10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 1
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
23,735 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 #6

Nov 172023

Soul

  • miles
Car has an heavy gas smell like when the car is started, has to crank up and car shakes when it-??s started steering is off and etc.

- Jacksonville , FL, USA

problem #5

Oct 262020

Soul

  • 70,000 miles
Driving on highway 70 and noticed that my tire was getting low. I got off the highway just in time. The tire shop. At 9550 St charles rock rd, breckenridge hills, mo 63114 at 5pm. The two young men came out laughing and one changed my tire. Left the shop and 30 mins later my tire was on flat. Came back the next morning. Young man said he'll fix it. He didn't give me another but stated a nail was in it. He think I'm stupid. He know he sold me a bad tire with the nail in it already. He painted the tire then put it back on my car. I was suspicious about the paint and paint brush. Left the shop and went home. On my way to work the same day almost had two accidents. Tire was hard to steer and the wheel didn't turn. I was scared to death. I could of lost my life 😔.. people need good used tires. Finally I went to car X and they took care of my problem and I felt safe to drive again.

- Saint Ann, MO, USA

problem #4

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 #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

Dec 192015

Soul

  • 11,110 miles
Mechanically, technically the vehicle is fine. My problem is there is no spare tire, no even a donut. There is an inflator/tire repair kit but that does no good when one gets a hole in the side of the tire. Kia does have 24 hour free tow to the dealership to rectify the situation, and I believe even motel accommodations in case this occurs on a road trip, but I feel it is still a safety hazard. For example late at night, maybe on the way to work at 4:30 in the morning. Also the sales department(s) do not do a good job in explaining the lack of a spare. It's my understanding some other makes also have the same infiltrator kit to replace the spare. Kia dealers do sell a kit for about $200, maybe $300, my solution is, Kia should be required to provide these now at no costs to customers. I found about this the tough way on an out of town trip (between savannah, ga and beaufort, SC)...I am from the orangeburg, SC area, so was about 90 miles from home, on the Saturday before christmas (12-19-15)...they did offer to tow me to the Kia dealership in savannah, but it would be closed by the time we got there.

- Cope, SC, USA

problem #1

Oct 252014

Soul

  • 300 miles
While driving down fairmount blvd. I hit a pot hole, causing my tire to go flat and the air bags came out.

- East Cleveland, OH, USA