general problems of the 2023 Kia Motor Sportage - part 2

I was driving east from austin, TX on [xxx], and as I approached a major intersection in elgin, TX. , a warning light appeared on my dashboard that said "hybrid system failure: pull over safely". I was able to pull over into the left turn lane and then was barely able to make it over a curb and onto a highway median strip, before my car engine stopped and all dashboard lights went out. This happened in about 30 seconds. My two year old car with fewer than 30,000 miles on it went completely dead. It would not start even after several attempts. I called kia roadside assistance, and was told I needed to have the car towed to a dealership. The tow truck driver backed the car into the space they indicated at the dealership, and it started to roll forward as it was apparently in neutral. He had to borrow a board to put under the back wheels. Days later I was told to come get the car, as it had been repaired. When I got there, it was in the same space with the board still under the wheels. I was told it just had needed a software update. (sa553a). I was never notified that my vehicle needed this update, and would just stop wherever: I. E. On a hwy with no shoulders, at night, etc. And that I would be unable to brake the car, or drive it, or put on emergency warning lights after 30 seconds. This was unbelievably unsafe. I am [xxx]. What if I were a family with children on board and it happened on a highway at night??? information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Dear NHTSA defects and recall team, my name is [xxx] , and I am writing this email along with my wife, [xxx] , to report a serious safety issue with our 2023 kia Sportage. I am writing to bring a serious, ongoing vehicle safety issue involving a kia Sportage to your attention. My family and I are facing repeated, hazardous malfunctions with our vehicle that have led us to fear for our lives, as well as the safety of others on the road. Since mid-September, our 2023 kia Sportage has experienced sudden, unanticipated shut-offs both while parked and, most dangerously, while driving. During these incidents, the brake pedal becomes completely unresponsive, hazard lights fail to activate, and the vehicle is left stranded and inoperable. Most recently, while driving in traffic, the car shut off without warning, leaving us in an extremely vulnerable position. These repeated failures could lead to a catastrophic accident, especially considering we often travel with our [xxx] child in the vehicle. Despite notifying kia and seeking assistance from their customer service team, the issue remains unresolved, and their response has been unacceptably slow. Given the severity of these malfunctions and their direct impact on public safety, we respectfully request your support in addressing this matter. We believe kia has a responsibility to ensure the safety of its vehicles and to take immediate action when serious safety risks arise. We request that the NHTSA investigate the issue and consider any necessary recalls or further action to ensure public safety. We would appreciate any guidance or assistance your office could provide in helping us resolve this life-threatening issue. Sincerely, [xxx] and [xxx] [xxx] | [xxx] kia Sportage x line awd [xxx] purchased date: [xxx] information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

When driving, I get random flashing lights on the dashboard with a warning indicator: ”check hybrid system. Stop safely”. It happened at least on 7 occasions while driving at high speed on a highway and while stopped at a traffic light. When the issue happens, the car triggers aggressive warning sounds forcing me to stop on the side of the road, placing the car into park and having to turn the vehicle off. On every occasion, the vehicle appears to have corrected itself after being shutoff. In all cases while driving on a highway, the issue happened when driving on gas mode (not ev) and the rpm’s show 0. 0 for more than 2 minutes. In the cases when I am stopped at a traffic light, the car is in ev mode and rpm’s are fluctuating. There should not be any rpms when stopped. Due to theses multiples dangerous situations while driving, I took it to the dealership to get fixed ASAP. On October 5th 2024, coral springs kia (dealer) accepted my car with same complaint mentioned on this letter, and they told me that this is a known issue, that another kia owner came earlier that day with exactly the same problem. The dealer issued the service invoice# [xxx]- miles in 10636/miles out 10649-, stating: “code 10643 inspected the customer concern by checking the engine performance. Found the vehicle performance normal and no warning symbol came on when performing a long road test. Check for dtc and found no codes within the system, found the vehicle operating normal and was unable to duplicate customer concern”. After retrieving my car from the dealership on October 5th 2024, I continued to have the exact same scenario of warning indicators. Since [xxx], the issue has happened at least 3 more times. This is clearly a glitch on the phev system and very dangerous to deal with, mostly when you are driving in a highway on high speed. A simple google search indicates that is a known a common complaint from kia owners. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6.

