general problems of the 2004 Kia Motor Sorento

Crank pully bolt snapped. Causing crank pully to fall, and critical belts to fail.

I was driving our 2004 kia Sorento with my 3 young children in the car. Driving down a city street at 45 mph the car began to jerk as all the lights flashed on the dashboard. I lost all power, but I was able to cruise to park next to a curb, however the vehicle would not restart. I had it towed to my mechanic. The mechanic found that the crankshaft sprocket, key shaft, damper pulley, and crank bolt all were damaged and needed to be replaced.

I was driving approximately 35-40 mph and my car suddenly lost power with all the dash lights briefly coming on (battery, oil, etc. ). Fortunately I was close to a side street and was able to make a hard turn and coast to the curb. I waited a minute and was able to restart the vehicle. I drove home and there was one more incident when the car started to lose power (lights dimmed) however I pushed on the gas and it powered up again. I have had the lights dim and the car seemingly lose power several times. Just prior to this the car typically hesitates when you are going full speed and then the dimming occurs. I've had my car idle at stop signs and at train crossings and have not experienced any power loss. It always seems to happen while driving 35-40 mph or more. I've had it happen while driving 60-70 mph on the highway. I had a diagnostic run on the car at the dealership with no concerning results. I've had a mechanic I trust check the alternator, the spark plugs, flush the coolant, put in fuel cleaner, etc. And he cannot locate the problem.

On Monday, August 10th, 2015 I was driving my 2004 kia Sorento lx and heard a loud bang and then the vehicle began to fishtail. I was traveling at a low speed of around 35 mph. I immediately slowed down and managed to drive the vehicle to a nearby garage. At the garage the vehicle was placed on the lift and it was identified that the drivers side frame rail had completely broken in half and was severely corroded. The passenger side was also severely corroded but not broken all the way through. The cross-member above the rear axle is almost completely gone. I now have an 11 year old vehicle which should have a retail value of around $5k which is now completely worthless. I did some internet research and found I am not the only one experiencing this severe corrosion problem with this year and model kia. I am surprised there have been no safety recalls for this problem. Had my incident happened at highway speeds the story may be a lot different.

About to get on hwy in nc, red light turned green started driving not even 10 seconds later gas pedal goes straight to floor and sounds like something drops. In the middle of the road car just stops with no warning-right before major hwy. Try to crank the kia, nothing. Again, nothing. Physically push the car off road while others are speeding by-accidnet waiting to happen thank god it didnt. Get it towed home. Sat in yard ever since. Replaced multiple parts. Still does not run. .

I was on my way to work on Tuesday, March 3, 2015. It was about 7:30/7:40 a. M. I was driving my 2004 kia Sorento ex. I had just driven through st. Peter, mn on hwy 169 south on my way to mankato and was starting to pick up my speed as the speed limit increases as you leave town. All of a sudden, without warning, my vehicle just shut down. The "dummy lights" all lit up. I had no power steering, no brakes, no accelerator - nothing was working. Thank goodness the vehicle, because there was no power, slowed to a stop within a short period of time. I was able to pull over without a collision and no one was hurt. I put it in park and turned the key to the off position. I tried to see if it would start again and absolutely nothing happened when I turned the key. I called aaa and the Sorento was towed to the nearest mechanic shop. Without investing too much time in it because I didn't want a huge bill, the mechanic told me that it has electrical power - has good power to the starter, but the engine does not rotate. They could not even physically rotate the engine. He told me that regardless of what it was, it would be very expensive to repair it because, at this point, they have no idea what is wrong with it. That's when I got on facebook and started asking if anyone had any ideas of what could be wrong and a friend told me about the kia Sorento engine defect class action lawsuit. I believe my 2004 kia Sorento ex is affected by this engine defect. It was dangerous to be driving and I am thankful I was not on a busy freeway. As this just happened 3 days ago, I do not know what I am going to do with this Sorento. I would like to have it fixed, but cannot afford to do it. It is still sitting in the parking lot at the mechanics in st. Peter where aaa towed it to.

While I was driving out of my complex my the lights on the dash came on and it seemed as if I lost my brakes (which I costed to the side road as well as no steering. I had the vehicle towed and I was told that the pulley mounting bolt had broken off inside the crankshaft.

Driving on interstate hwy, 70 mph, the harmonic balance bolt and roll pin sheared off leaving broken off stubs in crankshaft. Causing loss of power steering, power brakes, I had dealer replace all fan belts because of squealing for the trip, 300 miles before the failure.

While driving all warning lights came on and all belts broke steering wouldnt work.

While driving on the highway at 65 mph the crankshaft bolt broke, the timing belt and drive belt came loose.

Entering I-35 north from access road in san antonio texas. Time 08:15am (rush hour) loud bang from rear of vehicle speed immediately dropped to 20mph, initially thought I had blown a tire. Pulled off access road to side street. Was having trouble stopping vehicle no brake pressure foot went all the way to floorboard. Checked rear tires, no visible damage to either tire (tires were new)when vehicle was purchased. Again attempted to drive vehicle, rear tires were having trouble rotating? later discovered wheel bearings had failed.

Vehicle is only 7 years old. Metal bracket welded to the rear axle that holds the upper control arms has completely failed! the normal torque from the rear axle has broken both brackets holding the upper control arm to the cars frame. All that is holding the rear axle in place is the lower control arms and the sway bars. There are no weep holes to allow water to drain out of the bracket weldment, causing water to fill the cup-like condition created. This condition has (an will) cause premature failure of all kia Sorento rear axle/upper control arm connections. While driving the rear axle could become detached from the vehicle due to excessive stress placed on the remaining parts. A typical traffic maneuver could cause a catastrophic failure, and render the vehicle uncontrolable, with the likelyness of massive pain, injury and death as a result!!! this is an extremely dangerous condition!!! these cars need to be recalled now before someone is killed!!! ps if you see a kia Sorento on the freeway. . . Stay away from it for your own safety!.

Crankshaft bolt broke with approx 75,000 miles. Kia issued service bulletin and replaced the bolt. But the motor was destroyed when it broke and continuously overheated and was undrivable. It required a new motor. Not having $ to replace motor & kias zero accountability. Vehicle sat at a repair shop for 2 years & they filed for an abandoned title. At the time valued at approx $7500. Wasted!!!! thanks kia!.

Two brackets (one left, one right) that hold the rear upper control arms to the rear axle housing have completely snapped off. This leaves a very dangerous condition which will cause the rear axle of the car to rotate and fall out of the car. If this happens at speed, serious injury and/or death is likely. There are many many posts about this same problem online and kia refuses to address the problem stating that it's not a flaw or defect. It is if it happens to almost every vehicle of this year and model. Kia does not offer a replacement bracket that can be welded on and they suggest that the entire rear axle housing assembly is replaced at a cost of several thousand dollars per vehicle. Kia motors refuses to acknowledge the problem or assist affected customers in resolving it.

We have had 4 instances with the same issue in the fixing the pulley crank shaft. June 30, 08, (recall) October 6, 09, Aug 10, 10 and once again sept 18,12. This is the same issue that causes you to loose steering while driving with apparently no warning. I find this extremely troubling as we have a new driver learning with this car. We are lucky to report that there have been no accidents or deaths but I think it is a very dangerous situation that will soon happen. The dealer wagner kia of shrewsbury,MA feels that it is not an issue and is just from wear and tear. 4 times for the same problem? obviously kia has not fixed the problem correctly. It angers me that kia is not taking this seriously. We drive our children as well as other children in this car and could of had serious to fatal injuries. From this bolt shearing off it has also caused other major damage to the car that we have already had fixed.