NHTSA Owner Complaint Log
This page lists owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2022 Kia Sorento. Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA and do not by themselves prove a defect or defect rate.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026
The contact owns a 2022 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that their vehicle was parked in their driveway with the vehicle off and unattended, an hour later the vehicle rolled away and crashed into a neighbor’s fence. The vehicle came to a stop in the neighbor's ditch. No warning lights were illuminated. There was damage to the neighbor's fence as a result of the crash. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where they rejected to diagnose the vehicle until the cosmetic repairs were completed. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact mentioned that in order to prevent another roll away when parking he utilizes rocks under the tires and activates the emergency brakes. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 15,000.
CODE P1C2D03 POSSIBLE CONDITION WITH TRANSMISSION CONTROL SYSTEM. Kia Red Engine displays on dashboard,as the transmission disengages and will not engage in Drive or Reverse.Transmision locked up on highway and engine revved up to 5800 rpm's.Kia started to smoke and AAA towing needed to be called.The Kia sits at Dealership with another Kia Sorento brought in a week earlier with same problem.Kia Engineers are evaluating the problem since it's 2022 with 2017 miles and this is the first year with a new transmission.
The contact owns a 2022 Kia Sorento. The contact stated while driving at an unknown speed, he heard abnormal sounds coming from the vehicle. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact continued driving to his destination. The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer where a software upgrade on the transmission was performed. The vehicle was repaired but continued to experience the failure. The contact then received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 22V760000 (Power Train). The contact took the vehicle to the local dealer and had the recall repair completed. The contact stated that the failure persisted. The contact took the vehicle back to the dealer, but the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The contact continued to experience the failure. The manufacturer had not been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 5,000.
Intermittent brake issues without error code or visual indication. On or about July 27, 2022 my wife was driving away from our house in our neighborhood when she noticed the brakes weren't responding normally & she was able to press the brake pedal all the way to the floor. This happened again the following day & she recognized that something was wrong. She called roadside assistance to assess towing but the first available service appointment in our area was August 17, 2022 at Lee Johnson Kia in Kirkland, WA. The vehicle wasn't driven due to safety concerns & was towed to Lee Johnson Kia on August 16, 2022. The service department has been unable to fix the car as of September 23, 2022. The brake master cylinder has been replaced twice & evidently has a leak issue. Kia America Customer Case #15006678.
On 06/29/2022 brand new vehicle with 775 miles had a transmission failure warning appear on the dashboard. "Transmission system error! Check transmission oil immediately!" vehicle became sluggish and had to turn on hazards to crawl it back home. Brought to local dealership and they could not see any error codes or replicate the problem and gave us back the vehicle. On 07/01/2022 with 865 miles the error message re-appeared with engine performing sluggishly - turned on hazards drove it into dealership so they can see and try to identify problem. After researching online, several Kia Sorrento's are encountering the same error and transmission failures with less than 2,000 miles. Kia is failing to identify and remedy the issue nationally.
My vehicle has only 8,672 miles and the vehicle brake rotors are warped and shake violently from normal driving. I seen other complaints online with the same issue saying the vehicle has a undersized brake system that produces a lot of heat. Also I have had a issue where I would be coming to a stop slowly and the brake pedal feels like it grinds or makes a crunch noise, also I have had twice where I get a message on my dashboard saying “check ESC” I’ve called dealer and they told me I can drop off vehicle to get it looked at but if the warning lights or messages don’t stay on then for me to come back when they are on constantly.
We were driving and did not even hear anything hit the windshield which tells me how small the pebble or whatever it may have been was in size. Saw a small crack and within minutes it spread to about 6-7 inches long. A day later it’s spread halfway across my windshield. I have owned different cars and having this one BRAND new off the lot for barely 5 months - this should NOT have happened. This shows how weak and poorly made these windshields are by Kia. Shame on them for making a poor product and then not having responsibility to fix it.
6700 miles and vehicle began exhibiting Check ESC, Check Engine, Emergency Brake lights. Daily driven, vehicle does not sit for more than a day at a time. 7092 miles now, local dealership inspection lead to concluding that a rodent has chewed through wires and must be repaired. Claims KIA warranty does not cover such damage. Of the SEVERAL (6+) vehicle I have owned/financed/driven over the last 3 years, this is the first and only incident involving a wiring harness chewed. NOT HAPPY! Quick research shows there's a bit of a problem with KIA manufactured vehicle including Soy-Based wire shielding.
On Saturday, April 9 when breaking at a stop sign my car slammed on my breaks for me and the dash lit up with multiple warning lights, indicating an issue with the "check lane departure warning system." The car seemed to drive okay, no additional strange breaking situations, but the warning lights stayed on for a day. I called my dealer, and they saw the vehicle on April 22nd. Between the 9th and that date the warning lights eventually went off, then came on again (but no strange breaking). Then were off by the time I went to the dealership. They were able to find vehicle history of 2 codes, but said they found no issues and the vehicle passed tests. So they told me that they weren't sure what happened, but the car was drivable. Since the 22nd I have had one more time where the warning lights came on as I was already breaking, and the car slammed on the breaks for me. But the dealership said unless I was able to bring the car in when the warning lights were all on, they couldn't help. And I could never get to the dealership before the lights went out (usually the warning lights would go out within 24 hours, and the closest dealership is an hour drive from where I live/work). On May 29 my husband was driving and I was a passenger when the warning lights came on. I said it wouldn't cause an issue while driving, but this time was different. While we were on the interstate in a busy city he noticed that he was falling behind the pace of traffic. When he tried to accelerate, the car wouldn't speed up at all, our speed dropped, and he said that when he looked at the car screen it appeared that the electric battery wasn't being charged at all. My husband was able to get us merged to the side and off an exit. We pulled into a parking lot, and he turned the car off, then turned it back on a few minutes later. The warning lights were still there, but the electric battery now showed as charging. We continued driving, but I am afraid this will cause an accident.
