10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 4 / 4
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 4 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 23,087 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.
driving @ nite on[XXX] [XXX] doing 70mph on cruise control all of a sudden my 2016 kia sorento loss power! then the instrument cluster lit up like a x-mas tree. check oil, check engine, and everything else in between was blinking on and off. very lucky there was an exit ramp up ahead and no vehicles on the right lane. safely got off the freeway and parked on the side of the road. very fortunate it was late nite because the area is usually busy during the day and vehicles usually be going 10 to 20+ above the 70 speed limit and my whole family was with. we waited about 10 min. to see if the vehicle would start back- up but no luck. called for a tow truck and a family friend came and pick up the wife and kids. kia service guy @ the dealership says the engine ceased and is waiting to here from kia hq. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
- Milwaukee , WI, USA
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Sorento. The contact stated while attempting to leave the residence, the vehicle hesitated and shifted out of gear independently. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V612000 (Power Train). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 15,000.
- Terrebonne, OR, USA
I purchased a used 2016 Kia Sorento during the used vehicle rise in pricing back in 2021. I owned a 2012 Hyundai sonata (which also required an engine replacement), but I my grandmother's car died, and I needed a better vehicle for a new job. June 16th I was driving with my daughter at around 9am and suddenly the vehicle started to shake and loss of power with the radio system beeping all dash lights flashing "engine system component" and check engine light remained on. (very similar to how my sonata died before engine replacement). I pulled over got the vehicle towed to my house due to it being a weekend and unable to reach a shop. I have a code reader, which I read the codes. Upon getting it to the dealer they said it was the Cam Shaft Phaser and new spark plugs, costing about $4800. As a single mother and one income I need a vehicle to survive (and still owing over $6,000) and pay my bills. Now here I am September 15, and I get an "engine system component" and check engine light back on. Now I have read so many similar issues on Kia blogs and nothing is being done to fix these issue and I am stuck with a vehicle that I still owe money on and overpaid because of COVID, and continues to break down. I'm disgusted with Kia as they could care less.
- Concord, NH, USA
My SUV is having all of the problems associated with a bad engine. This started a week ago and on Thursday, [XXX] my SUV completely stopped running and I had to get it towed to my residence. I had an ASE certified mechanic to check it out and he said your engine is BAD. I have had all of my required oil changes as well as servicing as recommended. I got this SUV in 2020. It has a little over 100,000 miles. I cannot afford a engine repair at this time. Please advice. Thank you [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
- Darlington, SC, USA
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that when the vehicle was started, the vehicle failed to shift into an intended gear, and was stuck in park(P). The contact placed a screwdriver in the shifter to manually shift into the intended gear to drive the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 81,000.
- Mountain View, CA, USA
The problem started after a quick stop at a convenient store on the way to work. After starting the engine the vehicle would not shift from park. I was able to bypass this after a quick Internet search by removing a small cover near the stick shut and a small straw to bypass the shift control. I've had the car twice at the mechanics without a diagnosis as to a possible cause and was able to have the mechanic permanently disabled the shift lock but was warned the vehicle could be shifted to drive or neutral at any time and moved with a key. About a month later I found myself without headlights and shortly after this without wiper controls. Another visit to my mechanic would this time show the problems, shift lock, headlights and wipers were all from a faulty PCM. My mechanic has shipped my PCM out twice for repair but both time only caused the replacement part to blow. It's not suggested they use the dealer to further repair the problem. I've been 3 weeks without my vehicle and it's another week before the earliest availability from my local dealer. I'm only hoping now it's not a long backorder to gets the parts necessary to fix my vehicle. I have also read this has been a common problem and costly repair with other 2016 Kia Sorento owners.
- East Hartford, CT, USA
The button on the gear shift will not push in to move the shifter out of park.
- Warner Robins , GA, USA
Car will not shift, I have to manually release it. It just started happening very randomly. I constantly have to release it with a screw driver.
- Simpsonville, SC, USA
The transmission shift lever locked up. The car could not be started. It is available for inspection. This caused the owner not to be able to start the vehicle and be stranded in a parking lot, unable to drive home. A tow truck was called and the vehicle is currently at a service station, where it was inspected and the problem was diagnosed. As a result, the owner has rented a car, due to a three business day wait period for the replacement part. There were no warning lights or indications prior to the problem! This event has caused the owner much undo stress, and over $1200 in expenses. Also, because the owners live out of state, and needed to head back home (NY), they now have to travel back again to the State of MASS in order to pick up their vehicle. This constituted a minimum of a one week car rental. The closest dealership is over an hour away from where the vehicle broke down and is very costly to have it towed there.
- Canandaigua, NY, USA
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Sorento. The contact stated while attempting to start the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start, prompting her to contact AAA for roadside assistance. Later, the AAA technician made the contact aware that the gear shifter had failed to engage. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not towed to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V612000 (Power Train) but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline for assistance. The failure mileage was unknown.
- East Syracuse, NY, USA
Gear shift will not shift into Park and car will roll where parked depending on the incline. It also will not start unless I use the shifter bypass with a small screwdriver to shift it into neutral to start and then shift into reverse or drive.
