught on fire. Shrapnel blown from car started a grass fire as well. The fire department arrived to get both fires under control. My car was still under warranty at 108 months and 89,000 miles. Never had any problem with my Soul until that next day after light came on. I was not notified of the recalls except only recently received an airbag recall on 3/30/2023. I have contacted Kia to file a claim with them.
- Indianapolis, IN, USA
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The contact owns a 2014 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving 30-40 MPH and depressing the brake pedal, the vehicle accelerated unintendedly. The contact immediately shifted into neutral (N). There was no warning light illuminated. The contact then shifted into drive (D) and the vehicle responded as needed. The contact stated that the failure had been reoccurring intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer several times. The dealer diagnosed that no issues were found; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 41,000.
Friday January 20th, 2023 while on the freeway my 2014 Kia Soul with less than 75,000 miles spontaneously caught on fire. While merging over to the side of the road the breaks and throttle were inoperable. I was very fortunate that I did not suffer any injuries though it was a very close call. My safety was put at risk as I was unable to maneuver the car over to the side of the road while maintaining the flow of traffic due to the accelerator failure. Once near the shoulder of the road I was unable to stop the car due to the breaks failure which increased the amount of time I was exposed to the burning car and smoke. The problem has not been reproduced or inspected by the dealer, police, and insurance. There were no warning light before or after the fire was identified. The car was professionally maintained and was in great condition prior to this event.
Vehicle's engine failed months after a recall was performed on it in October 2021 to "protect the engine from damage" while failing to reason why this was necessary. Upon my vehicle breaking down on April 1st, 2022, I had it taken to a repair shop that performed about $2,000 worth of work on the vehicle, not knowing that KIA had a known defect for code P1326 which was that the engine was defective and not that it was just a misfire as it is coded. My engine is similar to those of vehicles involved in class-actions and other NTHSA complaints around the same model year, THETA II engine, with similar problems with oil consumption issues and it failed at 99,800 miles. When I asked dealerships about the oil consumption earlier on in ownership, I was told it was when the oil was low, but not low enough to trigger a warning lamp. This is the same noise heard now when the engine runs. An increasing "ticking" as the engine increases in speed. The vehicle is available for inspection at KIA of Schaumburg who also advised me of the defects of this engine when they were able to receive it. Our safety was put at risk by the engine suddenly dropping speed abruptly without warning on busy roads and by inadequately warning of a defective engine. The problem has been reproduced successfully by both a KIA dealership and an independent shop, AAA of Skokie. It has been inspected by the manufacturer's representative. The warning lamps first appeared right after the vehicle lost power and went into "protection mode" and sharply dropped speed along a busy corridor. The vehicle failed a second time a day after receiving it from AAA Car Care Skokie from their initial work when turning onto a busy roadway, almost leading to a collision, with nowhere to immediately pull over. The vehicle's computer failed to immediately identify the misfiring until three separate turnovers and trips occurred.
I had the Knock sensor recall updated on my car last year. This installation was faulty so Kia had to create a software for my car for the knock sensor. Recently, my car has starting losing momentum when trying to drive and it's slow to shift almost like it's stuck in safe mode which is what happened after the kds was put in place. I believe the software or the sensor may be malfunctioning. This is affecting my gas mileage and possibly harming my transmission. This could possibly cause me to be in an accident with severe injuries or death.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while his wife was at a stop light, the vehicle shuddered and stalled. The power train warning light was illuminated. Additionally, while driving the vehicle was shuddering. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who informed the contact that the vehicle was misfiring and that the oxygen sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was towed to local dealer and was diagnosed with loss of pressure on cylinder #3. The PSI pressure was five. There was an indication of the vehicle leaking and burning engine oil. The manufacturer was notified and informed the contact that the failure was not related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V750000 (Engine) however, no further assistance was provided. The approximate failure mileage was 164,000.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving approximately 30 mph, the accelerator pedal was depressed however, the vehicle failed to exceed 40 mph. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and told the contact that the Vin was not under recall. The failure mileage was approximately 125,000.
My engine shakes really bad while sitting idling and I can hear a loud huming noise while driving. I can also smell gas from time to time. My oil was just changed less than three weeks ago and it is already dirty, gritty and dark.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving at unknown speeds, the check engine and oil warning lights were illuminated. Additionally, the contact stated that there was an abnormal fuel odor detected. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 17V608000 (steering) and 20V750000 (engine). The vehicle was towed to trophy Kia downtown los angeles (1945 S figueroa St, los angeles, ca 90007, (213) 342-0802). The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the system was down. The failure mileage was 93,000.
