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.
Turning off a highway onto a rural road & without warning my car would not accelerate. Turn off, let it cool, start up and only get about quarter mile until i lost power again. Had it towed to local garage & told its a blocked catalytic converter & very expensive. Kia says its not covered under warranty or recall so now its just been sitting at the garage for over a month while I pay storage fee until i save enough to repair
I purchased this 2016 Kia Soul from a dealership in April, 2024. On [XXX], I was driving on a residential street when I heard an explosion. Smoke poured from the back of the car and from under the hood. I tried to stop, but the brakes failed. I put the car in park, but it would not stop. I finally put the emergency brake on and it stopped. By this time, the car was basically a fireball. I had to get out by stepping through fire. I inhaled smoke from the burning and melting elements of the vehicle. The fire department arrived quickly, but it took 10-15 minutes to put the fire out. I have since learned that Kia knew of the problem and there was a class action suit against them, which it is too late for me to file a claim on. As [XXX], I am very concerned about the situation. My insurance payout won't be enough to replace the car and I am unable to secure a loan. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
i have a 2016 Kia Soul EV+. The Hghi Voltage Battery Pack Assembly is malfunctioning and it only charges to 30 percent or a 30-mile range. It should charge to a 90-mile range. While driving, it suddenly drops from a 25-mile range to an 18- mile range, I sometimes smell an electrical burning smell. When the battery gets down to an 18-mile range. it suddenly starts to drop dramatically. The car goes into a turtle mode and cannot even reach 20 miles per hour. KIA has issued an IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL INTERIM NOTICE for this problem, and I contacted a KIA dealership to resolve the issue. According to the notice, KIA is supposed to replace the defective battery. I have put in three service requests, but I have not heard back from kIA after the initial contacts. I cannot drive this vehicle like this, and I am making payments on it. I am requesting assistance with this problem.
The propulsion battery has so much degradation that when I drive on the freeway the "turtle" mode activated not allowing me to do freeway speeds with cars around me. It forced me to slow unsafely while cars were behind me, I had to react quickly to turn on my hazards and try to get the vehicle to speed up. If I was too slow or another driver was inattentive we would have been hit from behind by a vehicle going much faster.
- Benton City, WA, USA
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Vehicle entered limp mode on a dangerous rode in central Florida and would not accelerate over 20 mph. We had the vehicle towed 70 miles at the expense of $350 outside of coverage by our auto insurance. The dealership advised this was a failure of the catalytic converter which was just changed in Dec 2021 under a Kia recall campaign. They-??re now saying it is not under warranty as they only cover 12 months 12,000 miles.
Reoccurring check engine light for the omissions system. Damage to the catalytic converter, diagnostic codes. Poor gas mileage and abnormal engine combustion. Oil is burning extremely fast in engine, having to get oil changes more frequently. Incident where vehicle was driving, came to a complete stop and would not accelerate in the middle of heavy traffic. Had to replace all 4 fuel injections and spark plugs due to how ineffective the GDI engine runs.
Intermittent problem with acceleration. Very occasionally, 200+ miles between episodes, while accelerating, the car slows down. When this happens the gas pedal fades similar to brake fade when brakes are about to fail. It lasts 2-3 seconds and then returns to normal. There are no error codes. Has occurred while driving on the freeway and when accelerating from a stop. There have been 5-10 incidences of this in the past 12 months, because the problem is so intermittent, mechanics are unable to reproduce it. We have replaced the throttle position sensor The local Kia dealer and independent mechanics are unable to shed any light on why this may occur. An internet search found other owners of Kia cars with similar complaints
Within the first year of purchase, vehicle was emitting large amounts of smoke from tailpipe while going uphill while accelerating. The smoke would completely envelope the car behind. Mr. Friendly Kia (now Ken Ganley Kia) of New Port Richey, Florida, would not repair because "they could not reproduce the event in their shop". I made several requests to fix the problem. Vehicle eventually started to have lessened power upon accelerating from a stop light. Took it to other repair shops, since Kia wouldn't fix it, but vehicle did not produce any repair codes. Vehicle was always serviced with oil changes, etc. In 2022, with acceleration issue getting much worse, vehicle ran completely out of oil, but didn't produce any oil light or codes. Oil started appearing very dark, blackish. Late 2023, and several trips to repair shop later, still with no codes, vehicle started to exhibit periodic flashing oil light while driving, but upon oil check oil showed full. Vehicle does not seem to shift passed 2nd gear, and makes banging sounds below the middle passenger's side underneath the car if foot pedal is pushed more than halfway down. Vehicle would not accelerate over 40 mph, which reduced to 25-30 mph in Feb 2024. Very dangerous! Gas mileage dropped to around 5-10 mph. Took it to the shop again, and no codes. Replaced parts piecemeal such as spark plugs, coils, battery, etc. All along, still producing the periodic smoke out of the tailpipe. Called Ken Ganley Kia again in Feb 2024. They said they have never heard of this problem happening to a Kia Soul and it would cost $180 to diagnose. They also tried to upsell several hundred dollars of "flushes". The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. The problem has been independently confirmed, just unknown what the problem is? It is very dangerous to drive 25 mph, but even more dangerous that the vehicle isn't producing even basic warning lights, let alone isn't producing codes on repair shop code readers.