There were two incidents where the engine sounded sluggish and was difficult to start over the past two weeks (7/22/24 & 7/30/24). After speaking with kia service rep three days ago, an appointment was made to check the battery. On yesterday and today (8/1/24), the engine would not start at all or even make a sound although the air conditioner and radio would work. I had to get the vehicle jumped off to drive it to the service department. After the service rep checked the battery, they couldn’t find anything wrong and stated the battery was o. K.

Often times the dash/screen won’t turn on. (the screen with gps, settings, and the lower a/c controls) the car has to be power cycled in order to get it to come on.

On 05/13/24, the infotainment screen blanked out and the brake lights warning indicator appeared twice on the instrument panel while driving. This happened on two separate occasions.

On may 4, 2024, a message appeared on the screen “contacts download unsuccessful” while trying to make a call. The bluetooth would not connect and I wasn’t able to make hands free calls. On may 5, 2024, the screen blanked out for several minutes while driving. This isn’t the first time this has happened.

February 2024 (27,813 mi): vehicle lost acceleration while driving, would not transition from ev to engine mode, entered limp mode. Dealer replaced high-pressure fuel pump under warranty after consulting kia tech line (case #[xxx]). September 2025 (58,000 mi): vehicle will not start without manually resetting 12v battery module integrated in hybrid battery system. Pattern suggests hybrid control system defects, not resolved by previous repair. Car has now been with dealer for 4+ days figuring out this issue. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

After driving my normal route, I stopped at a red light, before light went green, the car shut off. No lights on the dash, completely blank. The car was in drive, and foot was on the brake. There was no brake lights, flashers would not operator, the horn did not work and I could not move the car. The car was dead. After a few minutes stranded the car decided to start again. This has happened no less than 6x since I have owned this vehicle in similar situations. I have taken it to the kia dealership where I purchased it and it has been inspected and kept for days multiple times with the result always being "nothing is wrong".

I turned on the car and put the car in reverse and when I let the brake go the car went forward instead of going backward. It does not do this everytime. It just happened once or twice. I believe this is related to another problem I have with the car which is… when I press the start button it sometimes sputters and has a hard time turning on. Lights come on at times. Warning lights come on when the problem is happening but that’s all. I’ve taken the car to kia and they cannot find the problem since lights and issue is not showing when I go there.

When I open the tailgate using any of the three methods (key, button on tailgate, or button inside cabin), the gate opens, then immediately beeps three times and closes. This has happened about 10 times with me *underneath the tailgate* including one time with my one year old son in my arms. In each of these instances I was able to throw my hand up and stop the gate from closing, but had to manually push it back to the fully open position in order to do this. If I had not been able to do so, or if someone less strong than myself were put in this position, the gate certainly would have struck them and caused bodily harm. The first time I brought this up with my dealership, I got a very passive response, not indicating any sense of urgency or even desire to fix the issue. A better quality dealership would have perhaps been much more concerned about such a safety defect and offered to check it out immediately. But it was happening so infrequently at that point that I chose not to have it addressed. Now that it's happening much more often, I brought the car back to be checked out. I showed them two videos of the defect occurring, including with my body under the tailgate. They reproduced the defect, but had to open a "tech ticket" or something with kia, and so far, over 48 hours later, they have not received a response as to how to proceed. The dealer allowed me to take the car back until they receive direction on what to do (again, a bit surprising that they would let me do that, with such a safety defect). I have uploaded four screenshots of the video that shows the tailgate closing while I was underneath it. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? --> not that I am aware of. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? --> no.

Issue with kia Sportage 2023 hybrid (gas and electric) battery shut off. The battery turned off. I was driving on the fwy and the car started to drive rough so I exited off the fwy and barely made it over the intersection and the car shut off. (as the car was shutting off I opened my door) all other doors were locked and could not open. (had I not opened my car door I would have been locked in/out of my car) the emergency lights would not turn on. None of the electrical buttons work. I called a tow truck to come get me 20+ min in arizona is a lifetime in the heat. (luckily my kids were not in the vehicle). My car could have stopped in the middle of the fwy and things could have really gotten ugly. My car is currently in the kia dealership parking lot (where the tow truck dropped it off 2+ weeks ago). The dealer got me into a rental but my vehicle won't get a battery till 2 + months. Even if it gets a new battery it doesn't solve the problem kia knows these batteries have these issues yet they are still selling the vehicles and not letting the consumer know that they might have a battery issue. Battery cost ($11,000+ after the warranty is over) I would have never bought this car if I knew this was a potential issue. Complete driving hazard. There was a warning light that turned on seconds before my car shut off, "check hybrid system stop safely" then it shut off. A couple of times before this all the lights on the dash turned on for a few minutes then shut off. I have a couple of friends with the same car bought around the same time and they have the same issue and are in rental cars too. The dealer is not willing to assist or come up with a deal so we break even (they are trying to sell us another vehicle at more $$ a month. Had we gotten a good vehicle we would not be trying to trade in the car for another one.

