2012 Kia Sorento UNKNOWN OR OTHER

The check engine light came on 12/29 and was driven approximately 50 miles. On Jan 3, 2026 vehicle was driven app. 5 miles and left parked at a friends. There was a little smoke coming out from under the hood, but this is not unusual as car had small oil leak for at least 3 years that no one could find to fix but burned off on engine and gave constant oily smell. Under 10 minutes later driver was notified that neighbors heard 3 explosions, car was on fire and fire department was coming. When driver went back to where vehicle was parked, fire was out and vehicle was almost totally destroyed. Vehicle was towed to a scrap yard.

My pearl white paint is chipping and peeling off my car

Pearl White 2012 KIA SORENTO paint peeling/chipping on passenger side hood.

2012 white pearl Kia sorento paint chipping and peeling off to reveal the bare metal below making it susceptible to rusting. It started on my hood and progressively got worse until I got the entire hood repainted. Now it is starting on the roof of my car and peeling off in big flakes. It continues to get worse.

I was driving down the freeway and suddenly heard a large pop from above my head, then looked in my rear view mirror and saw what turned out to be part of my sunroof falling on the road behind me. A bit of glass fell into the cabin, but most flew off immediately or was caught by the fabric cover. I pulled over and my front sunroof panel had shattered. I did not see any object coming at us from ahead prior to this happening and think it was spontaneous.

On September 18, 2023, Kia formally decided to recall various vehicles that represented a fire risk due to a faulty HECU (recall campaign 23V652000). Owners of the affected vehicles were advised not to park their cars in a garage or near other structures due to risk of fire. All well and good, but now over five months later, no repair has been proposed. This is an unreasonable amout of time to expect owners to leave their vehicles in unprotected areas, especially since the area I live in has been experiencing an elevated number of catalytic converter thefts. Kia's lack of a prompt remedy to replace an inexpensive fuse puts me at risk of paying several thousands if my catalytic converter is stolen. Kia needs to resolve this recall immediately.

IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL (notice received November 14, 2023) Today is 2/22/2024. Malfunction Indicator Lamp warning light did illuminate (02/16/2024). Registered mechanic diagnosed an intake manifold flap broken and intake manifold motor had to be replaced. ($2000). Not sure if this may be related to the HECU issue. BUT, as of this message, contact about the IMPORTANT SAFETY RECALL from KIA about a remedy part has not been issued to me. Recall remedy for the Hydraulic Electronic Control Unit (HECU) has not been performed in a timely manner and the risk of fire or other issues continues to be a possibility. This is a lawsuit waiting to happen. Please advise.

UNKNOWN Issues and recall have came up on my vehicle telling me I’m not allowed to drive or even have other use vehicle. This is stopping me going to work and making me lose money every month paying for a car that doesn’t operate. I’ve took it to shop and they notice the recall can’t be fixed due to remedy not being made yet but I’ve waited close to over a year now and I don’t want to lose job and just bought this car from dealer not long ago

Kia installed the theft deterrent software to the 2012 Kia Sorrento. On 12/13/2023, a car thief stole the 2012 Kia Sorrento. The apartment community shared that the car was stolen in less than 3 minutes. The thief left the car one block away from the apartment community. The thief damaged driver side key-hole and the ignition lock cylinder. I contacted Kia Corporate to file a complaint that the software failed to stop the car theft. Kia Corporate shared that this is one of the first complaints. My insurance company shared that Kia Corporate is not telling the truth as the adjuster is addressing other stolen Kia automobiles which had the theft deterrent software installed. I like NHTSA to reopen the case against Kia.

The paint on my snow white 2012 Sorento is peeling exposing metal

The steering wheel ignition lock is easy bypassed by using only a small screwdriver or USB cord. This makes the car easily stolen and therefore violates the requirements of 571.114 which requires a "starting system which, whenever the key is removed from the starting system prevents.. the normal activation of the vehicles engine or motor". This affects all Kia / Hyundai vehicles with a normal keyed ignition and without a vehicle immobilizer produced from approximately 2009-2022. Since the technology required to comply with the regulation (i.e. a vehicle immobilizer) is readily available and available on other cars from this maker, the vehicle manufacturer knowingly violated this regulation. I request a NHTSA inquiry into this clear safety defect. We are constantly living in fear of our cars being stolen any day now, this is sad!

