10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
4 / 6
Injuries / Deaths:
4 / 0
Average Mileage:
38,023 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.

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problem #12

Jul 222020

Soul

  • miles
When driving this Vehicle my daughter was in a single car acciedent. The engine combusted. The piston rod went into engine. When we took it to the auto shop this is what they told us casued the engine to malfunction and my daughter run off the road. She is very luck she has not been hurt more than she has. We have tried to contact KIA. First we called Royal KIa in Tuscon then Jim Clickk Kia in Tucson. They told me it did not matter that the vehicke had a recalll. We would be financially responsable for fixing it. They would not even alow me to bring it in, THey asked us to csll Kia. Kia was no help. They said that if the car was over 150,000 miles they would not fix a recall. My daughter was in an acciedent due to malfuntion! At this point I did reach out to another dealership in Mesa AZ. If they can not help we need to take legal action. The exact same thing that the engine had a recall on is what happemed to our kia, No one will anwser or fix a recall.

- Thatcher, AZ, USA

problem #11

Nov 072020

Soul

  • 70,000 miles
I was driving home on the highway from dinner with my fiance and son who's 10 years old doing about 65. The engine felt like it was stuttering shaking and I looked at my dash board and all my lights were blinking. I pulled off the highway and started to smell something burning. I got out and looked under the hood and it was on fire. I took our sodas from the car from the restaurant to try N put it out but it didn't help so I told both my fiance and son to get out of the car and we got away from it so we didn't get injured and all we could do is stand there and watch it burn.

- Akron, OH, USA

problem #10

May 152020

Soul 4-cyl

  • 75,000 miles
I was driving home on the highway at full speed (65 mph) when all of a sudden my 2015 Kia Soul + stalled and the check engine light started to flash and then smoke started pouring out.... I lost all power but made it to the break down lane and turned the car off. The car started to fill up with smoke and I saw flames coming out from under the hood so I tried to get as much stuff out of my car as I could before the flames got too big and before I knew it the whole car was fully engulfed by fire.

- Fredericksburg, VA, USA

problem #9

Dec 222019

Soul

  • 97,000 miles
I'm aware of your investigation into the 2015 Kia Soul. Mine caught fire yesterday morning on I75 in fl. I would like to offer it to your organization for investigation. It is located: Cricket's 13601 us hwy 41 springhill fl 34610 thank-you I will help in anyway possible to get this problem solved. Contact me anytime. I was driving in the middle lane when it hesitated like it wasn't getting good gas flow and within a mile it made a hiss and just got heavy. Luckily there was no traffic, I got safely of the road and within 10 min it was gone.

- Palm Harbor, FL, USA

problem #8

Nov 212019

Soul

  • 89,000 miles
I was driving my car late at night heading home from a concert when smoke started coming from the hood. I was only going about 25mph and approaching a stop sign. I immediately stopped the vehicle and no sooner than. I could get my door open, it burst into flames. I had only been driving the car about 5 minutes when this happened.

- Covington, LA, USA

problem #7

Nov 192018

Soul

  • 53,500 miles
On 11/19/18 our 2015 Kia Soul was parked in driveway at approx 4:30 pm after arriving home from work, 4 hours later in evening while watching tv at approx 8:33pm we heard a loud pop outside, we both ran to front door to see the Kia Soul front end ingulfed in flames rising so high hitting roof of our garage. I called 911 while backing our other car out of driveway away from flames, while my husband tried to put out fire with extinguser and water hose. The firemen arrived and finished putting out fire but Kia Soul was totaled. Kia dealership in sarasota fl has not offered any help or answers. We went online and see we are not the only ones that have experienced these Kia bursting into flames...the manufacturer has to take responsibility! this is unacceptable! damage to our home was also done melting stucco, charing garage door and cement driveway where car burned. Our home is only 1-1/2 years old!

- Rotonda West, FL, USA

problem #6

Sep 132018

Soul

  • 21,000 miles
Attempting to park: Vehicle accelerated rapidly, brake failed to stop or do anything. Vehicle jumped over tire stop then 8" mall walkway hitting building and store window.

- Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

problem #5

Mar 142017

Soul

  • miles
The rear of the car is always filling up with water where the spate tire sits. The cat isn't water tight. This has occurred on many occasions

- Anywhere, AR, USA

problem #4

Aug 272016

Soul

  • 36,000 miles
You crank the car the doors lock. You lose electric power you can't open the doors!! no way to get out of car!! was lucky one window was down!!all doors need to be able to open with out power< what if on fire or in water?? the car was setting in parking lot of walmart listing to radio and the bat ran down!!

- Conehatta, MS, USA

problem #3

Jan 222016

Soul

  • 7,500 miles
I was coming out of a red light intersection and when I tried turning to the left the car would not turn and kept going straight. It turned minimally and hit the curb scratching the 2 passenger side wheels (front and back). No airbags were deployed as I was only at maybe 20-30mph. As the car aligned with the road again I notice the steering is 90% impaired. I still manage to drive home as there were very few cars on the road but the car would randomly sometimes, very strongly veer to the right or left, making it extremely dangerous. I remember there was a recall letter I had received and when I got home I checked it out and it described exactly what had happened to me: "the pinion plug which secures the pinion gear to the steering gear assembly may loosen due to the use of adhesive with insufficient bonding strength during assembly. If the plug loosens sufficiently, the pinion gear may separate from the steering gear assembly which could cause loss of steering and result in a crash.". I think in my case this pinion came completely loose and that caused the crash. The car was just towed to a Kia dealership but now they will inspect and decide if that was the case or not. What if they simply decide they will say this was caused to something else and not the recall issue?

- Wilmington, DE, USA

problem #2

Sep 042015

Soul

  • 6,743 miles
My son was in a rear-end collison in his 2015 Kia Soul, that also pushed him into the person in front of him. My son was at a stop as well as the vehicle in front of him, when a mid sized SUV doing approximately 30-40mph slammed on her brakes and rear ended my son. The Soul's bumper went underneath the Chevy Tahoe in front of him. The airbags did not deploy. When police and ems showed up and asked him if he could drive it off the road, the vehicle started, but accelerator would not work. They pushed it off the road. After towing to the body shop, the owner said he didn't know why the airbags hadn't deployed because the electrical wiring harness had been severed in the crash. The towing company was hesitant to tow because he was afraid it may go off. The Soul had an estimate of $15,753.75 in damage and therefore totaled...but his airbags never went off.

- Dinuba, CA, USA

problem #1

Jul 242015

Soul

  • 530 miles
Was driving down an interstate on a July afternoon. Temperature in the mid 90's with ac set on 72. Driving with no cars around at 60mph and all of a sudden hear what sounds like a gun shot. I looked around to see if I could see anything wrong and did not see anything until I looked up. The panoramic sunroof had shattered completely. The roof fragments I could see was lifting outward. I called my haircut appointment to cancel and drove straight to the nearest Kia dealership. On the way over, the small glass fragments between the actual broken fragments started to fall so I closed the sunshade. Also on the drive to the dealership, some of the broken glass fell out onto the road behind me. Its been 2 weeks and so far no news from corporate Kia on replacing my sunroof.

- Tucker, GA, USA