general problems of the 2019 Kia Motor Sorento - part 1

Shifter stuck in park.

The contact owned a 2019 kia Sorento. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked in the contact's residential driveway, the vehicle caught on fire. The vehicle was unoccupied. The contact stated that while packing the vehicle for a planned family trip, the contact noticed the fire. In addition, the contact stated that no warning lights were illuminated prior to the fire. The contact and other family members extinguished the fire with fire extinguishers that were at the contact's residence. The vehicle was towed to a local tow yard. The insurance company condemned the vehicle as a total loss. In addition, the contact stated that the insurance investigation confirmed that the fire started as an electrical fire. The contact referenced an unknown recall which had a similar failure description, however the contact's VIN was not associated. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 116,000.

I took my 2019 kia Sorento to alan jay kia 0n 12/05/2025 because of the 2 slits on the top of the dashboard. I spoke to the service manager, and he sent the general sales manager out to take pictures of the dashboard. He stated that the slits are outlines of the air bag. I asked if it would be ok to drive since I was going out of town for a month and he said it was ok to drive. I also showed him all of my rims that are peeling. The service manager said he would send the information to kia and will contact me when he gets a response. I didn't hear from him, so I scheduled service om my vehicle on Jan. 9, 2026. I inquired about the dashboard and the service manager said he couldn't find anything in the computer. On Friday, Jan 16,2026, I stopped back and spoke to the service manager, and he said he heard back from kia, and they will not fix the dashboard or the peeling rims because of the age of the car and it's not under warranty. I researched the nhts and found that it is a safety issue.

I have a huge paint peeling situation on the roof of my vehicle. I do have a white kia sorrento and there is about a 24" by 6" spot where the paint is either peeling or is gone. It's directly above my front window on the roof of the vehicle.

When I purchased this car in 2020 it had approximately 30,000 miles on it and the paint was already flaking in one place. The paint is snow white pearl and it is now flaking in several places. I would like to request an investigation into this specific paint and flaking issues.

Exterior paint (snow white pearl) has delaminated resulting in chipping in several places on the hood. This has been previously identified in 5 other NHTSA complaints (11663682, 11636915, 11630983, 11521467, 11498038). The root cause of the issue seems to be a known (but unconfirmed) manufacturer paint defect by kia. Problems as far back as 2012 involving the paint (snow white pearl) have been reported on the kia owner forum, reddit, facebook, and possibly other social media sites. I have always maintained my vehicle to the highest standard and my vehicle mileage is significantly under the average annual mileage of 10k. I have just begun the journey to seeking remedy for this unfortunate situation and would appreciate an investigation by NHTSA on behalf of all who have filed complaints and told their stories. Thank you.

The paint peeled off on my hood in several places and on the fenders, I was driving in the rain and a big sheet of the paint on my hood peeled off and flew up on my windshield on the driver side causing me to run off the road because I couldn’t see, I took it to the jenkins kia dealership in ocala, FL and was told by the service people there that they would not fix it that it was my responsibility, they were very rude even though I was really shaken after running off the road now I have small rust spots all over my car , can you please help me?.

My Sorento started smelling like gas , inside & outside. Worse when I stop driving. The fuel pump pressure hose (that’s in a compartment under my backseat) is spraying fuel everywhere inside the compartment it in. The safety for myself and my grand sons that are all 2years old (3 of them) is we are inhaling the fumes from it separating steadily out under the seat their car seats are sitting on. I have not taken my vehicle to anyone but my friend after seeing a video of why a guys vehicle smelled like gas no inspection has been done by anyone I’m not even sure what steps I need to take or what to do now. There were no messages, lights, etc. , that flashed or popped up on my message center. It just all of a sudden one day started smelling like gasoline in my car. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

A noisy steering wheel column while driving ,car suspension was check everything was ok.

My car is consuming oil. I was two and a half quarts down when I checked it and the oil light never came on! I'm glad I checked it when I did! the car is consuming oil and has to be checked every day to every other day. I called the local kia dealership and of course, no recalls. What do I do now?.

Bcm went out causing the shifter to not shift out of park. Reading online shows this is a very common issue with kia vehicles.

The snow white pearl paint color is peeling off my entire car, compromising the vehicle since the metal is no longer being protected. I took it into a kia dealership and they acknowledged the paint defect but said they can’t do anything about it even though they know that there is a manufacture defect with this specific paint color. There was no warning, my car is parked in the garage and so it’s not even exposed to the elements all the time and the paint just started peeling. This paint color has a known defect for not adhering to the primer and kia won’t do anything about it.

Pearl white paint has suddenly begun flaking off from roof of my 2019 Sorentosxl. It is running above the length of the driver side door. Paint should not be doing that. Looks like a factory defect. Noticed many other complaints for the exact same issue. Kia defers to the warranty but kia should fix this regardless of warranty timeline since this is not as a result of external forces or owner error.

Paint is peeling. Only have 100,000 miles. Paint is peeling off badly.

My oil level in my car keeps going low. Service department at kia states they cannot find another problem. I’ve had regular oil changes. I met someone at the dealership experiencing the same problem.

We have received the security update for the ignition system over a year ago for the recall. Even with this recall fix our vehicle was still stolen, so this solution clearly didn't work.

Hi, my car has increased oil consumption. Every week, iam toping off the oil, 1 qrt every week now. I brought this to kia's attention, had the test done as they suggested. They offerred me only this: a/c evap clean, coolant fluid exchange, spark plug replace, 3 pt induction svc, which doesnt fix the problem. I also wanted the existing recall to be adressed, but they ignored.

