Body Problems of Kia Motor Sportage - part 1

Top clear coat started peeling on handles, mirrors and above the trunk.

See all problems of the 2020 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

My 2017 Sportage is burnish copper. I've seen at least 2 other cars (same color) with discoloring paint. I've tried reporting this to kia dealer to no avail. This is a defeat in paint which is now fading in certain areas of my car and I don't think I should have to pay to have it repainted. This should be a recall issue.

See all problems of the 2017 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

I need a recall on the paint for the 2017 Sportage burnished copper kia. I've seen many others this color with the same paint fading issue. I contacted kia and was basically told warranty expired.

There are several spots on the front grill, around lights, bumper and other front end pieces that have bubbling, flaking, peeling chrome and paint. There are at least 20 paint chips all the way to the fenders in the front. This vehicle does not travel on gravel roads.

See all problems of the 2023 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

The top molding on both the right and left side of the vehicle have blown off. Kia repairs one side by gluing it back into place but we are still waiting for the other side to be repaired. This is the same issue the kia Sportage ,2023-2024, reported and was filed for recall. I believe this is an ongoing issue with the 2025 model kia Sportage and should be added to the recall list.

On may 19, 2025 I was driving down the highway at approximately 70mph and experienced a loud explosion sound and my panoramic sunroof exploded. I did have the sunshade closed so I was not hit with any debris. I did swerve and narrowly avoided an accident. There were no warnings before this happened. I was not passing under any bridges or immediately behind any vehicles (there were vehicles to the side and behind me). I took the automobile to the kia dealership and they filed a claim with kia consumer affairs and a representative came out and told them they needed to file with kia tech line. They did that weeks ago, to no response. The dealership actually called me today and told me to try to contact kia consumer affairs ourselves to see if they would respond to us. I did see that there have been reports of this previously and class-action lawsuits for this issue. The kia dealership guy said they had a customer that this had also happened to and when we went to get a rental car enterprise told us that they also had a customer with a kia in the last two weeks that had the same thing happen to them. My kia is still at the dealership and is available for inspection as it has not been repaired yet because they were waiting for kia.

My sunroof shattered without anything hitting it.

See all problems of the 2024 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

Trim parts came off roof traveling on highway.

The glass panel placed between the windshield and the panoramic sunroof blew out with no external forces. Looking at other cases from online, this appears to be a problem dating back to the 2019 model. Attached are photos from the date of incident (12/31/2024) from 1/3/2025 and 1/17/2025.

Sunroof explosion.

Hood latch seccondary safety latch did not catch hood and hood flew up causing inability to see and luckily only damage the car itself. This is a dangerous problem with kia and should be investigated for the safety catch becoming corroded and sticky. Its design is defective and it should be recalled and reworked so that it can not become corroded and sieze preventing safe operation in the event the primary latch comes unclipped while driving down the road at speed if a person were to accidentally pull the hood release in motion or it it were so fail to hold adequately.

See all problems of the 2015 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

While driving down highway, roof molding came loose and started to bang against the roof by flopping.

Clear coat began peeling from side mirrors about a year ago. It is now peeling aggressively on the rear liftgate cover/spoiler. This seems common and is very unsightly. Only impacts the plastic parts.

The back passenger door behind the driver's seat will not open from the outside or the inside. The driver's door handle (outside) must be pulled several times before the door will open. I had the handle replaced (driver's door) but now must pull 3 times before opening. Vehicle is available for inspection at phil long kia colorado springs there was not an accident before this started.

The front panel of the sunroof spontaneously exploded as I was driving down the interstate. There were no vehicles in front of me, and clear skies above me. No rock or debris hit my vehicle to cause this. Had my interior sunroof cover not been closed, glass shards would have fallen onto my baby in the car seat, and myself in the front seat! not to mention the horrible gun shot/bomb like noise that was so disorienting while driving. There were no warnings or signs that this would happen. Terrifying! thank goodness the cover was closed and there were no vehicles near me!.

My sunroof glass exploded and manufacturer refuses to warranty.

I was driving to work recently on a smooth road. I was not near overpasses or other surroundings that would cause debris. Suddenly out of nowhere my glass sunroof spontaneously shattered, sounding like a gunshot went off. The dealer said this was from a rock but there is no way this could have occurred given the circumstance I was in or the position of the “point of impact” they believe caused the shatter. Both the dealer and kia corporate have denied my claim to cover the cost of their faulty part. Given the many other reports of people going through similar incidents this must stop. The manufacturers need to be held accountable for this huge safety issue. It’s truly unbelievable that corporations treat consumers this way and get away with it. There is no evidence they were willing to provide me with what a “non-debris” impact would look like to compare cases, furthering my belief that they know this is a design flaw on their vehicles to save a buck. It’s seriously their word against mine.

The rear passenger door will not open. This is a safety concern should we need to exit the vehicle rapidly in an accident. Other kia Sportage vehicles are on the recall, but for some reason, my VIN model is not on the list for recall.

The sunroof exploded all of the sudden. I was driving on the I-675 highway toward wright-patt air force base and the sunroof exploded, barely maintained vehicle control. The shattered glass hit my head and my child legs. Some glass sand enter my eye. I manage to pulled over and check my car interior for any strange/outside object but there was no external object, nothing. Called the police, they also inspect the vehicle and found nothing. I’m very concerned about this, could cost our lives. Drop the car at the dealership and they said that definitively was a manufacturing defect.

My daughter and I were driving home from my brother's house, when we stopped by mcdonald's to grab food, we noticed our car smoking really bad. I had her pull away from the drive-thru and into the empty parking lot. We got out just seconds before the car burst into flames from underneath the hood of the car.

The driver side door has issues with opening from outside.

