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.
Car caught on fire. There was no accident involved. It started smoking and seconds later caught on fire. My son was driving on a city street, the car started smoking, he turned into a parking lot, got out of the car and the car caught on fire.
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 20V389000 (power train, electrical system). The contact received a courtesy service and software update. After leaving the dealer and while driving at 50 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The contact pulled over the side of the roadway and waited for approximately to restart the vehicle. The vehicle restarted however, while driving, the vehicle hesitated and failed to exceed 40 mph. The vehicle was taken to oakland Kia (2500 webster St, oakland, ca 94612, (888)871-7024) where the vehicle was diagnosed and it was determined that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and deemed the vehicle unsafe to drive. The manufacturer provided the contact with a case number. The failure mileage was approximately 79,000.
First, a couple of weeks ago my check engine light comes on and my engine temperature gauge stops working properly. It starts taking about 15 minutes for my engine temperature gauge to show the engine is warmed up. After about two days the engine light goes off by itself. So I finally get an appointment at the Kia dealership today. They say they need to put an updated program into my Kia Soul's computer..that seemed to fix the issue according to the dealership. I drive away go to a store when I come out of the store and get back into my car and pull out of the parking spot my cars check engine light comes on again. I take it to auto zone to get the code read. This time the code is P0420. I call the dealership 800-995-4203 and the service associate marty tells me to bring my Kia Soul back to the dealership. When I get there he says they are now going to charge me $109.95 an hour to diagnose what is wrong with my car. At this time I am in the waiting room feeling like I'm being taken advantage of by these people but I have no other option and I don't have anyway of knowing what, if anything, is actually wrong with my car. Not to mention all this happens between 59000 and 60000 miles on my car and the warranty expired at 60000 miles.
When I accelerate my car makes a loud humming noise and will not shift - then when it finally does shift it fluctuates speed and doesn't maintain speed. It's not safe gettin on the expressway or when you change lanes and try to keep up with traffic around you. At first it would be sometimes. Now it is more constant
While driving home on us highway. Speed of 55 mph posted speed limit. The engine started to knock loudly and it lost power. I almost got hit getting it to the shoulder of the highway. Oil light was on. Checked the oil and added 3 quarts. Started engine again and oil light went out and knocking was reduced. Drove another 4 miles and the engine started to knock loudly again and it lost of power again. Barley made it home by coasting downhill. Recent oil change and have maint records. No leakage, no smoke from tail pipe. Oil pressure light never came on until it was out of oil. I read many posts of others having the same exact thing as what happen to me.
- Annandale, VA, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Catalytic overheating, burnt out the spark plugs and harness. Car lost all power and would not go faster than about 20mph which was very dangerous in traffic. Car had to be towed. All other 2016 Kia Soul with 1.6L I-4 DOHC gasoline direct injection (gdi) have been included in recall to fix this issue and this series of VIN should be included and covered as well. Can lead to total engine failure and replacement necessary. Dealership now wants $2000 to fix this issue that may have already done permanent damage to the engine. This would leave us footing the bill for replacement engine that is needed later because of damage done when motor was burning gas too hot. This Kia Soul needs to be added to the recall already in insistence.
Was driving down the highway when my vehicle began rattling and stopped running. Pulled off the highway to assess the issue and it seemed as if there was no oil in the car. I purchased the vehicle a month and a half prior to this incident and the engine oil was fine as well as there was still 2,000 miles to go before the next oil change. Upon doing some research to see if there was a recall, it seems that there was a recall on 2016 Kia Souls for the 1.6L engine version of my vehicle. I have the 2.0L engine. More investigation shows that this is an issue across the board with both versions of the 2016 Kia Soul, but the 2.0L version has not been recalled. The Kia recall I am referring to is: 19V120000 in which "high exhaust gas temperatures may damage the catalytic converter, possibly resulting in abnormal engine combustion and damage to one or more of the engine's pistons and possible piston connecting rod failure. Piston damage may result in an engine stall, increasing the risk of a crash. A broken connecting rod may puncture the engine block allowing engine oil to escape. The leaking oil may contact the exhaust, increasing the risk of a fire." I do believe that this is the same issue that my vehicle experienced.
Last month I took my car to the dealership for an ECU update which Kia is calling a 'product improvement campaign' for the cars computer system to put it into limp home mode, now a month later while on my way home from work when I turned onto a street 2 nights in a row the oil light was flashing but went off after I made it through the turn, and I checked the oil level the second night and the dipstick had little to no visible oil on it but the oil light still does not illuminate when driving or when idiling only when turning with momentum, but the 2.0 engines are known to destroy themselves due to rod bering damage and that update they did served to five and early alert as to when it detects knock but these engines are also known to burn oil and the 2014-2015 model years are recalled for engine fires but Kia should recall all these engines since they burn oil and are dangerous to drive because the oil light is not illuminating when the oil is critically low and now engine damage may already be present on top of the known defect in these engines.
My 2016 Kia Soul has check engine light malfunction. No mechanic has determined what is the cause and how to correct this matter. The car has problems with idling, and performance. The car has only 37K miles. After spending over $300, I was told sorry we have no answer. Just ignore the problem. What happens if it causes a fire or breaks down on the highway" the internet is inundated with the same issue. Kia dealerships can't see my car, because they have too many recalled cars for engine fires. What if my car explodes??? catches fire" there is something wrong with this car. I want it recalled.
