2020 KIA Sorento problems
Owners have filed 189 complaints about the 2020 KIA Sorento with NHTSA. Engine accounts for 33.9% of them — far more than any other system, ahead of electrical system at 10.1%.
Complaints189
Crashes15
Fires18
Injuries28
Deaths1
What owners report breaking
Engine 33.9% · 64
Unknown or other 12.2% · 23
Electrical system 10.1% · 19
Power train 9.5% · 18
Trailer hitches 4.8% · 9
Fuel/propulsion system 4.8% · 9
Forward collision avoidance 3.2% · 6
Service brakes 2.6% · 5
Severity
Of those complaints, 15 describe a crash, 18 describe a fire, 28 report an injury and 1 report a death.
Reading the numbers
Across the 20 model years of the KIA Sorento in this data, 2020 draws comparatively few complaints; 2011 is the outlier year.
Filings are rising — 121 in the last three years against 61 in the three before. For a vehicle this age that usually points to a wear-related failure owners are hitting now.
The median odometer reading at the time of complaint was 17,500 miles.
In owners' own words
I have 105k miles on the vehicle. My vehicle is burning oil between oil changes, so much so that there is no oil on the dip stick. There is a recall for kia engine's doing this but mine is not listed. I owe 3500 dollars for payoff and am now faced with buying a new vehicle or replacing the engine myself because it just happened out of warranty. If this is a know issue with these engines it needs to be remedied. Engine
Kia Sorento has a well documented engine failure. The issue starts with the vehicle consuming engine oil. Subsequently the connecting rod bearings fail resulting in severe engine failure. This happens even with regular oil change maintenance. I experienced that with this vehicle. Kia was contacted but said this vehicle's vin did not fall under the list of affected vehicles in their class action lawsuit Engine
Two weeks ago the engine started to consume oil excessively. I had to add 1/2 quart of oil, just to have it above the low level. Last week I added 1/2 quart oil, after driving in the city a few hundred miles. There were no visible oil leaks noticed by the dealership's technician. The SUV has only 37,000 miles, and all the maintenance was done at the KIA dealership. Engine
Verbatim from NHTSA filings. Complaints are unverified owner reports.
Safety recalls
Checking NHTSA for open recalls…