Owners have filed 9,093 complaints on the Kia Sorento, covering 2003–2026. The system named most often is Engine (1,313 reports). Worst years by volume: 2011, 2016, 2014; cleanest: 2026, 2024, 2009. 262 reports describe a crash, 377 a fire, 9 a death. On average the car was 5.9 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Kia Sorento
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 9,093 Sorento complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Engine 1,313 Read
Car was in an accident; started on fire, car is totalled
As soon as I pulled it off the lot within a few months I had some stalling where it would only go 30 mph I was pushing down on the gas full blown and then all of a sudden it would jerk and then it would go again I took it to the dealership the first time in 2016 and I told him that and they said they couldn't help me…
Belt sprocket and harmonic balancer with bolt. The bolt is made of substandard material and broke causing the automobile to lose power steering and other vital car features. No warning, it just broke while in motion causing all of the belts to seize. I was on a hilly mountainous road in my home area of high ridge…
Electrical System 455 Read
KIA and HYUNDAI - all of their cars are unsafe. I have attached a letter to the NJ State Attorney General to explain some of the issues. These cars are absolutely unsafe and we have no peace of mind. They are killing us, literally. Please do all you can to immediately stop them. I cannot explain how upsetting this is.…
Kia replaced my engine twice, due to oil consumption. A month after the first engine replacement, I had the same problems.. Smoke coming out of exhaust, loss of power, stalling and oil consumption. I was in and out of kia's service department. They told me nothing was wrong! I moved from co to ne, my husband and I had…
Reason is unknown, was driving down road and car yanked to the right cause family to wreck in to a guard rail, no lights appeared before wreck, it was not raining and was not speeding. Clear sunny day. Police report has been made and has made several attempts to contact KIA, car has been in body shop since July. Wreck…
Power Train 356 Read
The contact owns a 2023 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, the gear shifter was shifted into drive, the accelerator pedal was depressed; however the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to move forward. No warning lights were illuminated.…
I backed a boat trailer into the lake to load a boat. I had the car in Park and had the engine running and the driver side door open about half way. After about 2 minutes I was standing behind the vehicle cranking the boat onto the trailer. The car came out of park without notice and no one in the vehicle. It went…
I was backing up when my car just accelerated like crazy and ran over a huge brick mailbox. It was like my car was possess, it became a crazy 4 wheel drive
Steering 256 Read
My Vehicle was stolen from my residential home. My window was buss out and they stole my vehicle. After over two weeks my vehicle was finally retrieved by the police and city of Milwaukee tow lot. I was told by financing company as well as police department to go get pictures of vehicle as reported from tow company…
My 2016 Kia Sorento was stolen because it wasn’t updated and also the engine caught fire because it wasn’t updated
Traction control - our vehicle has sustained two incidents involving the traction control system. The first incident involved the traction control light on the dash illuminated intermittently while the vehicle was moving. The vehicle was turned off then back on the light would go off. The dealership evaluated the…
Exterior Lighting 247 Read
While driving at night the headlights will turn off and on usually last 10 to 15 seconds, does this at all speeds and and all roads. Will cause you to loose sight of road on non lit roads. This has happened about 10 times in the last few months
SC197 completed 11/06/2020, SC212 completed 07/272021. Recently found brake fluid leak results on my garage floor several times, but not after each use of vehicle? Also having to replace brake light bulbs often ,because apparently one will fail and all remaining stay on as if one was riding the brake pedal?
The contact owns a 2014 kia sorento. While the contact's son was driving, the vehicle started to make a knocking noise. The contact's son noticed smoke coming from the rear of the vehicle and the check engine warning indicator illuminated. On several occasions, the headlights and tail lights failed without warning.…
Structure 221 Read
I was driving on a state hwy about three miles from home going 50 mph. I was the sole occupant in the vehicle when I began to smell smoke. I was able to pull off the hwy. And turn the vehicle off. I opened my door and opened the hood from the inside. When I did, flames and smoke began to shoot out from the hood and I…
The contact owns a 2016 kia sorento. While stationary, the vehicle caught fire without warning. The contact stated that smoke entered the vehicle through the air conditioning vents and that flames emerged from the floorboard area near the driver's seat. Immediately, the contact pulled the vehicle over to the right…
While driving on highway we were alerted by other drivers that there was fire and smoke coming from the engine compartment. We pulled over immediately and within minutes the entire vehicle burst in fire. We contacted kia motors regarding this and they simply denied responsibly for this, deeming the cause of fire to be…
Air Bags 122 Read
The contact owned a 2006 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while driving at 15 - 20 mph, the steering wheel seized and the brakes failed when depressed which caused the vehicle to fall over a 25 ft. Cliff and flip 3 times after hitting the ground. All of the air bags failed to deploy. The contact saw that there was…
Hit a deer going 80, airbags did not deploy and car did not attempt to brake
I was involved in an automobile collision. It was a T- Bone collision on the driver side. My vehicle flipped on it's side, the moon roof completely shattered, my seatbelt released me and I was ejected through the moon roof. The vehicle landed on top of me. All of my air bags did not deploy even though my vehicle…
Vehicle Speed Control 112 Read
The contact leased a 2025 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while driving, the vehicle failed to increase over 20 MPH. The 20 MPH limited message was displayed. The brake pedal was hard to depress. The driver pulled over and called the salesman at the dealer, who discussed red flags. The contact turned the vehicle…
On august 25, 2019, while driving home to new york, my wife sat in the front passenger seat and my daughter sat in the second row seat behind my wife, I stopped at a rest stop for gasoline at about 12:15 pm as I pulled into the area with my foot on the break to slow down, the car surged forward and I pressed hard to…
My car went into Sudden Unintended Acceleration when I shifted from neutral to drive. I was in a gas station that was perpendicular to highway traffic. When I attempted to come out of the car wash tunnel to get my car dried off, the car accelerated out of control, the gas pedal was stuck and the brakes would not…
Sorento years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Engine And Engine Cooling,engine | 2 | — | |
| 2025 | Air Bags,forward Collision Avoidance | 5 | — | |
| 2024 | Air Bags,seat Belts,unknown Or Other | 4 | 1 | |
| 2023 | Electrical System | 2 | 2 | |
| 2022 | Air Bags | 2 | 1 | |
| 2020 | Air Bags | 9 | 10 | |
| 2019 | Air Bags | 10 | 17 | |
| 2018 | Air Bags | 12 | 10 | |
| 2017 | Air Bags | 12 | 29 | |
| 2016 | Air Bags | 24 | 45 | |
| 2015 | Air Bags | 20 | 14 | |
| 2014 | Air Bags | 21 | 45 | |
| 2013 | Air Bags | 21 | 39 | |
| 2012 | Air Bags | 19 | 70 | |
| 2011 | Air Bags | 35 | 58 | |
| 2009 | Air Bags | 2 | 1 | |
| 2008 | Air Bags | 11 | 8 | |
| 2007 | Air Bags | 9 | 5 | |
| 2006 | Air Bags | 10 | 7 | |
| 2005 | Air Bags | 17 | 3 | |
| 2004 | Air Bags | 10 | 11 | |
| 2003 | Air Bags | 5 | 1 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 1,631 |
| Average complaints per series | 5.6 |
| Worst single series | 48 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 5.9 years |
A model average of 5.6 hides a worst series at 48. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
- The original window sticker and factory options
- Full research report as a PDF for the pre-purchase inspection
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Sorento?
By complaint volume, 2011, 2016, 2014 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Sorento years are the cleanest?
2026, 2024, 2009 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Kia Sorento have?
9,093 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2003–2026. Of those, 262 describe a crash and 377 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.