While driving at highway speed the vehicle lost power and all warning lights on the dash came on. Fortunately the traffic was light and I was able to get off the highway. It was early Sunday morning but if I had been in heavy traffic or construction it could have been much worse. The vehicle died and wouldn't start again. The vehicle repeated this 3 other times. It went to three separate dealerships for repair but none could find a problem. They saw all the codes for past problems but nothing was current so couldn't be diagnosed. Twice it wouldn't start in the morning. Once it died while idling. The dealership said the solution was to wait a few hours to see if it would reset. Kia was incapable of fixing the problem or even helping with my expenses. The car was only a few weeks old.
Suddenly, my vehicle Kia Sorento Ex AWD X-LINE lost power while exiting a NY Highway. I and my partner And possibly other drivers on the road could have been seriously injured if there were cars behind us. Possibly, we could have lost our lives if malfunction occured while driving on the Highway. Turned Engine Off, then turned it back on and the care moved ok. Few days later, I drove locally and Lost Power......keeping on pressing the gas pedal finally allowed the care to continue normally. This situation happened Two (2) times. The Vehicle was on the 'Smart' setting'. There was no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms. Dealer drove, checked and scanned car for Codes and reported None was found. I'm very concerned that my car would suddenly loose power while I'm on a highway. Reported incident to Kia Corporate Customer Service today (https://1stbestservice.com/submit-complaint/).
I purchased a new 2022 Kia Sorento in March of 2022. By the end of April, at 1626 miles, the vehicle started giving me a warning on the dash stating "Transmission System Error! Check transmission oil immediately." The problem was intermittent and the dealer was not able to reproduce it. The difficulty is that the transmission does not have a method to check the transmission oil level. I have returned this vehicle to the dealer three times for this same problem. When the message is displayed, the transmission only provides power to the wheels in the odd numbered gears (1, 3, 5, 7) and slips badly in the even numbered gears. During slippage, the engine revs to 4,000 RPM. Unknown damage has most likely been done to my transmission at this point and Kia refuses to take care of their customers.
This vehicle has less than 10,000 miles on the odometer and the brake rotors are warped. They are undersized and will overheat under normal braking. Called the dealership and attempted to get warranty work complete, however the manufacturer, KIA Motors USA, has not responded or offered to replace the rotors under warranty. This isn't the only Sorento with this issue, I have submitted one similarly last week.
Windshield cracked by a tiny pebble. The main windhsield of my 2022 Hybrid cracked while driving in the freeway. Its been less than a month since I bought the car and windshield cracked. I wasnt around any car at the time, It was late night and I saw the chip it made to my windshield.. a couple minutes later the crack spread out to 4 inches long. The windshield is not strong enougha nd causes a danger.
Bought the vehicle brand new in late 2021, and began noticing some vibration when braking at any speed. The vehicle at this point has less than 10,000 miles and the brakes are vibrating really bad. The manufacturer has not issued a recall and their best fix is turning the brake rotors and calling it a day. Never had I had such a poor experience with this manufacturer.
Vehicle at a red light and complete stop would not respond when i tried to accelerate. I turned car off and tried turning back on and it wasn't until a couple minutes later that car then turned back on. Dealership unable to identify problem and it happened again 2 months later with my 1 year old in the car. This time it happened while on the highway that car would not accelerate putting my 1 year old and myself in danger. Dealership again says it sees nothing wrong with the car and is charging me to test the fuel. Sounds like KIA has a problem on their hands that they should address before a terrible accident happens.
My Sorento was purchased on 17/01/22. My windshield started cracking on the middle to the passenger’s side from the hood to the sunroof. I am unaware of how it even got there.
Transmission failed at 1561 miles. Will accelerate to 3000rpm do a 1-2 shift then immediately bang back into 1st. Car was flat bedded to dealer. Awaiting new transmission which is on backorder.
Random mild to loud squeaking (sounds like a tortured mouse sound) coming from steering column. The only way to temporarily stop the noise is to stop and turn steering wheel all the way to the right then to the left. Because it is random, it did not squeak for my dealership, when the drove it around the block. It usually starts after about a mile down the road, when it does happen. It only squeaks when driving straight. Does not squeak when making a turn or at a stop. Certain weather conditions or speeds do not effect when this noise occurs. I did hear that one person, on the KIA Forum, had to have their steering column replaced on their 2022 KIA Sorento. There are other customers complaining about this. It starts about two months after buying the vehicle. This a scary, because I don't know if or when I may lose steering function when traveling anywhere, especially on a 70 mph interstate.
I purchased my 2022 Sorento brand new in Dec 2021 and by end of January 2022 a small crack appeared near the top left corner (driver side) of the windshield near the edge; note the windshield is frameless/no cover or border on the glass. There is no indication that anything caused the crack; there is no indention as if anything hit it. I park in a private temperature controlled garage at my home. The crack has grown diagonally across the front of my entire windshield at this point since the dealership refused to help and I was quoted 1,300 to replace which is unfair. I am driving a 2022 which is visibly unsafe and who has an extra $1,000 to fix a defective windshield on top of paying a car note. This is a inconvenience and a safety issue because of my increased risk of crash or injury. I have seen numerous posts about this problem which indicates this is not just a me problem. I believe my windshield cracking is a defect caused by the manufacturer and I should not be responsible for the repair.
My vehicle (2022 kia sorento) was purchased 11/08/21. It only has 1777 miles at this exact time. My windshield started cracking on my drivers side from the sunroof down. This is ridiculous for a vehicle so new. I've read this is a chronic issue with the tellurides. Kia refuses to do anything about it