There are 9 owner-reported brakes complaints for the 2018 Kia Stingerin NHTSA's database. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
The contact owns a 2018 Kia Stinger. The contact stated that occasionally while starting the vehicle, the vehicle failed to start immediately. The contact stated that oil was leaking from the vehicle during each failure. The contact stated that while attempting to accelerate from a light, at 5 MPH the vehicle lost automotive power, with the check engine and ABS warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the fuel pump and vacuum pump were faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 99,000.
I bought front and rear drilled and slotted brake rotors. I installed these on my car using the same name brand of brake pads front and rear. The fronts were perfect. The rear rotors had defective black zinc coating that caked on my brake pads. This layer of coating prevented contact between the friction surface of the rotor and friction material of the pad. I only drove the car 1/2 mile. My rear brakes would not work properly. I sent Brake Performance 14 pictures and a series of emails describing this. They shrugged it off as cosmetic. I had the remaining defective coating machined off the friction surface of the rotors. I sanded and cleaned the layer of defective coating off my brake pads. After this cleaning, the brakes worked as expected. I have installed their products on 3 vehicles using 10 rotors and 2 drums. Only these last 2 rotors had defective coating. It's concerning that they never considered the safety implications of the defective coating. The front and rear rotors were stored together in the same environment prior to install.
I took my 2018Kia Stinger into my local authorized Service Center (Nationwide Kia, Timonium MD.) on August 17,2021 to check recall # SC204 (Brake Vacuum Pump) and they determined that the recall DOES need to be performed, but they did not have the part(s) in stock to perform the recall. They had me bring the car back on September 21, 2021 after they confirmed my reason for the return visit and accepted my appointment. I dropped my car off on that morning only to get a call later that day that they did not do anything because they did not have the parts. They told me thy would follow up to complete the recall, which they never did even after my attempts to get them to do so. On November 5, 2021 I submitted a complaint with Kia Cutomer Service and they assigned case # 14469559. Since then, I have contacted Kia Customer Service approximately every 2 weeks and have only been able to get the "automated response" and no actual response. I am at the point that I must assume no one (the dealership or Kia America) will be of no help and I am certainly concerned that I have been driving my car for the last 5 months with a Brake Vacuum Pump that has been confirmed that it needs replacement. Thank you.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2018 KIA STINGER. THE CONTACT STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING AT VARIOUS SPEEDS, THE TIRE PRESSURE WARNING LIGHT HAD ILLUMINATED. HE ALSO STATED THAT A BURNING ODOR WOULD EMIT FROM THE VEHICLE WHILE DRIVING AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS. THE CONTACT THEN RECEIVED A NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 20V518000 (SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC) HOWEVER, THE PARTS TO DO THE REPAIR WERE UNAVAILABLE. DULLES KIA(107 CATOCTIN CIR SE, LEESBURG, VA 201750), WAS CONTACTED BY PHONE AND IT WAS CONFIRMED THAT THE PARTS WERE NOT YET AVAILABLE. THE MANUFACTURER WAS MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 25,000. VIN TOOL CONFIRMED PARTS DISTRIBUTION DISCONNECT.
CAR HAS NO BRAKES WHEN INITIALLY STARTING IT AND BACKING OUT OF MY DRIVEWAY. THE BRAKE PEDAL IS SO HARD THAT I AM UNABLE TO DEPRESS IT. AFTER A FEW SECONDS, THE BRAKE PEDAL BEHAVES NORMALLY. THIS PROBLEM HAS RESULTED IN ME ROLLING OUT INTO THE ROAD MORE THAN ONCE. I HAVE HAD THE CAR INTO THE DEALERSHIP TO BE ANALYZED AND FIXED THREE TIMES. ONE TIME THEY REPLACED A VACUUM LINE AND THE OTHER TWO TIMES THEY HAVE REPLACED THE VACUUM PUMP. I AM CONCERNED THAT SOMETHING ELSE IS WRONG THAT IS CAUSING A BRAKE OVERPRESSURE CONDITION THAT IS CAUSING THE BRAKE VACUUM PUMP AND THE VACUUM LINE FAILURES. THE DEALERSHIP IS TELLING ME THAT I HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO PICK UP MY CAR NOW THAT THE VACUUM PUMP HAS BEEN REPLACED AGAIN. I AM AFRAID TO DRIVE THE CAR WITHOUT FURTHER INVESTIGATION OF WHY BRAKES AND THE VACUUM PUMP KEEPS FAILING.
VEHICLE SHAKES WHEN APPLYING THE BREAKS AT SPEEDS ABOVE 40MPH. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON SINCE THE CAR HAD ABOUT 10K MILES.
NEW CAR. AS SOON AS AROUND 4K MILES TO PRESENT 7K MILES, BRAKES ARE UNSAFE WITH SIGNIFICANT VIBRATION IN PEDAL WHEN BRAKING AT MODERATE TO HIGHWAY SPEEDS (ANYTHING OVER 35-40MPH) UNDER ANY TYPE OF BRAKING. SUSPECTED FAULTY PADS WHICH ARE TOO SOFT LEAVING PAD RESIDUE ON ROTORS IMPACTING STOPPING POWER AND CREATING THE VIBRATION IN THE PEDAL WHEN BRAKING.
WHEN BRAKING THE VEHICLE SHUDDERS WHEN THE BRAKES ARE APPLIED. THIS IS WHEN THE VEHICLE IS IN MOTION ALMOST EVERY TIME THE BRAKES ARE APPLIED. IT FEELS UNSAFE AND COULD BE AN ISSUE IN A PANIC BRAKING SITUATION AS THE BRAKES DON'T FEEL AS EFFECTIVE AS THEY SHOULD BE. MY VEHICLE IS RELATIVELY NEW AND NOT MODIFIED IN ANY WAY. MANY OTHERS WITH THIS VEHICLE ARE REPORTING THE SAME ISSUE. I HAVE REPORTED IT TO KIA AND THEY DENY THERE IS A PROBLEM. THERE REALLY SHOULD BE A RECALL TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE THAT JUST ABOUT EVERYONE WITH THIS CAR SEEMS TO BE HAVING. I BELIEVE THIS COMMON PROBLEM HAS PROBABLY LED TO ACCIDENTS AND WILL CONTINUE TO DO SO.
VEHICLE BRAKING SYSTEM WHEN STOPPING AT ANY SPEED SHAKES VIOLENTLY, STARTED ABOUT 6000 MILES AND CONTINUES EVEN AFTER SEVERAL REPAIR ATTEMPTS
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