There are 4 owner-reported fuel system complaints for the 2018 Kia Sorentoin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
While on the road driving at 35 MPH, the vehicle started to "bog" and losing power and/or acceleration. Had to immediately drive off the road as there were several vehicles behind. As soon as driving off the road, the vehicle died down and would not start again. The check engine light came on. After several minutes the vehicle started again and drove to a secure area to call the tow truck. If the vehicle died down while in traffic, it would have caused an accident involving several vehicles. If it happened on the freeway, it would have caused a "major accident". The vehicle was towed to the vehicle dealership. It was determined by the vehicle dealership that the "high pressure fuel pump" was faulty and had to be replaced. It took four (4) months for the replacement part to arrive. Another similar dealer said that there were "55 other vehicle owners" waiting on the same part nationwide. It must be an "inherent problem" with the high pressure fuel pump. After replacing the high pressure fuel pump, the vehicle was operating normally.
* High pressure fuel pump quick disconnect fuel line fitting leaking fuel. * Raw fuel leaking poses a risk of fire and danger to the vehicle occupants. Raw fuel leaking in a closed in area as it did in my garage could have lead to an explosion due ignition of the fuel vapors. * My vehicle was repaired by a KIA dealership. The dealership noted that they've seen this issue several times in the past few months including one instance where the fuel line fitting actually fell off. The dealership acknowledged this failure hasn't yet become a recall issue which is why I'm filing a complaint with the NHSTA to establish a record of the issue. * The component was probably discarded by the dealership. The dealership didn't mention sending the part out for inspection or reporting the issue to the manufacturer. Galeana KIA did provide 2 pictures of the fuel leak area. I've attached these to this form. * There were no warning lamps or messages for this type of leak. The vehicle drove as normal. It wasn't until I parked the vehicle in my garage that I noticed a strong smell of raw fuel.
Just recently starting to smell fuel when I’m driving and when I turn the car off and when I try to start the car it cranks a little and then I’ll stop then try it again and it will start up fine
Over I’d say about the last 5-7 months my husband and I have been noticing the smell of fuel coming from what/where seems to be the gas tank area and we have on an occasion or 2 noticed very small drops on the ground also around the gas tank area. Shortly after we began noticing the smell of gas, one day after re-fueling when I went to put the gas cap back on I noticed that the cap went back on but it wouldn’t make that signature clicking sound that lets you know it’s properly in place and sealed properly so we purchased a replacement one from the dealership thinking/hoping that would fix the issue but it hasn’t. In fact just before purchasing the gas cap from the dealership we purchased a replacement from Autozone and it was the wrong one. It appeared to fit for the most part (or so we thought) but it was definitely the wrong one and because it was dark when we got the cap we couldn’t see just how poorly it fit (plus you had to look from the bottom of the cap to be able to see the white plastic of the bottom of the cap was still exposed) so we ended up having to use it until the following day when we could get to the dealership to get the right one. Well while we had the wrong gas cap in it cause the check engine light to come on (which at least we know that works, lol) but oddly enough the car was getting better fuel mileage so I’m thinking that because having the proper gas cap seals the system properly it could be causing it to leak more or worse because since putting the right cap on, while it did help the check engine light go off I’m not getting very good gas mileage at all. I’m going to take it to a shop and hopefully they can figure out what is going on with it (when we’re able to pay what I’m assuming will be a pretty heft shop bill) but I just wanted to let it be known and I will send a follow up message letting you know what came of the shop fix/inspection. Thank you for reading my lengthy message and I send well wishes to you, your friends, and family.
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
Data synced from NHTSA on Apr 25, 2026