Good morning over the last 6 months or more the computer panel that controls the back up cameras heat radio maps and other things have gone off and on while driving then cuts back on. Today was the last straw the monitor was out the whole time I was driving to work. I have video of this happening OH and this happens in both our 2023 kia and anytime I go to dealer they cant seem to get to do the same things for them.

While driving my kia Sportage 2023 w/ just 9000 miles brand new car the entire display screen went black. The car continued at the same speed, but I was unable to see any navigation such us my speed, signaling, etc. I was unable to pull over due to my location in the highway. It was terrifying. Within 10 seconds the screen came back to normal. As of right now kia is refusing to examine the issue in my car until I provide them with evidence of the problem. Therefore, I need to continue to drive it until I can record it in a video (while driving) and present it to them. My car as of right now is not recalled. Please help address this issue with these models and the lack of responsibility kia is taking by risking drivers to get on accidents due to this issue. Thank you 1.

The awd/4wd is failing in multiple 2023 Sportages. I have a 2023 Sportage x-pro that was purchased 12/30/2022. Current mileage is 7,731. The viscous coupling is faulty/failing in these vehicles. The sensor does come on in the car. The dealer has deemed the car “unsafe to drive”. The vehicle has been at the dealership since 8/29/2023. Currently the car has been dispatched to 4 different kia master technicians for diagnosis, but no repairs have been done and no additional communication from the dealer service department. I spoke to kia consumer services and they didn’t care one bit.

While driving, the car came to an abrupt stop. Lights and alarms flashed stating "do not drive" "hybrid system malfunction". Car could not be driven. Had I been on the highway, which I just exited, I could have been dead with how suddenly the car stopped without prior warning. The warning came when the car was shutting down. It has now been at the dealership for 3 weeks and they are unable to pinpoint the problem. Apparently they are selling hybrids with no one to work on them. Smh.

Car shuts off error says check hybrid system.

While on a 65 mph enforced highway, cruise control was turned on via the button on the steering wheel. The digital cruise control set itself at 110 mph and the vehicle began to accelerate to match the speed. Aside from turning on the cruise control, no other buttons on the steering wheel were pushed. The car’s cruise control feature had previously been set at 70 mph to match current conditions and was used regularly throughout the length of the trip. While the car continued to accelerate on its own to match the self-set speed, we tried to decrease the speed both by trying to set it at the current speed, and by holding the dial down to decrease the speed manually. The car did not reflect any changes in speed and a message popped up saying “cruise control conditions not met” and it tried to disengage cruise control and acceleration. Driver had to manually turn off the cruise control function. Upon additional attempts to use cruise control and set speed to match current driving conditions, the same issue occurred. A recording of the incident was taken to be able to show proof that the car’s digital functions are to blame. Had the cruise control function not been able to be manually disengaged, the car would have continued to accelerate on its own to dangerous speeds. Dealer has been unable to replicate issue and has escalated incident to kia’s corporate office.

The screen flashes will completely go blank.

The touch-screen display, sometimes called the infotainment center, is blank and does not turn on. This prevents me from using any of the cars cameras to monitor for collision purposes. Dealership has no idea what the problem is.

God morning for the past several months my computer screen flickers back and forth while driving. Cuts off then on off then on. We have tried to get the dealership to see the problem but while with them it doesnt happen until afterwards. Need some help before we take the next steps with kia.

Low oil indicator light came on at 15k miles. Tried to lock doors with key fob but could not. Had to open doors using key after popping off door handle. Put key in ignition but when turning car off and taking key out of ignition vehicle kept running and did not turn off for 15 minutes. Finally turned off on its own. Had vehicle towed by kia to kia of groton CT.

As I was driving my 2023 kia Sportage sx prestige at 70+mph on highwy, suddenly "hybrid system failure" appeared on the dash along with evey other lights you can think of. I lost power and steering and only by the grace of god was able to safely get to the side of the road and stop. Car was at kia dealership for 4 weeks and I was told it only needed a software upgrade and nothing was wrong with the car!! this is very dangerous and could get someone in major car accident.

