KIA Complaints

The contact owns a 2013 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while his daughter was driving the vehicle with her boyfriend seated in the passenger’s seat, while approaching a stop sign at 30 MPH, the vehicle stalled. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was stopped safely on the side of the road, and then the vehicle was towed to a local independent mechanic to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the engine had seized. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V224000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The approximate failure mileage was 71,935.

The contact owns a 2017 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle, the front and rear exterior lights shut off unexpectedly. The contact turned off the light switch and then back on and the failure was fixed. Additionally, the vehicle had experienced excessive oil consumption, and engine oil was added shortly after having an oil change performed. The vehicle also experienced harsh driving due to the oil consumption failure. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 65,000.

I purchased this vehicle from Carvana, used, with 58000 miles. I have had all the oil changes and regular maintenance performed. However, this car has been very unreliable. One time in November 2023, all the electrical went out while I was driving down the highway going 50 mph. The power steering and all dashboard lights turned off and the car shut down. Were it not for the fact the road was straight and I could veer off slightly to stop on the side of the road, I could have experienced a crash. Others have pointed this out about KIA cars. More recently, I had to replace the entire transmission at 90,000 miles. I have never had a car that needed a totally new transmission under 100,000 miles or at all. The cost of all the unexpected repairs, design incompetencies, and consequences, including having to get a rental car, was around $4,500. The KIA cars from 2010 - 2021 also were not equipped with an engine mobilizer, which increased their rate of theft. This cost me a higher auto insurance bill as a result. It is clear KIA throws their cars together and puts anything they can on the market, then deny any responsibility and just say, "Oh, you don't have a warranty?" As if it's your fault for wanting a basic car to do basic things. Not having a car in the dead of winter with a big storm was pretty scary. That was me in Mississippi in January of 2025. The KIA dealership there in Brandon was almost incapable of repairing it, returning it to me three times and saying it was fine, with me driving off and a warning light coming on or the car saying the engine was now overheating. These are bad cars. They should not be sold to US consumers. This is a scam operation. I have the receipts for repairs and having to get a rental car, if needed.

On [XXX] , my wife heard a rattling noise while driving. I verified the rattling noise on [XXX]. On [XXX], I researched online and there are a lot of 2020 Telluride owners that experienced the same issue. They mentioned they had no oil in their cars. I checked the oil that morning and confirmed my wife's car had no oil. I reviewed the manual and checked the oil again according to the instructions in the manual. The car still registered no oil in the dip stick. The car did not report any warning lights. There was no engine light or oil pressure light that came on at any point in time to indicate there was no oil in the engine. Per the instructions in the manual, I drove the vehicle carefully to the auto part store. I purchased and added 6 quarts of synthetic blend 5W 30 oil. After that, the rattling in the engine seized. I sent a text message to Kia in Alpharetta, GA. I spoke with Izzy and explained the situation and requested an appointment to have an oil consumption test performed. She advised that the oil consumption test had a $440 cost and consisted of performing a series of oil changes over the course of a specified time to determine how much oil the vehicle was burning/consuming. She said I could call consumer affairs and I asked her if she was referring to Kia consumer affairs or the national/federal consumer affairs. She verified it was the national/federal consumer affairs and provided me with this number to call 1-888-327-4236 which actually belongs to Kia's consumer affairs hotline. Izzy advised that I had pending recalls in my car and asked why I have not brought the car in. I mentioned that I live in Ball Ground, GA and the nearest Kia dealership to me is the one in Woodstock, GA. However, I stopped taking my car there because I previously took the car there to get the oil changes done and each time I did the car would have a nail in one of the tires a couple days after the service. I lost confidence in the dealership. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION

I leave for work early in the morning and several times the lights would start blinking and go out. The lights would come back on after blinking again. There were no warning signs and it makes me scared to drive the car. I took the car to a mechanic who told me he checked the recall list. My state does not require an inspection and I have not talked to my insurance company cause I need to and want to hear from KIA. A coworker told me he think it could be in the turn signal. I just need KIA to check my car for a recall or maybe try to check it for a defect.

On [XXX] I took my automobile, a 2021 Kia K5 to Planet KIA of Charlotte NC located at 4700 E independence Blvd. I took it there to check what caused my engine light to activate. The initial diagnosis was a bad Sensor-Differential Pressure. Planet KIA repaired the Sensor-Differential Pressure at the cost of $501.17. My extended warranty company Route 66 covered $350.28 while I covered the remaining balance of $150.89. The engine light came on again the next day and while driving back to the dealership, I experienced the car slowing down and difficult to gain speed in highway traffic. I returned the automobile to Planet Kia of Charlotte and on [XXX}, I was informed that I had a valve failure which in turn caused my gas tank to swell. On [XXX] the warranty company denied request to pay for repairs due to their policy of not covering emissions which pertained to the valve. Kia refused to fix this problem due to a service campaign recall had been performed on the vehicle before I bought it. They found no issues with the vehicle pertaining to the valve or gas tank swelling. This is clearly a manufacturer’s defect, and it should have been repaired by the manufacturer. If you can, please help. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Had some noise coming from the front of the car, had my mechanic look at it, he said we needed a control arm. When he took off the cover to replace the control arm, he found the sub frame had rotten and was cracking. As I looked online, I saw that KIA had a recall for this issue. When I contacted KIA, their response was "as my car is not under warranty, they are not required to repair the car" The car in question has 70, 558 miles on it. We are the 2nd owner.

The contact owns a 2024 Kia EV9. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the middle-row passenger’s side seat failed to remain secured. The contact stated that due to the failure the middle row passenger seated in the seat was moving forwards and backwards because the seat failed to remain secured. The contact stated that the dealer nor an independent mechanic was contacted. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or independent mechanic to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 35,701.

I bought a used Kia sorento from a Kia Dealership. This engine makes oil evaporate completely. This engine must be a bad engine. I heard there was some recalls on Kia engines not sure if this one fits it. The dealership did a five hundred dollar job on it and it did not fix. I put oil in this car every month. No way to upgrade because of these issues.

Engine stopped on the highway and was found with no oil. Probably due to oil over consumption.