Pearl white paint chipping off at unusual rate for no reason

Went to park put on the breaks and vehicle accelerated and could not stop went over the cement parking lot space and hit the post of the commercial building. Luckily no one hurt except the post. No individual. This accident was today 2-19-2022. Police report number. 22-0145. Cape May,NJ Police Department. This happen at least three other times. Once going thru a red light. Do not recall dates.

The car randomly started to burst j to flames. Our car is now totaled because of an engine compartment fire.

FRONT DRIVER SIDE DOOR HANDLE INOPERABLE FROM THE EXTERIOR HANDLE WITH NO PRIOR COMPLICATIONS OR DAMAGE ENSUED. KNOWN PROBLEM IN 2011 KIA SORENTO MODELS AND NOT RESOLVED IN NEWER MODELS. THIS CAN CAUSE MAJOR ISSUES IN SAFETY ESPECIALLY IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS. THIS SHOULD BE RESOLVED IMMEDIATELY.

Pearl white paint pealing on front, back, top of car

HAVE HAD THE TO REPLACE THE RIGHT CV AXLE TWICE IN THE PAST 40K MILES (ONCE AT ABOUT 118K AND AGAIN AT 150K) MECHANIC TOLD ME THIS HAS BEEN AN ISSUE IN KIAS

MY MOO ROOF SHATTERED FOR THE SECOND TIME IN 5 YEARS. NOTHING HIT IT, IT WAS PARKED THE FIRST TIME AND WE JUST HAPPENED TO BE STANDING NEXT TO IT AND HEARD IT START TO SHATTER, YESTERDAY I GOT IN IT AFTER IT WAS PARKED IN MY GARAGE STARTED TO DRIVE AND HEARD THIS POP/ CRACKLING SOUND AND IT HAPPENED AGAIN! THIS CAN'T BE BAD LUCK TWICE IN A ROW LIKE THIS. I DID NOTHING TO IT, WAS NOT HIT BY ANYTHING AND NOW AGAIN, SHATTERED!

ON THE AFTERNOON OF 2-27-20 I WAS DRIVING ON I-25 HEADED SOUTH, NEAR MEAD (BETWEEN LOVELAND AND DENVER) I WAS TRAVELING AROUND 80MPH IN THE MIDDLE (3) LANE WHEN MY SUNROOF SHATTERED FOR WHAT SEEMED TO BE NO REASON AT ALL. GLASS RAINED DOWN EVERYWHERE AND I FEEL VERY LUCKY THAT IT WASN'T THE CAUSE OF A MAJOR ACCIDENT. THIS IS A BUSY SECTION OF I-25 AND THERE WERE A NUMBER OF CARS NEARBY, ALL GOING 70+MPH. I HEARD NO IMPACT TO THE SUNROOF WHATSOEVER. IT JUST SORT OF EXPLODED. IT SEEMS TO ME AS THOUGH THE LEADING METAL EDGE WAS FLEXING AND AIR GOT UNDER IT IN SUCH A WAY, THAT IT JUST PEELED BACK. I HAVE THE METAL PIECE SHOWN IN THE PIC ATTACHED. THE END OF THAT PIECE OF METAL LANDED ON MY RIGHT FOREARM; GLAD I HAD BOTH HANDS ON THE WHEEL.

CODE :P0014 EXHAUST CAMSHAFT POSITION TIMING. I WAS DRIVING WITH MY CHILDREN ON THE HIGHWAY.