This is a heads up, not an incident report. On this vehicle there is a push button starter on the center console. Page 6-11 of the owner’s manual has a warning that reads, “never press the engine start/stop button while the vehicle is in motion. This would result in loss of directional control and braking function, which could cause an accident. ” I feel this is a hazard with an easy fix: disable the start button if the vehicle is in motion. A toddler could reach over and press the button for fun. A person could drop an object on it accidentally. I’m sure there are other scenarios where that button gets pushed inadvertently. Thank you.

The contact owns a 2023 kia Sportage. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 mph, the forward collision avoidance, lane assist, seat belt, and several other warning lights illuminated. The contact had taken the vehicle to a local dealer who diagnosed the vehicle but was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent but had reoccurred. Additionally, the contact stated that he was unable to start the vehicle and had contacted the manufacturer who advised the contact to have the vehicle towed to another dealer. The contact stated that he recharged the battery prior to the vehicle being towed and the tow truck driver was able to start the vehicle. The second dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure was a onetime failure and had not reoccurred. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 3,414.

On March 1, 2023, approximately 5 days after purchasing the vehicle, when turning the vehicle on at approximately 8:00 pm, the screen stated that "a possible condition with your hybrid control unit/low DC-DC converter has been detected. A full system check is recommended to be done soon. Please contact your local dealership to schedule an appointment. " an appointment was scheduled from the screen. The car was then driven on the freeway. Several minutes later, all systems on the vehicle died. The vehicle lost all engine power, power steering, power brakes, lights, even the doors which were locked could not be unlocked. The vehicle was rolling slowly forward and was moved into a gore point.

I had a number of systems suddenly cut out on me. The dealership thinks it was a fuse or fuses that went bad. They affected the car's following systems: * primary instrument cluster (left side) * forward collision avoidance-assist w/car, pedestrian and cyclist detection * advanced collision avoidance (auto-breaking) * lane following assist * lane keeping assist * driver attention warning w/ leading vehicle departure alert * blind-spot collision-avoidance assist (in mirrors) * door unlock warning (I received several warnings that my doors were unlocked even when they were locked) * entrance/exit chime * blinker sound * compass * internal navigation (gps worked but because the compass was broken, the mapping system did not know which way my car was traveling. ) * fuel efficiency was incorrect. I never got above 31 miles to the gallon.

Display screens will periodically reboot while driving. Left screen containing vehicle speed and information will come back with limited functionality after a minute or two. All safety features and cruise control as well as right media screen will not be operational till you pull over and reset them. Cruise control will turn off while driving also resulting in a possible rear collision in busy traffic. Problem is intermittent and unable to be diagnosed by kia still awaiting resolution. Primarily happens on longer trips greater than 50 miles. Have been told by other dealers besides my primary dealer that this is a known issue that there is no resolution for by kia.

The battery dead without unannounced. I turn the vehicle off and later did not turn it on. I was on a cold night. The vehicle was stopped and turned off when I tried to turn it on again; did not turn it on.

A few months after I got the car all of the warning lights randomly came on and I had to turn jt off and on and they went away. Since then around Nov 22 it has happened about 25 times or more and is happening more frequently lately. I called kia and they said they hadn't heard anything yet bc of it being so new. Also the brake assist for collison is very dangerous. You can be a car length and more away and it will take the brake out from my foot and slam on the brakes and about throw me through the windshield with my seat belt on. This has happened too many times and has hurt my chest. I turned it off and it has still done it. Another thing, the lane assistance tries to take the wheel away from you and will jerk the car one way or the other which is scary. Please look into these!!.

One week after buying the brand new 2023 kia Sportage, 6 warning signs popped up on the screen. They were to "check the forward collision system," "check the bind spot system," and 4 more of the safety features. In addition, the check engine light turning on, other warning signs were also highlighted in orange. Finally, when trying to move the car, I was not able to get the gear out of park. This happened multiple times over 12 hours.

This vehicle is equipped with an extended dual-screen display. Purchased in June 2023, two weeks after purchase, the right half of the display screen keeps on and off. This can be very distracting while driving, especially at night. The kia car dealership "Buick GMC kia greenbrier" has been informed of the defect and has performed a diagnostic. They stated the entire assembly will have to be replaced.

The car dies after parking for less than an hour, I have to press the battery reset button every time I get into it which also sets the alarm off probably annoying all my neighbors. There’s no accessories plugged in. The dealer is charging me $270 dollars to do a bms update but I have seen recalls for this online that say it should be covered for free.