10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 7
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
69,644 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.

2008 Kia Sportage body / paint problems

body / paint problem

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2008 Kia Sportage Owner Comments

problem #11

Dec 282022

Sportage

  • miles

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

I bought my car July 27,2022 from Rt 119 Auto Sales and service. It came with a drive train warrenty. Nothing was said to me of a problem until I took it to get inspected then I found out my frame is rotted out on both sides.

- Indiana, PA, USA

problem #10

Sep 152021

Sportage

  • 155,000 miles
The contact owns a 2008 Kia Sportage. The contact stated while inspecting under the vehicle, he noticed the subframe was corroded. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 155,000.

- Lexington, KY, USA

problem #9

Feb 242020

Sportage

  • 144,000 miles
My Kia Sportage was parked in front of a garage was not turned on and was in park when the engine suddenly caught fire it sounded like a loud bomb. The front of the vehicle was destroyed the vehicle was not salvageable.

- Atlanta, GA, USA

problem #8

Jun 122018

Sportage

  • miles

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

Rusted out rocker panel due to having a recall with the underside coating. Kinda guessing when I took my car to do the underside at the century 3 Kia dealership

- Glassport, PA, USA

problem #7

May 022018

Sportage

  • 50,080 miles
My car has been taken care of very well. There has been no misuse or abuse. Now, I have had 2 door handles break off. Every time, I received a jolt backwards. The car was stationary. I am a 59 years old, last person to get into my car was my 92 year old father, who is very frail and unstable on his feet. I thank god, it was me who was the victim when the door handles broke off, my father would have fallen backwards, and could have fallen and died. This happened twice, both to the passenger side. I am now afraid to even open the other door handles. If I lose them, I have to get in from the trunk, and climb over. I have been in contact with both grieco Kia in delray and the corporate office. They just keep saying the car is out of warranty, as it is older. I don't have the money to pay to fix these handles. I do not think a door handle should ever break off. Please note there are videos with thousands, of viewers watching how to fix a broken car handle. This means it has happened to thousands of people. Kia should pay for it. They refuse to take any accountability.

- Boca Raton, FL, USA

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problem #6

Dec 222017

Sportage

  • miles
While driving on the interstate, the Kia started to smoke then flames appeared. In about five minutes the entire car was engulfed in flames.

- Hammond, LA, USA

problem #5

Dec 032017

Sportage

  • 147,000 miles

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

12/03/17, 03:15 a.M. while parked, not running, vehicle caught fire under the hood and became fully engulfed. Vehicle had been parked for several hours prior to this incident. Car was completely destroyed. Residence was built with vinyl siding, and front of house was damaged (melted vinyl). Parked at private residence. Family asleep inside residence when fire erupted. For 2 weeks prior to fire, the ABS indicator lamp on the dash panel was illuminated. Brakes had been inspected, and were in good braking order. I have the vehicle available for inspection by any interested party.

- Whitesburg, GA, USA

problem #4

Oct 302015

Sportage 4-cyl

  • miles
The contact owned a 2008 Kia Sportage. The contact stated the vehicle caught fire. A fire report was filed. The fire department extinguished the fire. No injuries were sustained. The vehicle was destroyed. The VIN and failure mileage were not available...updated 10/26/16...updated 11/09/16..

- Cape Coral, FL, USA

problem #3

Nov 132013

Sportage

  • 90,000 miles
This will be 1 of 3 part statement... about a week ago (give or take a few days), a couple of my mother's 2008 Kia Sportage's dash lights came on. The ABS light, the ESC light, and I think one other (possibly the traction control light but mind you this is not my car and I am not that familiar with her dash). She was told that there was a recall for a part that was causing one of the lights to come on (I believe the ESC light). She took the car to get the part replaced, however, the lights did not go off. I have wheel hubs on my SUV crossover and I told her that when my wheel bearing/sensor starts going bad that is when my light comes on. Well a couple days later, her driver side wheel bearing started to roar, so we figured that the ABS light was on due to that. She took it back to the Kia dealership shop and they replaced the bearing and although the ride was quieter due to the new bearing replacement, the ABS light and other lights did not go off. The mechanic told her that she does not have a wheel hub with sensor and bearing in the hub but that all of her parts were separate. He said that the light may be on due the sensor may have debris from the wheel bearing going bad or possibly the sensor is going bad itself. I planned on pulling and cleaning the sensor for her in the upcoming weekend. Well before the weekend, she went shopping at the grocery store and when she came out, the vehicle would not start. The battery was dead. We call a tow truck driver who came and gave it a quick jump and said she must have left her lights on. She drove home, pulled in driveway and I told her to leave it run a bit to charge the battery back up. She did so and then after about 10 minutes, shut it off and immediately started it again to ensure the battery was charged. Later that day, it would not start again...battery dead again. (continued in next post) 2 of 3...

- Oakdale, PA, USA

problem #2

Nov 132013

Sportage

  • 90,000 miles
She is 73 years old and on a fixed income. She has already paid thousands for the car and now does not have a car due to a faulty part. No car should catch on fire due to normal use. Now she is going to have to find a way to pay for another car. Hopefully that car manufacturer produces a vehicle that does not just catch fire at random and if it does, they take credit for building and selling you a vehicle with a fault that is there own. She struggled to pay thousands of dollars for a car that she took good care of to just burn up infront of her. She looked forward to finish paying the car off. Blue book is roughly $9,000 she paid more that half of it off and still owes $7,000 but now, insurance will give her the $9,000 of which she will have to pay $7,000 out to pay it off, leaving her with $2,000. What can you buy with $2,000 - nothing! so now she must start over and use the $2,000 to get back into a full car payment and struggle again for another 5 years or more. W.T.F.!"!" I see on this website, people talking about the same thing happening to them. If there is more than 1 or 2 cars that have caught on fire the same way, why isn't it looked into, and why isn't there a recall. Sure it maybe hard for Kia to replace many vehicles, however, I think it is harder for my mother of 73 to go out and buy another vehicle at $15,000 - $20,000 just because the one she trusted to be a solid vehicle was build crappy. It is Kia's design and mechanics that caused the problem, they should be held responsible. And it should be illegal for them to keep selling the vehicles to people with a problem as such.

- Oakdale, PA, USA

problem #1

Nov 132013

Sportage

  • 90,000 miles
This is part 2 of 3... we got a new battery installed at advanced auto. Car ran fine. The next morning, she started the car and then went into the house. My niece was there and said she heard a pop and look outside to see the car on fire. The whole front end including the passenger compartment was burnt to a crisp. I believe what happened was a faulty part in the ABS (causing the light to come on) was shorting or something and that kept draining the battery. With the battery low, the battery would die before enough heat could build up, however, with the new battery, it could continue to pull power and heat up whatever faulty part was shorting out and then got hot enough to blow and cause fire. (continued in next post) 3 of 3...

- Oakdale, PA, USA

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