2023 KIA SORENTO Complaints

Made several attempts to fix squeaking and rattling in steering column when lane keep assist is engaged. Dealership vehicle was purchased from notified me " we cannot replicate the problem", after driving my vehicle 59 miles. I sent multiple of the issue via email and text message. Finally, the service manager agreed to let her shop foreman do a ride along. At this time, Demontrond Kia acknowledged there was an issue. Demontrond Kia diagnosis was " Found vapor lines vibrating on brake lines causing the noise from steering wheel." Kia technicians re-routed vapor lines from brake line and test drove the vehicle another 89 miles. Two days later the same exact issue was still present. At this time, the Service manager has yet to respond back to me. I sent a request for an appointment to take care of the reverse camera recall through the kia access app twice after emailing the Service manager. I still have not heard a response.

Vehicle loses power from combustion engine and drives only on electric battery. Hybrid system doesn’t engage correctly and vehicle will accelerate extremely slowly after a delay and will only achieve roughly 30 mph with accelerator fully pressed. This vehicle has been sent to the dealer multiple times and they have recreated the problem. However even after parts being replaced and connections being replaced the problem persists. Vehicle can be inspected anytime. My family has been in several near collisions with oncoming traffic due to the vehicle moving after a delay and then at a much slower than expected pace. Pulling out in to traffic is nearly impossible when the vehicle malfunctions. It has also depleted the entire battery and left us motionless on the side of the road multiple times. Due to the problem being intermittent and not reliably duplicated a service technician was given permission to use the vehicle to commute to and from work for a time. This allowed him to experience the issue in person. The vehicle has been inspected multiple times by the dealers service department and they have been working with engineers from the manufacturer. When this problem occurs there typically is not a warning light or a code stored. They believe it is a faulty connection. This issue will cause an accident in the future if not resolved. The manufacturer has not been able to determine what is causing the issue. They also have not been concerned with our safety and have released the vehicle back to us 3 times stating that it is fixed yet the problem persists.

I was driving my 2023 Kia Sorento on the I-5 freeway going about 70 MPH when the front-half of the panoramic sunroof spontaneously shattered and dropped glass into the cabin of the car. There was no debris, falling objects, or any other event to cause the glass the break. We were at a wide open area of the freeway with no overpasses and not much traffic around us. It had been almost freezing in the morning, but a very sunny day. We were traveling at about 4:30 PM pacific time on Oct. 28.

1. I have been complaining about the vehicle turning off by itself. No one is listening to me or telling me what is causing the problem. I have numerous witnesses when the car turns off by itself. It isn’t safe. It could cause a deadly accident. No it’s not the auto shut off either. I have to put the car in park and hope it restarts each time. 2. When auto shut off is in use the vehicle stalls leading it to act like it’s trying to get fuel to move and turns off. I’ve come too close to having accidents. I never know when it will do it. Sometimes I don’t drive it because I don’t want to be held liable for causing an accident and harming somebody's life. 3. I had been complaining to them that I smelled something burning but I couldn’t identify it. I asked them to keep my car and check it out and they refused. While driving in the hottest summer the AC goes out. I immediately took it to the dealership. The worker said we can’t fix it. It'll be a week before they will take my vehicle. The lady was rude and said go to another dealership. It was too hot not to have AC then on top of that it rained the rest of the week and I wasn’t able to work because I couldn’t defog my windows to drive. It finally stopped raining and I was able to get another dealership to check it out and they told me something had burned up that makes the AC work ( I have the paperwork). If they would have checked the car like I asked when I first started complaining about smelling the burning smell this could have been avoided. Also, I don’t get notifications about recalls via mail, phone, call, email etc.

While driving on Oregon I-205 south bound received a refill inverter coolant warning. I was on my way to the dealer for other issues and decided to let the dealer fix it. About five miles down the freeway I began to lose power. I was in the center lane and had to move over two lanes of traffic while losing more power. Luckily I made it across with the help of a few understanding drivers and many horn honkers so there was no accident. I turned off the engine and called Kia roadside assistance. After about 15 minutes I was connected to a Kia assistant who after a few minutes asked if the engine would start and it did. I was then directed to try to make it to the nearest Kia dealer which was about 8 miles away. The car went the first seven miles with no problem but then I started to lose power again. I was doing five miles an hour tops when I pulled into Weston Kia in Gresham, Ore. I left my car at the dealer. I was called the next day to tell me that a small piece of metal (road debris) had flown through the air intake space below the grill and hit the invertor radiator and that the invertor radiator reservoir was empty causing the car to lose power to save the engine. Luckily they had an invertor radiator in stock and I got my car back six days later. It was not covered by warranty because it was not a manufactures defect. The cost to repair was almost $1100. I question this. I googled this problem and found out that I am not the first person to have this exact problem happen to. If the air intake to the invertor radiator had some protection (1/4 inch mesh) or the invertor radiator were behind the grill this would not of happened. This, in my opinion, is extremely dangerous and would have very easy fix. I asked to keep the old radiator and I have documentation from Weston Kia covering the repair.