I had recently acquired my 2016 Kia soul from a used dealership, and as I had gotten it, inspected by a mechanic, the back rear brake was locked. The Penrod was missing on one of them, and my driver side door lock was broken and I thought that was simple issues that could be repaired. You know that-??s a used car whatever as I started driving it not even a month later I start feeling heavy acceleration when barely hitting the gas and trying to shift because it is a manual and loss of power on first and second gear, like it was going to stall out without even rubbing the RPMs to get it to move. I did some research found out that there was multiple recalls on the catalytic converter and it-??s causing a fire the ECUs and also the antitheft system so I am a single mom. I work constantly and my only vehicle with 4kids, so a full month mark my Oil light all of a sudden started coming on but flickering I pulled over there-??s no smell of burning oil no leaks no high temp I checked my oil stick. It was fine a thick drip on it. I Thought everything was fine, but the light still kept coming on and flickering when I would accelerate it would go off when I would decelerator push clutch in it would stay. I called kia dealer had it taken, did the recall orders on it but they told me they wouldnt do an oil check or do a code diagnostics for it unless I paid over $200 for just that diagnostics after they did all the recall orders I picked up the car over a day later. started having misfires the car was driving worse then when I took it to the dealership, i would drive up hill I-??d lose power. Shifting gears from 1-4 it sounds like the whole engine was shaking like it was gonna fall out of the car I called the dealership and told them what was goin on. They were really rude to me and told me an hour later it was throwing codes of misfires an again have to pay for it, they stated the oil an misfires werent their fault doin the recalls. ECU an ANTITHEFT, I am worried for my kids safety!!!!!
Kia issued a safety recall for battery (thus is an all electric Sol) and we dropped it to the dealer for repair. Since then Kia has replaced the battery and updated software several times with no results. We continue to receive a battery warning and unable to charge the car. The car has been with the dealer multiple times for the past 6 months. the most recent visit it is with them since Dec [XXX]. We are left in a situation with no car for our 16 year old as she is not allowed to drive the loaner car or any other rental. Continued follow up with Kia consumer affairs has provided no feedback and communication. The dealer has also indicated that there are several such cars at this dealer and others around the country. We need a solution immediately and need our car. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Catalytic converter failing. First began failing in December 2023. Took to have serviced. Told to put cataclean in my gas tank. Check engine light went off. Check engine light came back on again. Same code for catalytic convertable. Was told that it was a possible O2 sensor, or possibly be the catalytic converter. Then I was notified other 2016 Kia soul have had the exact same issue with a faulty Cadillac converter failing and effecting performance and causing engine damage. This was a Kia dealership that notified me of this. However even though I have a 2016 Kia soul, and there-??s already a recall on Catalyatic converters for 2016 Kia soul, I was told I-??d need to pay out-of-pocket for a new catalyatic converter because my car wasn-??t on the recall list. Other models the 2016 Kia soul have also failed. The recall needs to be extended to all models of the 2016 Kia soul. This is a bigger issue than Kia is admitting. Because the dealerships all know that the 2016, Kia souls have faulty catalytic converters. The dealership sold me the 2019 Kia soul back in 2021 and did not reveal that. There was a major issue with the catalytic converters for all the Kia soul 2016 models. They simply told me there were no recalls, but that didn-??t mean that it wasn-??t gonna pop up with issues for this model because they-??ve had issues. Of course this was not revealed by the sales person, but rather the service department manager when I begin having issues with my 2016 Kia soul for other things. Now the catalytic converter in my car is going out, but it should be a part of the recall, because it is causing issues for not only the O2 sensor, but the car in general.
