Equipment Problems of Kia Motor Sorento - part 1

I came to this website because it was suggested to me to look for a recall. While there is an active recall with my car, the interesting part to me is the fact that the issues I'm having with my car match a recall for the same model as mine, just a different spec. To me that seems odd, I'd have the same type issues. . . I was wondering how to get this examined.

See all problems of the 2017 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

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).

See all problems of the 2019 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

The engine light comes on and then the wheel lock light will come on and the car will disengage from 4 wheel drive to 2 wheel drive while driving.

See all problems of the 2011 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

While I was driving on an interstate road(with no vehicles around) the sun roof of my 2023 kia Sorento exploded and the glass completely shattered and caused pieces of the broken glass to fly off. Thankfully I had the visor up so none of the glass fell onto me, otherwise myself and my two kids (3 year old and 6 month old) could have gotten seriously injured. With nearly 80% of the glass sunroof panel above the driver area popping off, that much glass falling onto me could have caused a serious distraction and caused me to run into another vehicle or lose control of the vehicle. At the time the sunroof shattered, there was nobody on the road or any external debris that could have caused the sunroof to shatter like that. I suddenly head a loud explosion that sounded almost like a shotgun being shot and was instantly startled, and when I realized we were all okay in the vehicle I heard the sound of glass sliding off the roof of my Sorento. I then began to see chunks of glass falling on the road behind me which posed as a risk to other vehicles that were behind me and caused other drivers to swerve to avoid being hit by the glass. Since this has happened, I have contacted kia and taken it in to my local service department. The service manager (when he inspected the sunroof) stated the glass is tempered glass and should not explode when cracked or shattered. Other reports of this exact issue is prevalent online and poses a great risk to consumers, families, and other drivers on the road.

See all problems of the 2023 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

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?.

My pearl white paint is chipping and peeling off my car.

See all problems of the 2012 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

Car rolled after it was put in park. Car would not start after that and gear shift locked. Engaged emergency brake and put bricks behind wheels. Vehicle now in driveway.

See all problems of the 2014 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

1. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? the engine misfired due to a broken valve in one of the cylinders. This failure occurred approximately two months after completing the scheduled 100,000-mile service at a kia dealership. The affected parts (valve, cylinder components) should still be available for inspection by kia or a third party. 2. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? the vehicle suddenly lost power and stalled in the middle of the highway while driving at normal speed. This created a dangerous situation where I could have been struck by oncoming traffic while trying to safely exit the roadway. 3. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? the issue was confirmed by a repair shop, which diagnosed the cause as a misfire due to a broken valve. I have service documentation of the diagnosis available. 4. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives, or others? the vehicle has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer or insurance representatives, but it was inspected by the servicing dealership and/or an independent mechanic who confirmed the valve failure. 5. Were there any warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? prior to the complete failure, the check engine light illuminated and the vehicle began running roughly (misfiring). These symptoms appeared very shortly before the breakdown, giving me no meaningful time to react before the engine stalled.

See all problems of the 2018 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

August 18, 2025 at 3pm pt; my 2025 kia Sorento x-line was parked in my driveway facing the street. I had the engine on, and in park mode, ac on, back hatch door open. No one was in the vehicle. I was standing behind the vehicle when it then started to go in reverse, then stopped for 2 seconds. It then proceeded to go into reverse again. The garage door was open. The vehicle pushed me into the blades of our lawn mower (it is stored in the garage on its end, so the blades face the garage door), and continued to push me and the lawn mower into our gardening tool supply rack. I did all I could to stop the vehicle with my body and yell for help. I was trapped. The vehicle eventually stopped because the back hatch door was open and caught on the upper part of the garage frame. I got myself unstuck and got out to the right, and went straight to the passenger front door to check out the gear shift. It was still in park mode. All was captured on our ring camera. I called kia corporate customer service and received a case number (25476533) and was told I would hear back in 10 business days. This was after calling the dealership twice directly (elk grove kia) leaving a detailed message with no response.

The vehicle emits a strong fuel odor: seems to be around the rear of vehicle & front engine compartment of vehicle. Seems the fuel system, both low & high pressure fuel pumps and their pipes channels are leaking to emit a strong fuel odor. Extreme high volatile combustion & fire risk! remedy: the fuel system including both low & high pressure fuel pumps & their pipes channels need replaced with strong, better engineered components! a newer vehicle like this should not be having fuel system failures.

