10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
1 / 0
Average Mileage:
0 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 2023 Kia Soul:

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

Get free help with your lemon!
close ad
problem #4

Jun 052024

Soul

  • miles
I had my vehicle in PARK in my driveway. I was standing outside the vehicle & after I pulled the keys out of the ignition, the vehicle started rolling backward. My feet were on the ground the whole time, the vehicle was in park. I pulled the emergency brake as it was rolling with my legs stuck between the car and the door. I was finally able to push myself into the car to hit the brake with my foot & the car stopped right as it hit the curb of the other side of the street. My legs are extremely bruised from this and if anyone had been behind the vehicle, they would have been ran over as I could not stop it even though it was in park. This just happened so it has not yet been inspected by a mechanic or the dealership. There were no warnings, messages, or symptoms before this happened. It was clearly sitting in park perfectly fine before the engine was turned off. This is extremely dangerous. I have a video from my security camera that shows the entire incident. I'm unable to upload.

- San Tan Valley, AZ, USA

problem #3

May 022024

Soul

  • miles
Air bag Replacement Drive AutamticBreaking emergency Replacement system

- Redding, CA, USA

problem #2

Sep 282023

Soul

  • miles
I have had my car to the dealership 3 times and scheduled for a4th time for this same issue. It is intermittent which I realize makes it hard to diagnose however the dealership kept it overnight in 2nd visit to try to reproduce it and they did. When driving, the car will randomly start beeping and errors cycle thru in the dash. It tells me that my braking system needs to be checked then lighting system, airbag system failing etc. It goes thru about 5 or 6 system errors. Not always same sysyems and not going at same rate of speed when it happens. I have been told it isn't a safety issue however they apparently do not know what it is causing it to do that so I'm not sure how they can definitively say that. 1st visit I was told they did a software update and that"fixed the problem". After a few weeks it started again. Then I was told that the front camera needed to be recalibrated. 3 weeks after that when the part arrived I was told that fixed the issue. A week later, It is again intermittently alarming while driving. It is very distracting not to mention scary when it happens. The fact that the part was backordered for 3 weeks that they thought would fix it leads me to believe it is happening to a lot of kia cars. It is also on some online forums where others are talking about the same issue. My car has less than 5000 miles on it and I have owned it for 9 months. I am afraid to drive it because it scares me when this happens. This has been ongoing since June.

- Prospect, CT, USA

problem #1

Dec 302022

Soul

  • miles
Purchased this 2023 Kia Soul on 12/9/2022 from Gateway Kia of North Brunswick, the incident occurred on 12/30/2022 and subsequently occurred a second time after that, I don't have the exact date for the second occurrence. Both occurrences happened with less than 1000 miles on the vehicle. After driving I put the transmission into PARK, with my foot still on the brake pedal, I applied the parking brake (this model has a manual brake you pull not the electric brake) this brake is also known as the "emergency brake" or "hand brake." After a few seconds with my foot still on the brake pedal I heard a loud bang and the parking brake disengaged all by itself, all the way back down. It just slipped. If the vehicle had been in neutral it could have rolled away. Just so happens that both times this happened I was on a relatively flat surface but the vehicle could still have rolled slowly. I contacted the dealer I bought it from today, 1/10/2023, not to make an appointment for service but to let them know this happened so it's on their radar in case another Kia vehicle comes in with the same problem. If I were to bring it in for them to look at it, they most likely won't be able to duplicate it and send me home telling me it's fine so I don't want to waste my time. If it happens again I will be contacting the manufacturer and for sure escalating the issue, in the mean time I just make sure to park on a surface that is as flat as possible and of course make sure to keep the transmission in PARK.

- Metuchen, NJ, USA