Vehicle has frequent oil consumption issues. It’s burning oil way too fast and causing a potential issue with the engine. According to the staff at the car shop, there is no way to fix it. You have to just kind of deal with it. It seems to be a defect that has not been addressed and is only for first owners. Bought my vehicle from a dealership and apparently this isn’t covered. This is a lemon and it’s clearly unknown issue based on the workers at the car shop that have not been addressed and is causing an issue with my engine.

The forward collision system warning system the warning that it's not working stays on for a couple of days then goes off but then it comes back on. My other problem is the pearl white paint is peeling off the hood and roof of my Sorento. Kia said not their problem because it has 80,000 miles. I have read thousands of complaints about this problem. There seems to be a problem with the paint they are using.

A crack on my dashboard by the airbag above glove box. I use a windshield screen and armor all it to protect it I’m afraid if there’s an accident the airbag will not work as designed and it could cause injury or death kia said after 5 years it’s normal wear and tear I bought car new oct 2019.

This morning my 2019 kia Sorento lost power all while driving on a busy highway going 70 miles per hour. When this occured the battery light flashed twice and then the instrument cluster had all warning lights. Then the cluster started flashing and the infotainment center lost power. I lost power steering and brakes. This is not the first time this has happened and I am extremely upset. I drove to the nearest dealership because it was the next exit off of the highway. The engine was running but nothing else was working. The dealership could not get it out of park after I arrived and then it would not start. This same issue occured in 2023 and the dealer had it for over 90 days. They claimed everything was fixed and multiple things were not resolved. My cluster has sparatically flashed since 15k miles and this is ridiculous. Kia will not honor warranty or admit that this is a lemon.

I have a 2019 kia Sorento ex v6 with 65,000 miles. Recently started smelling fuel and had someone look at it. I was told there is a fuel leak above the left side of the tank in the evaporative line. No accidents. This should never happen on a vehicle for no reason.   no system failure. No malfunction. Yes, it is available upon request. No inspections by insurance or police. No warning lights. Safety could potentially be at risk since fuel is exposed!!!!!.

Pearl white paint peeling off doors, hood, roof…less than 40,000 miles.

The contact owns a 2019 kia Sorento. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to the local dealer and was informed that parts for the repair under NHTSA campaign number: 22v703000 (trailer hitches) were not available. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, who replaced the fuse. The vehicle was repaired. The contact stated that the driver’s side taillight became inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken back to the same dealer, where it was diagnosed that the taillight bulb, taillight assembly, and the wiring harness needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure persisted. The manufacturer was contacted, opened a case, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 45,220.

While driving on the interstate my panoramic sunroof exploded glass flew out, and if the window had been open, it would’ve hurt the people inside. It sounded like a gunshot. My vehicle is currently at a dealership. We are trying to get kia corporate to fix it because it was a window defect. Nothing hit my car it just explodes.

Paint just peeling off.

Vehicle starting 'eating' excessive amounts of oil about 95,000 miles. We are now about 115,000 miles and I am adding nearly 5 quarts of oil every 3,000 miles.

My pearl white 2019 kia Sorento lx is peeling terribly. It's very ugly and is causing my car to rust in spots.

The paint on pearl white kia sorrento 2019 is beginning to chip and peel.

Infotainment/back up camera failure when reversing and while driving today. Kia corporate has been aware of issue since April 2021 and has yet to resolve to attempt to fully diagnose. Dealership claimed they checked "every" wiring harness for water exposure due to ongoing water issues from dash. Kia claimed they would work with me during our bbb arbitration and have had zero contact since. Car was manufacturered weeks before current back up camera recall on other 2019 Sorentos. Camera in car shows no work was done. Car sat on dealership lot on 2 different occasions for 27 days in 2022 and then over 87 days. Per kia "they can't throw parts at it" this has caused an accident and is concerning regarding backing up with children. "safety features" do not actually work for safety purposes. Kia states they are not meant for safety during recorded arbitration.

Infotainment center no longer has option for date/time. Option is grayed out. Dealership had vehicle for 89 days and returned it not fixed after claiming they resolved everything.

Infotainment center failure that hat been ongoing since 2019 and kia will not address.

Back up camera failure while attempting to drive. Ongoing since water issues in 2019 due to "manufacturers design flaw". Manufacturer will not resolve.

I was driving on the freeway at approx. 65mph and my panoramic glass roof exploded. It was so loud and very frightening. I pulled over at first exit and the glass had exploded from the inside and had major cracks completely down both sides as attached photo shows. This had to be a result of a defective glass roof as nothing flew into my car or hit the glass from the exterior. The glass continued to fall out as I drove. This could have been such a hazard for myself as well as other drivers as I thought someone had shot at my car! luckily the "headliner" under the glass was closed or I would have been cut by the shattered glass. There were no warning signs of a problem, nor had I ever been contacted by kia of this potential hazard that others, I now have learned, have reported as well. I drove the car to shottenkirk fort bend kia, where I had purchased the car new, for help. They have advised me that glass is not covered under my warranty. Nor will they cover my rental car charges as I need a car for work.

Oil light has come on intermittently, so we took the car into the kia dealership in may before we hit 60k miles, the limit of our warranty. We were told they drained the oil, checked everything, and didn't find any issues. Oil light issue persisted so we took the car back to the dealership today (July 19) and the dealership has now acknowledged the crack in the engine where oil leaks into the oil pan. This is a widespread problem and should have been well known by the dealership. . Read more...