I now believe I've had a lemon. Since I purchased my car in 2016 they have been trying to diagnose a smell from the exhaust and started replacing parts, this was in miami. Then for a few years in vegas the car spent months at the dealership trying to fix a burning oil issue which I've been told there is a known problem with the turbo still isn't fixed. From the first year I had paint peeling on my snow white pearl color which has numerous forums about kia/Hyundai paint issues especially with my color. I had them repaint the hood which took twice after the bad job the first time. I saw little bumps in the paint which I thought was over-spray from that incident and now I have peeling from one of those spots which is how they form from what I read. My car is 2016 but only has 65k miles. The spot now is getting bigger by the week, the rain isn't helping. There are other spots around the edges and a big spot on the roof and others I've already filled in with a paint pen which looks ugly. If you see my car, inside and out it looks pretty close to new from the way I've taken care of the car. The paint started in August of 2016 but most recently 2025. The engine issues were day one but most recently 2024 they fixed a cylinder that got a hole in it after consuming all the oil and it seems to be headed down that path with the remedy they are offering at kia. The engine and paint should be convered under a class action lawsuit or recall to hold them accountable and fix the issues.

See all problems of the 2016 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

My traction control light is on along with my abs sensor light and another light indication red figure with like a stop sign only when someone in passenger seat as well as a exhaust issue my vehicle sounds loud driving out of no where.

Oil consumption.

I was driving down the highway when the sunroof randomly exploded, there was no debris that hit the roof or damages to the roof prior.

Paint peeling everywhere an innocent burning excessive oil.

Oil pressure sensor and leaking oil. Also paint peeling off badly. Snow pearl white. I purchased extended warranty and dealer never fixed anything.

See all problems of the 2015 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

My 2020 kia Sorento engine light came on and not able to accelerate more than 40 mph. The code when I went to an auto repair shop says knock signal range/ performance. I had it reset by the mechanic and the engine light still on. The engine is also eating through oil very fast. We have to fill the car with oil frequently in between oil changes.

See all problems of the 2020 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

Paint randomly flys off the vehicle while driving. There are many documented issues with this white pearl coat on my year of vehicle where the paint did not adhere correctly to the base coat.

White vehicle paint is peeling. Was told by dealer it's a known issue and is awaiting defect with paint manufacturer.

Recall sa512 was previously completed on my vehicle. The problem is happening again. Since there are no open recalls, I am unable to get it fixed under the recall.

See all problems of the 2021 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

Jenkins kia of ocala florida sold me this car as a certified used car on July 4 2025 without fixing or disclosing the fact this vehicle has 2 recalls! I want to file a formal complaint with you against this company. This car should never have been sold as a certified used vehicle with these 2 safety recalls not being addressed, fixed or mentioned!.

See all problems of the 2022 Kia Motor Sorento 🔎.

Safety concern. Vehicle suddenly could not maintain highway speed; vehicle unexpectedly decelerated. We were forced to pull over on the shoulder of the freeway. We called 911 and officers came. Officer confirmed being stopped on the shoulder of a major freeway was a very dangerous situation. We had 3 adults and two sleeping children in the car. No warning signals in the vehicle prior to the incident.

My car has turned off completely twice while in reverse.

The car is accelerating without anyone pressing down on the gas, not accelerating when our foot is on the gas, jerking unexplainably and the emergency brake warning is coming on when it has not been employed.

The car overheated while driving and my wife and daughter had to pull over to side of road. Engine coolant was spilling everywhere. Car was towed to raceway kia in freehold NJ. The dealer advised my wife that the radiator needs to be replaced and it was not covered under warranty. They claim that debris from the road must have damaged the radiator and therefore it was "third party damage". I searched the web for incidents and found that this ios a design problem in the kia sorrento. Their design causes the vulnerability to get damage to readaitor due to leaks. This should be recalled and redesigned before someone gets seriously injured as a result.