Transmission problem arised on/about 9/15/23 and 3,000 miles. There is a distinct shudder when shifting through lower gears, more recently, on/around 4,000 miles l, shudder is growing worse, and there is intermittent problems at highway speeds. This is very dangerous, and could cause an accident/injury at any time. I have been to my local Kia dealership 3 times now, who have flight recorded and concurred with me that its the transmission failing, but have been sent home every time with "we don't know exactly what it is, so keep driving it". These symptoms are very similar to the 2021 model years dct transmission recall problems. I know of others with this same problem, and Kia needs to be held liable asap.

Dear NHTSA, I am writing to report a serious safety issue with my 2023 Kia Sorento, purchased in February 2023 from Ken Garff Kia Avondale. In July 2023, I began experiencing alarming issues, including flashing lights, dashboard error messages, and malfunctions, despite the vehicle being unused for several days with no visible damage. The air conditioning system malfunctioned, blowing hot air even when turned off. Upon inspection at the dealership, I was told the front sensor was damaged, with a repair estimate of $1700. However, no visible damage was evident, and I believe this issue should be warranty-covered due to its electronic nature. The dealership noted that 35 others faced similar problems, raising concerns of a manufacturing issue. Despite persistent efforts and a replacement part installed nearly two weeks later, the problem persists. I've incurred nearly $500 in rental car expenses, as the situation remains unresolved, even with involvement from Kia Corporate engineers. My aim in reporting this issue is to ensure consumer safety and seek a prompt resolution, as I continue to make $1k monthly payments for an unused Sorento. I respectfully request your assistance and prompt investigation into this matter. Sincerely, [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

There are two user profiles on the main infotainment system for this vehicle and there are two seat position memory buttons on the door. I am the main driver of the vehicle and have input my seat position into seat memory button #1 on my door making sure my profile on the infotainment is up and the position is confirmed. The system will randomly delete my position and the seat will move to what appears to be the factory setting. I am 5’ 2” so the seat moves lower and so far back I cannot reach the gas nor break pedals. As this has happened what seems like at least 100 times, I mention the problem to the dealer in early August 2023, they had not heard of a similar problem and they ran a diagnostic and all was fine. On Saturday, Sept 9, 2023, I was in the driver seat and put the vehicle into drive. A few seconds later my husband changed the infotainment system from his profile to my profile and the seat went to the factory setting while the vehicle was in drive and I could not reach the gas nor the break pedals. Luckily I had not pressed the gas yet and we were on a flat side street and the vehicle did not move but we were in a residential neighborhood. The second problem has happened around five times with the latest incident on Friday, September 8th. I was on the interstate traveling at 75 mph with light traffic I came up on a few vehicles and noticed the blindspot detectors on both sides of the vehicle did not work while passing the other vehicles. I have also had this happen in heavy traffic with speeds in the 30-50 mph range.

I was cleaning my Kia and I was wiping the back-up camera, the camera housing clip broke and I didnt even put any pressure.

We were driving on the highway at about 65 MPH. Without warning, the vehicle suddenly started to struggle and slowed to about 40 MPH. We were able to safely pull over, but we were in an acceleration lane merging onto another highway and didn't feel safe due to the sudden deceleration. This is a plug-in hybrid. We have driven at 65+ MPH on long rides before, and this was the first time that we noticed that the battery had completely drained. We expect that when the battery is drained that the car would function like a normal hybrid and continue to function in a safe manner. The car's cluster displayed a message along the lines of "Maintaining hybrid mode," although it isn't clear if the speed-limiting behavior was an expected consequence of that. After being pulled over for a bit, the battery level recuperated enough that we attempted to resume driving on side roads. Battery level varied from red to blue (normal) and then back to red, but thankfully the battery didn't fully deplete again and we were able to return home safely. We're waiting on an appointment with a dealership to have the car checked out. It was last serviced 3 days prior to the incident (first oil change, filters changed, etc).