- Montoursville, PA, USA
We were driving on the [XXX] on [XXX] with a speed of around 70 miles per hour. We started to see a small amount of white smoke coming from under the hood and at the same time the truck started to slow down by itself unexpectedly and then started to jerk back and forth. No indicators showed up on the dashboard. The speed reduced quickly and hitting the gas pedal did nothing to accelerate our speed. The white smoke started to increase and it became difficult to see. We then saw the temperature gauge go all the way up to hot out of nowhere. There were vehicles all around us and the passengers in the car started to yell to try to get to the shoulder. We had to maneuver very quickly through traffic with the car continuing to jerk at a very slow speed, which was very scary and dangerous. We were finally able to slowly get over to the shoulder. We turned off the truck. When we opened the hood, white smoke was everywhere coming from the engine and the coolant in the plastic receptacle was bubbling. The coolant looked like it was about to explode and the driver got burned trying to remove the cap. There was significant heat coming from the engine. The coolant then drained out of the receptacle. When we tried to start the truck again it would not start. We spend hours trying to get a tow to a shop in NJ miles from where we live in NY. Several days later, the mechanic in NJ took a look at the car and he reported this week that the head gasket is blown and that we need a new engine. We plan to tow the truck back to NY to KIA where we have the car serviced normally to have it looked at. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
- Oakland Gardens, NY, USA
My car was driving fine and then on Saturday we went to our daughters birthday party and the car started making noises and you could see white smoke coming out the back of the car. We were getting off the highway and thankfully we pulled over. We saw engine oil just spilling out. There were no warning lights beforehand. We took it to a shop and they said the oil burned a hole through the engine. I am very upset as I am still paying on the car and my only option would be to pay 5000 to have it repaired or they repossess my vehicle.
- New Britain, CT, USA
The 2016 Kia Sorento engine apparently has excessive oil usage leading to engine failure while driving on highway. Dealers are aware of the problem but Kia is not addressing the issue. Took the car in 3 times for Diagnostic check with no indication of any fault codes to address issue specifically. Now engine has failed despite our efforts to get ahead of the problem, and provide regular maintenance to our vehicle. Apparently dealers are well aware of the issue and aren't owning to it because Kia isn't supporting it.
- Saint Charles, MO, USA
On 12/15/23 my wife was driving her father to a dental appointment and when trying to pass a slower moving vehicle on a rural stretch of our highway system. The car died after she accelerated to pass the slower vehicle. She was in the oncoming lane of traffic when she lost engine power, power steering, power brakes and electronics. The car she was passing slowed down to allow her to get over, as a semi truck had now appeared on the horizon. Without any power, she could not complete the pass and had to force the car back into the correct lane where the car came to a stop partially in the roadway. Two vehicles behind her witnessed the issue and could tell she was having vehicle problems and helped push her, her dad, and the car to the side of the road into an orchard for safety. There were no warning symptoms, no loud sounds, nothing, just the control panel flashing intermediately after the car died. The car was towed to a local shop that thought it was possibly an electrical issue and replaced the battery (as that somehow died during the incident) but they soon identified the motor had seized and we should have it taken to a Kia dealership for a known issue with the 2.4L engines. The Kia dealership advised that a "Product Improvement Campaign", not a Safety Recall, had not been performed on the vehicle and that Kia had a class action lawsuit for this exact issue. Kia claims that postal notifications were sent to the previous owner, but had our information on file and registered as an owner through the Kia Owner web portal. Kia is refusing to cover the repair costs because the original owner never had the work completed, and as a second owner, we were never notified of the Knock Sensor Software Update that needed to ensure the car would go into limp mode before a total engine seizure. We never took the Kia to an actual dealer, as we had all maintenance done at various oil change locations, and an independent auto repair shop do the milestone services as recommended.
- Willows, CA, USA
My vehicle has 111k miles on it and is burning so much oil I have to spend 8 thousand dollars to replace the motor. This doesn-??t seem like it should be burning this much oil. Now the motor has a horrible knock on the inside of the motor. Garage says the whole motor has to be replaced.
- Coeburn , VA, USA
Car when into a low power mode, could not keep it running, took 5 times to go thru a very busy intersection and motor was making a knocking noise, smells like burnt oil-motor, misses out..The car was towed into a KIA dealership,3 weeks later they said it was fixed, drove off and didn-??t even make it a mile until it started knocking and having the same smell like burnt motor, went into a reduce power.now it-??s been 3 more weeks or more and still nothing is getting resolved. Yes the dealership knows about this issue. Yes warning messages came on when it went into low power mode. This is motor number two as the motor was replaced less than 12 months ago.
- Moore, OK, USA
17-year-old daughter driving 65 mph down the highway when engine just gave out. Loss drive power but was able to make it to the side of highway, once stopped coolant find blowing out. There was no overheating warning or light luminated on dash. Once towed to shop and inspected told head gasket blown out dur to loose head bolts & possible head crack due to lost coolant.
- Felicity, OH, USA
I was unable to to get my gear out of park. I took to Kia immediately to inspect this issue. My safety is at risk if a collision occurs because I can-??t change gears or if I have my children in the car and I get stuck in a remote location. The problem is currently being inspected by a Kia dealership & no one else has been notified just yet. I was given no warning or message before this began on Nov. 7, 2023. After a thorough internet search it seems there are several KIA owners that have experienced the same problem.
- Ozark, MO, USA
- Spencer, NY, USA