I had received my last an oil change on 8/3/2020 at 78,901 miles on 10/20/2020 my cars oil light turned on while idling, I turned down my music and heard the engine had a slight rattle. I drove less than 6 miles trying to get to the nearest service location and the engine stalled causing me to pull over on the side of the highway. Upon inspecting the dipstick it was determined that there was little oil on my dipstick and I was sitting at less than 81,500 miles. I filled the engine with oil in hopes to get it going and it did turn on but was making an even louder rattling noise. Checking the dipstick again, pieces of metal could be seen in the very black oil. This is a similar complaint to other engine recalls Kia has put out for similar engines produced during the same time frame. I took my vehicle to the local Kia dealership and neither them nor my service agreement provider agreed to cover repair costs.
When I called the dealership about the code that popped up when I used my reader to read the check engine light that popped up two days before thanksgiving. It said it was the catalytic converter. The Kia lady took my VIN and said there was no recalls but everyone with my car was calling in about it. And the part itself is 1200 dollars. How many others have to go through the exact same thing which also says it can result in loss of control. As a mother with a toddler who chose this car based on its affordability and safety features. This is unacceptable. There needs to be an issue recalled immediately. The car is a 2016 Kia. Theres should be no reason that I would have to pay 3000 dollars to replace a part that everyone's having to replace or your car will literally break down for good. The po50A code.
Kia issued a recall for a software update. After having a Kia dealer install the software update my 2016 Kia Soul began experiencing engine stalling. This was immediately after leaving the dealership. I took the vehicle back to the dealer and they informed me that the catalytic converter was damaged, causing my issue. They are also claiming no error codes have been detected, even though my check engine light illuminated before and after the software update. My engine also had a knock before the software updated. The knock occurred during acceleration and deceleration. The dealership refuses to check for engine damage, even though the software recall states they will repair engine damage caused by the faulty software. There are also recalls on similar year Kia Soul vehicles that involve the faulty software and catalytic converter damage. This vehicle condition is dangerous and is going to get people injured or killed.
Upon parking my car I noticed the engine was on fire. Smoke and flames were coming from up under the hood. The car was declared a total loss by my insurance company and the fire was deemed electrical in nature.
Motor blew up at 73,000 miles Kia wouldn't up hold warranty so I bought a short block from Kia motors had it replaced and in less than 5 min oil light came on and new short block had already spun a bearing Kia wouldn't up hold warranty on new short block either so I had to junk a car I still owed over $12,000
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving 60 mph, the vehicle loss power as the contact veered to the shoulder of the road. The contact turned the vehicle off waited for a few minutes, turned the vehicle back on which resumed normal operation. The vehicle was taken to ricart automotive group (4255 S. hamilton rd, groveport, oh 43125, (614) 836-5321) where it was diagnosed and determined that the exhaust manifold converter failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure recurred. The contact mentioned NHTSA campaign number: 19V120000 (engine, engine and engine cooling) as a possible solution to the failure however, the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 85,665.
My car experienced a complete loss of power. Making it impossible to travel over 50 mph. No check engine light or code thrown. Brought to Kia dealership and after 3 weeks discovered the catalytic converter was clogged and melted. Replaced 90 days ago. Second is now destroyed and melted. Wants to install the third. Says motor is fine, not running rich or lean. Nothing they can do for me and they just have to keep up with this $3,000 repair every 3 months as it fails. Vehicle is completely unsafe to drive. Converter being clogged causes it to shut down on the highway. Kia says nothing they can do, just need to keep replacing the converter every few months. A converter rated to last 10+ years. Highly unusual. Spoke to other mechanics and they believed there was a recall on my converter for this reason but my bin shows no recall. Please help.
At about 50 mph on a main road the oil pressure light lighted up. Seconds later the engine got loud and spilled a lot of oil on the road. Lots of smoke came out of the engine compartment. The engine block had a huge hole. Luckily the oil fumes did not ignite as the engine was not to hot, because the drive just started some minutes before. With the car we bought a warranty extension and the insurance paid for the engine replacement. The cost of the engine replacement with a used engine was more than usd 8.000. While the car was at the garage we received a recall for a ksds software update to sensor an engine issue with excessive connecting rod bearing damage. Now Kia is not willing to implement the extended 120,000 mile engine warranty due to the ksds update for the connecting rod bearing damage issue to the swapped engine. Had extended E-mail communication with Kia about that. Kia claims the warranty is car age/mileage related, not engine related.
August 28, 2020 I recieved a letter from Kia corporate headquarters stating a recall on a 2014 - 2016 Kia Soul conducting software update on engine to protect the engine. Got that completed and several weeks later went back to the Kia dealership for an oil change, was asked did I give a good review for Kia and the guy appeared upsset, anywho after that oil change my Kia started to run slow and would not accerate to the normal speed or seems to stop. Ask a mechanic and said it sounds likke the catalytic converter. I look up information on Kia and there is a recall for catalytic converter, however, the dealership is checking for other things. How do I protect my car?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Pembroke Pines, FL, USA