INCIDENT: [XXX] Driving from [XXX] to [XXX] Notice a slight gasoline smell in the car. I figured it was traffic smog. [XXX] I noticed the inside of the car still smelled of gasoline. Looked up on Google to see if this was an underlying issue. My quick search led me to believe that it was severe. Firestone Complete Auto Care [XXX]: After a quick lookup on Google, I called my local Firestone via Bluetooth to see if they had an opening today. When I talked to a worker describing my concerns, they told me there were no openings that day and that tomorrow ([XXX]) they were available. I booked an appt for [XXX] at 10 a.m. When I finished talking to FireStone, I was driving through [XXX]. Driving through [XXX] to get back home ([XXX]): I stopped at a light that intersects between [XXX] and [XXX]. I noticed that the hood had smoke coming out and saw flames. I quickly grabbed my important belongings and tried to direct traffic behind me to go around me. I called 911, gave my location, and described the incident, and then they called the fire department. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Motor burns excessive oil; took vehicle to Kia dealership in October 2023. I told to get a full.synthetic oil change, and to return in 1000 miles to check the oil consumption. After an oil consumption test, if the vehicle is burning excessive oil, I told that my vehicle to my dealership to file a claim under the manufacturer's warranty to replace my motor/ engine needs to have a top engine cleanout at $500. If my vehicle fails this test, I am to return the vehicle to receive a new motor/ engine under the manufacturer's warranty. This is preposterous!
I have a Kia Soul that is under the engine warranty recall. I was able to drive my vehicle while working with Kia to document issues with my engine. Today I was informed that my catalytic converters are clogged and that is what is causing my vehicle issues, not my engine. The only way my catalytic converters could be clogged would be from faulty engine, but Kia is denying any issue with my engine (that is under warranty) and instructing me to continue driving my vehicle. My vehicle is unable to maintain speed, shakes violently after running 5 minutes, and dies frequently. It is not a safe vehicle to drive on the road.
The catalytic system began breaking apart and throwing an engine light error. The system progressively got worse until it lead to complete failure not allowing the fuel system to work nor the vehicle to be able to accelerate.
Ive gotten 3-4 tuneups every year for the past 4 years. Each year the car randomly shuts off and start running rough they change the coil packs and the spark plugs but every year I drive locally and not far yearly but I still have to get tune ups, 3rd party insurance and state farm spent a total of 12-14k of electrical wiring the doors were controlling the A/C the lights would flicker when trying to turn on A/C. The windows stopped working wouldnt go up or down, the A/C heat wouldnt work this was work everything new and rewired Kia of Anderson kept the car for 4-5 weeks and I had to turn around 2 days later bring it back because the doors and A/C and heat repeated the same thing, they changed the door panel on driver side and 4-5 months ago A/C heat stopped working randomly while my kids were waiting on bus one moring and couldnt use the heat...contacting Kia they said they were booked for a couple of weeks then, I would call get voicemails over and over and then I finally drove up there and they stated it may be the air resistor but then, under the car i hit a ditch where road work was being done on a one way in one way out street for 3 months cause the already loose muffler to cause the rest of the vehicle to not work. The A/C when on my son nose bleeds everytime if we are in the car for longer than 45 min to an hour. My daughter get migraines headaches dizzy spells when A/C heat is on, so do i. Also there is a random weird smell randomly off and on not everyday but atleast 12 days out of the month...scared to drive the car sometimes. Last week twice the car shut off once on the bridge randomly and then turned back on. Also, if i drive the car for more than 30-45 min my left leg swells with fluid never happened in any other vehicle...random devices can connect to my radio without me authorizing it..strange but i can wake up and have to delete a Windows or MAC desktop from radio, when using the radio the same ads play over and over not sure why we have to turn
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Northampton, PA, USA