2021 KIA SORENTO Complaints

When coming to a parking lot stop the vehicle skips or jumps and it can be felt on the floor board. I took it to get inspected at a Kia dealer who was able to identify the problem being my transmission and not the brakes. He informed me that Kia considers this a “normal condition” and that there was nothing they could do about it. This is extremely alarming and concerning that Kia is not concerned about transmission issues in their brands. There are no warning lights that come on. I feel unsafe driving this vehicle in fear of the transmission tearing up completely or running into the back of another vehicle or object. I drive on a busy interstate everyday for work and driving this vehicle in this condition is not safe in my opinion.

I was driving to work on I-95 when a message appeared on the dash to “Stop Safely Immediately”. Less than a minute later, I lost the ability to accelerate and the vehicle was losing speed. I pulled over to the shoulder. Vehicle was towed to the dealer. They were unable to pinpoint the issue and stated the entire transmission needs to be replaced.

My 9 month old (9000+ miles) car went completely into neutral while driving without any warning. The speed dropped quickly, and I was very closed to get hit by the car behind. I carefully stopped and turned off the car at a curbside, and it went back to normal when restarted. However, the next day I started the car like normal and found it wouldn't move either forward or reverse with the Check Engine Light on. The car was then towed to the dealership for inspection, and they were able to reproduce the problem. I was told the entire transmission needs to be replaced. The same terrifying experience is seen from multiple internet forums for the same new Kia Sorrento 2021.

Car has 2500 miles and engine is revving funny, Cruise control was working fine but all of a sudden started noises like downshift problems and lost power for cruise control; mph light flashed it has the 8 speed transmission it says. Please look into this as I paid a lot of money for this car to have it acting up already. I do not trust Dealership to tell me the truth. Thank you.

The SUV had a whistling noise then started leaking transmission fluid. I brought it in and the master tech said the whole transmission needed to be replaced. This is a NEW vehicle which only 5000 miles on it .

Power train operation is erratic and unpredictable. I have have experienced the same problems of other reports (loss of power when turning, jerking/rough shifts, cruise control issues) with the addition of this: when stopping the vehicle in a smooth controlled fashion, it suddenly has a boost of acceleration at 1-2 mph which requires extra brake pedal pressure to keep from impacting the car ahead.

The contact owns a 2021 Kia Sorento. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the engine was vibrating abnormally. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer. The dealer set an appointment however, the vehicle had not yet been diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The approximate failure mileage was 500. Consumer would like to withdrawal the complaint.

Transmission failed at 3200 miles leaving my family stranded. Car was completely disabled abruptly. Luckily I was able to find people to push my car to a safe location until my tow arrived. This was very scary given the fact I had my three children inside.

The transmission is failing after only 6000 miles. The vehicle suddenly and without warning will stop functioning, this happens while driving. The vehicle comes out of drive gear while still running and leaves driver with no ability to move out of traffic. This has happened numerous times over the last few weeks. After researching online it became evident that this is a common problem with the 2021 Kia Sorento. Many consumers complaining of the same thing. My wife was almost rear ended Saturday when the vehicle jumped out of gear and she was unable to get it out of traffic. These vehicles pose a very high risk and probability of causing accidents.

In traffic at a stop either needing to make a turn or just accelerate forward, when passing over an uneven surface (pothole, sidewalk curb from exiting a business), the accelerator does not respond to the pressure being applied and the vehicle barely moves even with pedal nearly to the floor (like crawls 1-2MPH), the traction control light blinks, to get across the intersection or junction and then it suddenly performs as if nothing happened. This is very dangerous as the vehicle is almost practically stalled and all you can see is oncoming traffic approaching. It is very hard to replicate but occurs at the most unfortunate times. The vehicle was just at its' first service appointment where I escalated the issue to the service department. They claimed they could not replicate, but they knew what I was describing and said there was nothing they could do. I also asked if they could ride with me so I can try to replicate it, but they declined. However; this is a safety concern.