2012 Kia Sorento Engine Problems
- 278
- Owner complaint records in our dataset
Records are owner complaints, not a measured failure rate.
Owner complaint recordsComplaint records reflect reports in our dataset and do not measure how frequently the problem occurs across all vehicles.
Among these 278 stored complaint records:
- 1 indicate a crash
- 2 indicate injury
- 28 indicate fire
What owners report
- check engine · 18 records
- engine light · 13 records
- engine seized · 11 records
- side road · 11 records
- warning lights · 9 records
- without warning · 9 records
Mileage in stored records
| Band | Records |
|---|---|
| 60–100k mi | 91 |
| 100–150k mi | 90 |
| 1–30k mi | 37 |
| 30–60k mi | 26 |
| 150–400k mi | 13 |
Complaint records
Owner-submitted complaint content, presented as stored.
Electrical System · Engine · Unknown Or Other
As i was driving, i noticed smoke coming from under my hood and when i pulled over to check, my car blew up in flames.
Fire reported
ODI 11228637
Engine
My burgundy 2012 kia ex i purchased in 2017 has been giving me no problems i love the suv until 6/18/2019 when i started up the suv an there was a rattling noise in the engine which never happened before when the noise quieted down i proceeded on route 51 an gassing the vehicle the noise comes back an it sometimes feel like i'm going to break down an i dont want to have a accident i saw there are some recalls on…
ODI 11221960
Engine
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 kia sorento. The contact stated that there was excessive smoke coming from the rear tail pipe. There was also reduced engine power when needing to drive more than 40 mph. Century 3 kia ([redacted], west mifflin, pa 15122, [redacted]) was notified of the failures and stated that the vehicle was not included in nhtsa campaign number: 17v224000 (engine and engine cooling). The contact stated…
ODI 11222542
Engine
Engine seized, came to a red light car died had it towed and was told the motor is locked up due to bearing wear!!!
ODI 11220840
Engine
While driving at approximately 45 mph the car turned off with the brakes and steering wheel locking. Luckily i was able to coast down the small hill to the side of the road. This incident took place on a two-lane city road. I had two passengers in my car at the time. The vehicle was towed to a local dealership with the diagnosis of engine failure (seizing). The vehicle was just picked from service the day before and…
ODI 11218350
Engine
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 kia sorento. While driving 65 mph, the vehicle seized and the check engine warning indicator illuminated. The contact veered to the should of the road. When the vehicle was turned off and restarted, it resumed normal operation. The vehicle was taken to destination kia ([redacted], albany, ny 12206, [redacted]) to be diagnosed, but no failure was found. The vehicle was not repaired and the…
ODI 11220965
Engine
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 kia sorento. While driving 20 mph, the contact approached a red light and the engine made an abnormal rattling sound. When the contact placed the vehicle into park and back into drive, the noise stopped and the check engine oil indicator illuminated. The dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was 134,000.
ODI 11221531
Engine
Our 2012 kia sorento experienced a major bearing failure that knocked a hole in the cast block allowing the oil to dump out over the cars exhaust. The car had been service routinely utilizing full synthetic at 6000 mile intervals. The oil level and cooling systems were all full and there were no warning lights prior to the failure. The car had 103000 miles and had just been serviced. Contacted kia and explained the…
ODI 11222231
Engine
While driving, the vehicle became very sluggish and the engine was chugging. The vehicle would not go over 25 mph. The vehicle was towed to the dealership & i was informed the engine needed to be replaced, but kia will not cover this. Upon picking the car up with a trailer, my son-in-law discovered there was absolutely no oil in the engine. After adding 5+ quarts, it still was not full (the car is not due for an oil…
ODI 11219253
Engine
Prior to the date oof 05/24/2019, i contacted the dealership in which i bought the vehicle to ask to set up an appointment because my car was burning oil. This was in june 2018 and at that time i was informed that nothing was wrong with my vehicle and that there was a recall out on the engine i had in my vehicle. Prior to this appointment i had one of my good friends call down and explain to the mechanic what he…
ODI 11217316
Engine
I had the motor replaced in jan 2018 for engine failure rod knocking metal shavings on the dip stick, it just shut off going down the interstate and now its the same issue again, going down the interstate started knocking and the car just shut off. No oil on the dip stick again with metal shavings
ODI 11216983
Engine
My 2012 sorento has been burning/losing oil since it was tested for the premature bearing wear recall at 100k miles. It burns approx. 1 qt of oil every 1000 miles. The current mileage is 114k miles. I have to add 5 qts of oil between every 5k mile oil change. Dropping a microphone into my oil pan did something to my engine. Kia dealership says this is to be expected for an engine with this many miles.
