2018 KIA SORENTO Complaints

I was hit by another car in July 2021 which totaled the lovely suv I owned. I decided to buy my 2018 KIA Sorento (from a different state) in August 2021 because I thought KIAs were safe and reliable cars. My KIA began to oil leak right before September 2021. I had it checked for oil leak and got my oil topped off. There was no oil leak detected. In November 2021, my engine light comes on. I believed it to be an indication it was time for an oil change. The night before I could even make it to the car shop my KIA begins to make a loud knocking sound. I got my oil change and the knocking still persist. The mechanic gentlemen tell me that I needed a crankshaft position sensor replacement. I drive my KIA to the nearest KIA dealership and they keep my KIA Sorento over the weekend because of the shortage in workers. The following Monday KIA dealership calls to say I needed a full replacement engine (motor). I haven't had my KIA for even four months and it is under 100,000 miles. I have never had to receive such gut wrenching news about any car I have brought! I pick up my car to park it immediately. There has been over thousands of recalls on KIA motors I was and still am frightened my engine (motor) could catch fire anytime. I am scared to even start it to keep my battery alive. KIA dealerships will not offer me any help because I am the second ownwer of this KIA. I definitely will NEVER buy a KIA car again or even HYDAUI car.

02/06/2022 driving north bound on TX hwy 75 near McKinney, TX at the posted speed limited 70mph the engine suddenly quit running and the steering and brakes went out. There were no warning buzzers or lamps prior to the shut down. Traffic was light and with a lot of pumping of the brakes able to get onto the shoulder. Vehicle was towed to Kia of McKinney, TX. They stated engine bearing had gone bad, causing the engine to seize.

My breaks would not push down for me to stop and I collided into the car in front of me causing a serious accident. It is being investigated for malfunctioning breaks.

When trying to move the steering wheel, it initially sticks and requires extra force to get it to provide a steering input. Once it gets past the initial resistance, it jerks the car in the direction you are trying to go which required compensation in the other direction. Upon correction, it jerks the car in the opposite direction causing a continual need to correct the steering wheel to keep the car straight and causing the car to not be able to maintain perfectly straight travel. On large sweeping corners, this problem is even more pronounced and feels dangerous. This happens mostly on longer trips where the vehicle has been on the road more than 30 minutes.

Our 2018 Kia Sorento seized, stalled, in the middle of the road, smoked, then nearly caught fire with our young daughter in the car and 19 year old son driving. We reported it to Kia. They agreed to reimburse our rental car IF we sign a settlement agreement/hush order regarding it our vehicle and to get reimbursed.

The contact owns a 2018 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, a loud noise was suddenly present coming from the engine before the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was towed to the residence and was examined by an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the engine rod bearing had failed. The vehicle was not yet repaired. The local dealer was notified of the failure. The manufacture was not yet notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 65,000.

2 Recent incidents: SUV was parked on a driveway with slight incline overnight in park and ended up at the bottom end of driveway in the morning. With car running on a friends driveway with an incline, I had car in the park mode and was going to depart car to quickly knock on door and car very slowly proceed backwards while in park mode. I called KIA dealership on 12/22/2021 where I purchased car they stated they never heard of this & could be icy driveways..I stated they were not iced over at the time and I’m very concerned for everyone’s safety with this situation. They dealership service department stated it will be a diagnostic charge due not any service or engine lights “on” at this time.

Having intermittent issues with the headlights turning of while driving at night. The headlights were set on "Auto". I have had this happen multiple times! Went to local dealer to report the problem & was told that they would have to drive it at night to replicate the issue. I asked if I would be charged for this & was told that if the technician could find anything that I would be charged for the technician's time. I found online that Kia had this same issue with 2015-2015 K900 vehicles & issued a recall to replace the multi-functional light switch. Losing headlight rumination can reduce visibility and increase the risk of a crash. Kia dealerships should replace this multi-function switch free of charge to the owners of Kia vehicles. There should be a recall issued for this issue because it is a huge safety issue.

I was in a weather related accident where I hit the guardrail twice head on and none of my airbags deployed. My vehicle is currently at a tow yard and will be towed to the autobody shop 12/8/2021. No warnings or indications on why the airbags wouldn't have worked properly prior to the accident.

Over I’d say about the last 5-7 months my husband and I have been noticing the smell of fuel coming from what/where seems to be the gas tank area and we have on an occasion or 2 noticed very small drops on the ground also around the gas tank area. Shortly after we began noticing the smell of gas, one day after re-fueling when I went to put the gas cap back on I noticed that the cap went back on but it wouldn’t make that signature clicking sound that lets you know it’s properly in place and sealed properly so we purchased a replacement one from the dealership thinking/hoping that would fix the issue but it hasn’t. In fact just before purchasing the gas cap from the dealership we purchased a replacement from Autozone and it was the wrong one. It appeared to fit for the most part (or so we thought) but it was definitely the wrong one and because it was dark when we got the cap we couldn’t see just how poorly it fit (plus you had to look from the bottom of the cap to be able to see the white plastic of the bottom of the cap was still exposed) so we ended up having to use it until the following day when we could get to the dealership to get the right one. Well while we had the wrong gas cap in it cause the check engine light to come on (which at least we know that works, lol) but oddly enough the car was getting better fuel mileage so I’m thinking that because having the proper gas cap seals the system properly it could be causing it to leak more or worse because since putting the right cap on, while it did help the check engine light go off I’m not getting very good gas mileage at all. I’m going to take it to a shop and hopefully they can figure out what is going on with it (when we’re able to pay what I’m assuming will be a pretty heft shop bill) but I just wanted to let it be known and I will send a follow up message letting you know what came of the shop fix/inspection. Thank you for reading my lengthy message and I send well wishes to you, your friends, and family.