See all problems of the 2014 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

On August 22, 2023, without warning the panoramic sunroof of our 2020 kia Sportage exploded. There was a loud bang, and glass flew into and out of the vehicle. Most of the glass was expelled from the vehicle upon the sunroof exploding. The edges of the glass that remained point upward, indicating an outward force. Thankfully, the cloth sunscreen on the underside of the roof was closed and kept the remaining debris from falling further into the vehicle. My husband and I were in the front of the vehicle looking out the windshield at the time of the incident and did not see any object come in contact with the roof that could have reasonably caused such a large explosion. Our concerns are twofold. First, the sunroof exploded. It would seem that the sunroof should be made of the same type of laminated tempered glass as a windscreen, which does not shatter - even if the glass is cracked by some object. Again, we did not see any external force impact the sunroof such that it should have completely shattered. Second, the glass shards that were left behind were relatively large pieces (1"x2" to 1"x3"). Had the sunscreen not been closed, my husband and I could have sustained serious bodily injury. Additionally, the shock and noise associated with the explosion significantly impacted safe driving, which was along a major interstate with moderate traffic.

My 2020 kia Sportage was stolen after the recall where kia indicated the recall would detect that a key was not inserted and would shut down car. This did not work because my car was stolen after the recall!!! causing extreme duress and fincial distress. This recall was just a smoke screen to let everyone think it was fixed and than tack a couple security stuff on the windows. When is enough is enough and the NHTSA finally makes kia recall there cars and install an imobilizer as per NHTSA code.

Driving down interstate, mid-morning, and my front sunroof imploded. Very loud, like a bomb or gunshot. Shattered glass everywhere, all over myself and my car. I jerked, almost hitting a vehicle to my left. Correcting, and almost got hit by an 18 wheeler. Made it over, got off interstate, was disoriented, ran a stop sign I think. Was the absolute worst sound.

See all problems of the 2018 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

The tempered glass panel between the windshield and panaormic sunroof spontaneously shattered. We saw and heard nothing hit the vehicle when driving. We came out one morning, and the glass piece was shattered with missing glass. There are several complaints online of kia sunroofs and this particular glass panel spontaneously shattering. If nothing is done, we believe someone could get injured.

My 2018 kia Sportage got stolen and never received a letter from kia to prevent this from happening knowingly kias of this year and model were being stolen and mine got stolen March 23, 2023 is there any help for me ?.

I am concerned with the liftgate/trunk panel latching/operation. On our liftgate/trunk it falls sometimes and comes down on you while you are still in the way. My wife was slightly injured on her head, when it malfunctioned, and she was in the way when it came down. Several times it just started coming down on me while I was unloading items from the cargo hold. Sometimes the lift cargo door will just open on its own and you go outside and see it, or a neighbor will see it and come let us know.

I bought my car July 27,2022 from rt 119 auto sales and service. It came with a drive train warrenty. Nothing was said to me of a problem until I took it to get inspected then I found out my frame is rotted out on both sides.

See all problems of the 2008 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

Rear doors are randomly not able to be opened from outside or inside door handles. Multiple clicks of drivers door unlock / lock will sometimes (30-50 clicks) will allow the door to open from the inside handle. Once opened from the inside door handle the outside handle will work until the door is relocked. The locking mechanism clicks ( sounds like other doors ) removal of the door panel did not reveal any clips broken or cables disconnected. It appears the lock solenoid is not traveling far enough. The left rear door is out least used door. If this happens to the right side rear door, passengers would be stuck inside as the door won’t open from the inside or outside. This could ( would ) create an extreme safety hazard. We are reluctant to use the vehicle with more than 2 people due to the potential of trapping someone as one door already failed.

The frame has rusted out on this vehicle. The passenger side frame above the rear axle is completely rusted out. I can put my thumb through the rear frame on the driver's side. The exhaust system on this vehicle is still intact - ironic that the frame would rust out before the exhaust system.

See all problems of the 2009 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

The passenger door behind the driver seat suddenly would not open from either inside or outside the vehicle. The faulty lock makes it difficult to reach a child or pet in that seat quickly, as we have to go around the car to get to them through the other passenger door. Therefore, we don't consider the seat behind the driver safe, given the extra time needed to unlatch the seat belt and retrieve the passenger sitting there.

Paint is bubbling, chipping and peeling in mirrors, door handles and rear spoiler.

See all problems of the 2019 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

On July 30, 2022 I took my car to greenway kia east orlando due to two traction warning lights that were on. After weeks and months of kia not knowing what was wrong with the car I was finally told that it was an electrical harness and that my warranty company was non responsive. I decided to call my warranty company and after back and forth they said they would not approve what kia wanted to do because they needed to fix the initial issue which I believe to be the same. The service manager from kia, gina carpio then told me there was nothing else they could do, so I asked them on December 14th to put my car back together the way that on dropped it off on July 30th so that I can pick it up and take somewhere else. A couple of months prior to this I asked them to do the same, since they couldn’t figure out what was wrong and their response at the time was that they couldn’t release the car to me because it was not safe to drive. Fast forward to December 16, 2022 when I picked up the car after almost five months I noticed that nothing on the console was working, so no ac, heat, defrost, radio, backup camera etc. I also noticed that the drivers side door would not open with the key fob or my hand and it looks like someone try to pry it open. When I told all of this to the service manager, gina carpio she didn’t know why anything wasn’t working so she called a tech and also told me she would order the part of my door that was prayed in, even though that isn’t the only issue with the door. So almost five months later I have a car that is in worse condition. I can’t see when it rains or is cold outside and I have to go in through the passenger side to unlock the drivers side door so I can get in.

See all problems of the 2016 Kia Motor Sportage 🔎.

White pearl paint chipping off on front bumper and hood.

The clear coat on my 2018 kia Sportage has started to peel on side mirrors and roof.