ODI 11209821
Engine
Engine siezed while driving. I have all the maintenance records. It wasn't leaking oil or burning any. I had it towed to a mechanic, he agreed their was no leak but the oil was live sludge and it caused the car to seize. It had been less than 4000 miles since i'll had been changed.
ODI 11207022
Electrical System · Engine · Vehicle Speed Control
While my vehicle was in motion on the highway going over 70mph my engine shut off, my speedometer dropped from 70 to 40 causing the vehicle behind me to have to pull into on coming traffic (two lane road going down mountain) to avoid slamming into my vehicle. Prior to this oil, check engine, and four wheel drive lights all began to flash. Pulled over, shut off vehicle and vehicle started after some struggle. Drove…
ODI 11206916
Engine
My car was driving perfectly and then all of a sudden started chugging, driving extremely roughly, and my check engine light came on. I thought it might have to do with the recall on engines like mine so i took it to a kia dealership to have it checked out and explained my concern and the the recall in question had been cleared because it hadn't done anything at the time but now i was concerned that was the issue.…
ODI 11230309
Engine · Unknown Or Other
Motor just all of locked up with no warning i was driving and all of sudden i hear the fans start blowing loudly i pulled over and turned the car off and it hasn't started since, now i'm without vehicle
ODI 11206353
Engine
Car was running fine, no warnings. Started engine and it would not start. Had car towed. Was told the engine was 'locked up'. It is 2012 sorento however it is not part of the recall. The vehicle was parked.
ODI 11204880
Engine
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 kia sorento. While driving approximately 60 mph, the vehicle shut down and all the instrument panel indicators, including the check engine indicator, illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who diagnosed that the engine blew up and needed to be replaced. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage…
ODI 11204344
Engine
Engine is consuming a large amount of oil. We had taken the car into the dealer to correct a recall affecting the engine oil. The dealer serviced the vehicle, then the vehicle started burning oil. We took it to a different dealer who referred us to the consumer affairs department. Consumer affairs sent it to the escalation department. The escalation department recommended that we go to a junk yard and get a used…
ODI 11204629
Engine
My 2012 kia sorento keeps going though oil it's not burning it and it's not leaking so what happening to it ?
ODI 11203023
Engine
Losing 1 quart of oil every 1000 miles. Started at 80,000 miles. Taken to dealer. We are doing oil loss test. Said this is normal. No way this is normal. Still under warranty and they don't want to fix. On tec said just drive to engine locks up is only way kia will fix. That would be nice going done the road at 70 mph.i have seen a lot of people online complaining about same thing. Something is wrong with these…
ODI 11231735
Engine
I was driving for about 45 minutes on the highway when all of a sudden the car started to decelerate. I had just enough force to get it to the left side of the road safely. No warning lights or issues prior to this occurrence. The radio was still on but i couldn't get the engine to turn over to drive. Is there a recall for this issue??? My mechanic couldn't find anything wrong with the car. It started right up and…
ODI 11191611
Engine · Fuel/Propulsion System
Tl* the contact owned a 2012 kia sorento. The contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 18v907000 (fuel system, gasoline, engine). While driving 50 mph, smoke appeared from the center console. The contact drove to her job and extinguished the smoke with a fire extinguisher. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed and towed to kia of duluth (located at 1701 w michigan st, duluth, mn 55806,…
Fire reported
ODI 11205827
Engine · Fuel/Propulsion System
Engine recall. Lately i been heard a knocking noise under the hood of my vehicle also i heard knocking noice from the exhaust pipe when i start the car as well. It comes n goes i hear it once in a while mainly in the morning when i first start the car. I hear it any other time once in a while. N i see lately there leakage coming threw the exhaust pipe as well. I took it to my machanic n he advised me to report to…
ODI 11189796
Engine
As i came off an exit from the highway, after driving for about 90 minutes, for no apparent reason the car just stopped running. The tach dropped to o, and i had to pull over to the side of the road to avoid getting hit by the vehicles behind me. I tried to start the car and the car would not even turn over. I called my insurance company, arranged for a tow to my mechanics garage, only to have him tell me that the…
ODI 11190950