2.2

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
70,891 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2004 Kia Sorento:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

problem #6

Oct 022019

Sorento

  • 133,346 miles
I was driving when I heard a clunking noise, and my truck shifted. So I pulled over to see the my rear lower arm fell from subframe corrsion due to heavy salt use here in wi. I had to get car towed home.

- Milwaukee, WI, USA

problem #5

Mar 242018

Sorento

  • miles
It drives fine then all of a sudden foot same position on gas petal it accelerates.

- Lehigh Acres, FL, USA

problem #4

Aug 012018

Sorento

  • 71,000 miles
Unintended acceleration. RPM would range from 1000 to as high as 2000 RPM without warning. Iac valve was replaced and did not resolve the problem. Final diagnosis was cruise control randomly operating. Disconnected cruise cable at the throttle body. Problem ceased. Green light on cruise switch never indicated it was operating. Vehicle was operating as well as stopped at lights when this occurred.

- Spanish Fork, UT, USA

problem #3

Feb 072015

Sorento 4WD 6-cyl

  • 109,000 miles
Driving down the road and all of a sudden I have no power and can not go over 25 mph. How safe is that on the highway, especially as I am driving with my kids!!!?? this has happened twice. The 1st time, it self corrected when I went to take it to the dealer to look at. This time, it has not. The lights constantly go off and on at any moments notice (real safe while driving at night)- and remain off for great lengths of time. I have had to replace the fuse that controls the fan in the engine twice already. I would shut the car off and the fan would not turn off unless I popped the hood and pulled the fuse myself and pocketed it until it was time to drive again. Not to mention major rust issues on the body of the vehicle. The cosmetic I can deal with, the losing power while on the highway I cannot. It is just a matter of time until someone is very seriously injured, or killed. The smell of exhaust comes thorugh the vents, even with normal scheduled maintenance. This car is full of dangers and I am shocked there are not recalls of these issues. In particular, the losing power while driving, and the lights turning on and off for no reason. Try googling any of this and you will be amazed how many people are dealing with the same issues. Unbelievable that these complaints have not been taken into serious consideration.

- Ypsilanti , MI, USA

problem #2

Aug 092013

Sorento

  • 112,000 miles
We purchased our Sorento used (approx 65K miles)about 3 years ago. Since then, we've had to replace the gas tank ($1500) among other things. This year has been absurd: Had to replace the radiator, water pump, computer system (2 months, $4700), brakes ($750) and 2 batteries. 2-3 months ago, we noticed a clunking/chunking sound that grew steadily worse. It sounded as if the 4WD was engaging and disengaging every 3 seconds and felt very unsafe at high speeds. I took it to Kia of cobb county and was just given a quote Friday for a new transfer case, drive shaft, "rear end chunk" (all the service rep could tell me) and 4 new tires. Quote for this work ($9767). The transfer case alone was around $5700. This vehicle now has 112K miles and is less than 10 years old. The blue book value is (was) around $5-6000 and we're told it'll take $10,000 to fix it? I called Kia's corporate office to ask if this was to be expected at Kia. I was told that our vehicle was not under warranty. I said, " I'm just asking if there's anyone at Kia headquarters who believes in their product and wants to protect the Kia name and you just keep apologizing." The rep responded, "I'm sorry, sir." We've found multiple complaints online from Kia owners reporting similar issues (chunking, transfer case, etc). When does this become.a recall issue" a safety issue"

- Marietta, GA, USA

problem #1

Jun 032004

Sorento 4-cyl

  • Automatic transmission
  • miles
Speedometer reads fast. According to Kia at 60 mph it is in tolarence plus or minus 7-8 mph.

- Sacramento, CA, USA