I was approximately driving 65 mph when suddenly the motor developed a ticking noise. Then suddenly turned into a knocking/clattering noise. My oil light illuminated as well as my engine light. I then proceeded down the high way to the next exit to pull off and check my oil. Before I made it to my exit. The motor had loss of power. When I'd try to accelerate, it would bog down. Right as I was about to take a turn onto my exit the motor stopped and died so I coasted as far as a could and had to push it out of the road. When I examined my oil it was metallic. My vehicle only has 80,000 miles on it. With about 1500 miles on my oil change.(5-20W full synthetic).
My vehicle has been having issues with shifting into gears- ive had the vehicle checked and the system keeps telling me that the spark plugs/ignition coils are bad - ive replaced them multiple times and it keeps giving me the same response. Even when I replace that part, the vehicle keeps doing the same thing. The vehicle keeps idling very hard. The vehicle sputters when trying to shift and the entire vehicle shimmies.
I was driving on interstate 75 North in marietta, ga when my vehicle suddenly lost power in front of an 18 wheeler. I was able to navigate off the next exit. There were no warning lights lit on my dash and there had not been any lit prior to this incident. June 2020 my catalytic converter was replaced under recall #SC176. All of the symptoms point towards engine damage that occurred prior to the recall repair.
November 25th on my way to work I started hearing a rattle while driving on hwy 30. About a mile from my house. The noise didn't seam to be present while RPM was under 3,000rpm so I decided to be cautious of RPM and not push my car too much that morning. As I pulled into the parking lot the engine stopped, and the oil light flickered. I started the car and parked it. After work the car started fine but as I pulled into the road I heard the rattle again so I went to the nearest place I could to buy oil. Before checking I purchased a quart and found out I had enough oil in the car. The rattle was still present so I purchased oil, filter and decided no harm would come from refreshing the oil in the car. I kept my RPM under 3,000 on my way home and experienced some sudden speed shifts while using cruise control, but kept a slow and steady pace. At the top of a hill near my home the engine made some louder noises and stopped that is the first time the check engine light came on. I bumped the car into neutral and costed into my driveway. I later towed my car to it's parking spot, not wanting to make a potential issues worse. After consulting with a mechanic, he. Suggested an oil change may be the first action to fix the issues. I changed the oil in place and recorded my attempts to start the vehicle after. Mechanic consultant said the first attempt after oil change sounded like a knock that he did not think would be a long term issue. But the second attempt started into a lower rod knock and advised to not attempt to start the car again until it's in a shop with proper diagnostic equipment.
I've taken my car to the dealership a couple times and I would like to see if the car can be fixed back to the way the car original was in perfect condition besides normal wear and tear. I am capable of fixing my car if it's my fault but I would really like to have a second hand specialist assist in this matter.
In July 2020 I was helping the national guard in the covid-19 response and on my way to the unit, I drove for about 3 minutes on the highway and then my car stalled. I was going 63 mph and then 40 mph. I had to pull over and was a little stunned as it was very dangerous to do so. I eventually was able to pull over safely. I towed my car to Firestone and they said the exhaust manifold had to be changed. I paid over $800 for this. On September 7, 2020, my car stalled again. I was driving on the masspike on cruise control at 65 mph and when tried to increase my speed to switch lanes, the car did not accelerate. I then, let go of the pedal and tried to press it again, except this time, my car accelerated but the car was shaking. My engine light was blinking and then when I got to a point to stop, my car shut off on me. In both scenarios, I got my oil changed right before the issues. In July I did the oil change and three days later my car stalled. In August I got my oil changed and my car stalled two weeks later on Sept. 7th. Now my entire engine has to be replaced and that costs over $8000! this is ridiculous and I will never buy a Kia again. They wont even tell me how it happened because they don't know how it happened. So the cause is unknown. I cannot believe this happened. I bought the car used in 2018 at 35,000 miles and now it is at 125,000 miles. It looks like the only option is to fork out $8,000 or to throw out the car! Kia will not cover anything wrong with it and they say it has nothing to do with the recall but the symptoms of the car are an exact replica of what is happening with the recall. Maybe they just do not want to admit that the engines are defective. I have seen so many complaints about this and nothing good happens. Kia, you should be ashamed of yourselves for allowing this to go on for so long.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Killeen, TX, USA