I was driving my Sorento sxl on a highway, at approximately 50 mph. With no warning, the engine began to run rough. The check engine light immediately began flashing. I was able to drive the car approximately three more miles to an auto service center. The engine ran very rough the entire time, wanting to stall when slowing down. The mechanic determined that my car’s oil reservoir was 4 quarts low, yet no engine oil light ever illuminated on the dashboard. It holds 6. 2 quarts, and had only 2. 2 quarts in it. Again, there was no illuminated light whatsoever telling me my car was dangerously low on oil. Because of this low oil condition, one of my timing chains skipped, and the cam rotated approximately 62° out of center. That’s what caused it to run rough. It appears my only options now are to have the engine apart, and hope no real damage was done, or replace it entirely. The engine for my car has been discontinued, with seemingly no suitable replacement from kia. This could have been completely avoided if my car had alerted me to a low oil condition sometime before. This is very dangerous and it seems it is a common ailment among some kia cars like mine. A low oil light would have informed me immediately that my car was in need of oil, a critical fluid for proper and safe operation. If I were towing a trailer when this happened, or on a winding stretch of road in snow or ice, this could have been catastrophic.

I have had many issues where my car will completely shut off after the auto start-stop function causing me to almost get into accidents with my toddlers in the vehicle. There was one incident where I was at a stop light, when the light turned green I started my car again to go and another vehicle continued to bypass me. When I halted for the other vehicle, my engine shut off again almost the cause of a horrific accident. I have had many incidents after this with the related cause of engine shutting off.

Back in June 2025 my car started having an issue with the auto on/off light blinking on the dash and unable to be turned off. While driving and this happens, the car is unable to maintain its sped or accelerate. This has caused safety concerns many times. Dyer kia first said it was an update, problem still remained. Then they said a deeper update was needed to no avail. The third attempt was a new transmission which caused more problems and still did not address the initial issue. Then they said it was the battery. They installed/ replaced an already new battery yet the problem still existed. Another transmission was put in and the problem still existed. Then they replaced the tcm and the issue still exists. The car is at a new dealership and already they are saying they have not found any codes to explain the problem yet and that they need to repair the battery terminal leads that the previous dealership broke before they are able to go further. Kia corporate is not helping me find a permanent solution to this issue and I still do not have my vehicle.

The car is not able to shift out of park unless the shift interlock release button is depressed. This issue has occurred intermittently in the last year but has been consistent in the past few weeks of the submission of the complaint.

My 2016 kia Sorento has a paint peeling on the hood and roof. I have reached out to corporate but they will not help due to expired warranty. Learned on fb group chat that the paint is defective also the same color paint white pearl. Have you had any other complaints?any idea on what I need to do? thanks.

Driving on the frwy when car started loosing power/acceleration, no warning lights or indicators on dashboard. Safely able to merge off the frwy. Turned off vehicle, engine would not turn back on. But all the dash lights came up as warning including engine light. Started to smell like burnt. Open the hood and it smelled like burning oil. Towed my vehicle & under the vehicle a pool of engine oil. Dealer confirmed engine seized. When repairs began water pump was damaged & engine mounts due to engine seizing.

Driving down the highway normal conditions at 60 mph and sunroof exploded out. Very loud noise and pulled off of highway . Found sunroof was shattered. No cars were around at the time and nothing hit the roof to cause 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.

I am unsure what component system failed or malfunctioned. The car is in the toe place. It's a total loss burned from front to back my safety was put at risk by no indication of any lights coming on my dashboard. By the time I stopped the whole front into my car was on fire. It burned from from 2 back within 8 minutes. It has not been inspected by insurance. The police were there when the fire was put out along with the fire department. There were no warning lights or lamps of any indication of a problem. I was driving down the road and I seemed small but I had no lights on my dashboard. Indicating anything was wrong? so I drove as soon as I started to slow down at the stoplight. Flames started coming out of the driver's side of the hook. But I turned the corner and stopped the car and the whole front end. By the time I stopped was on fire. I contacted the fire department and within 8 minutes. The car was a total loss.

The contact owned a 2020 kia Sorento. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact noticed smoke coming from the vehicle. The contact stated the fuse box located on the driver's side had caught on fire. The vehicle was extinguished by the fire department. A fire report was filed, and a fire report number was provided; however, the cause of the failure was not yet determined. A police report was filed and provided to the contact. The dealer was not contacted. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign number: 22v703000(trailer hitches). The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000. Parts distribution disconnect.