ON THREE OCCASIONS IN THE LAST TWO YEARS, MY 2012 KIA SORENTO, WHILE CRUISING AT THE SPEED LIMIT OF APPX 55 MPH ON A MAJOR HIGHWAY, TOTALLY LOST POWER. DASHBOARD LIGHTS WERE BLINKING, BUT NOTHING ELSE WAS OPERABLE. ON THE FIRST TWO INCIDENTS, I MANAGED TO STEER CAR ONTO SHOULDER. I PUT THE CAR IN PARK AND TRIED TO START IT AGAIN. AFTER ABOUT 30 SECONDS, CAR RESTARTED. I WAS ABLE TO DRIVE NORMALLY AFTER THAT. LATER ON THE EVENING OF THE FIRST INCIDENT, SOMETIME IN 2016, I REPLACED THE BATTERY IN THE FOB AND THOUGHT THAT SOLVED THE PROBLEM. AFTER SECOND INCIDENT (3/5/17), I TOOK CAR TO HERSON'S KIA IN ROCKVILLE, MD. THEY DID A DIAGNOSIS, WHICH REPORTED NO PROBLEMS. AFTER THE THIRD INCIDENT (12/12/18), I TOOK IT BACK TO HERSON'S KIA. THEY CHECKED AND SAW THAT A RECALL PROCEDURE (SC 106) THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE FIXED THE PROBLEM HAD BEEN PERFORMED ON AN EARLIER VISIT. THEY AGAIN PERFORMED A DIAGNOSTIC, WHICH AGAIN REPORTED NO PROBLEMS. THEY BASICALLY SAID THEY COULDN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT IF THEY COULDN'T DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEM. THIS THIRD INCIDENT WAS PRETTY FRIGHTENING BECAUSE THE CAR LOST POWER IN THE CENTER LANE OF A FIVE-LANE HIGHWAY, SO I COULDN'T PULL OVER. THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A SITUATION THAT COULD BE LIFE-THREATENING. ALTHOUGH MY WEB RESEARCH FINDS THAT THIS HAS HAPPENED TO MANY OTHER 2010--2013 KIA SORENTOS,, KIA DOESN'T SEEM TO BE ABLE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE PROBLEM IS OR KNOW WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT.

I WAS DRIVING MYSELF AND MY BROTHER SOUTHBOUND ON THE 101 FREEWAY NEAR TEMPE, AZ ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2019 AT APPROXIMATELY 10:20AM WHEN WE SUDDENLY HEARD A LOUD EXPLOSION OVER OUR HEADS AND SAW GLASS RAINING DOWN THROUGH THE OVERHEAD VISOR AND OFF THE BACK OF THE CAR. STUNNED AND SHOCKED, I CAREFULLY MADE MY WAY ACROSS THREE LANES OF BUSY MORNING TRAFFIC TO PULL OVER TO THE SHOULDER AND INSPECT THE DAMAGE. THE ENTIRE SUNROOF HAD SHATTERED, LEAVING JAGGED GLASS PARTICLES OVER THE TOP AND INSIDE THE SUNROOF MECHANISM, AS WELL AS INSIDE MY CAR. I'M GRATEFUL MY TWO CHILDREN WEREN'T SITTING IN BACK OR THEY MAY HAVE BEEN CUT BY THE SPRAYING GLASS! WE HAD BEEN TRAVELING AT AVERAGE HIGHWAY SPEEDS, DURING A COOL, CLOUDY DAY. IT WAS ABOUT 55 DEGREES AND THERE WAS NO SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITY OR DEBRIS ON THE ROAD THAT MORNING. I NEVER NOTED PRIOR DAMAGE TO THE ROOF AND WAS TRAVELING WITH THE SUNROOF COMPLETELY SHUT THAT MORNING. THIS WAS AN ABSOLUTELY TERRIFYING EXPERIENCE THAT VERY WELL COULD HAVE CAUSED AN ACCIDENT. I'M FURIOUS TO FIND SO MANY REPORTS OF THESE INCIDENTS OCCURRING! RECALLS MUST BE MADE AND A BETTER SOLUTION NEEDS TO BE IN PLACE!

WHEN I USED MY DEFROST THIS CRACK CAME UP AND KEPT SPREADING WHILE I WAS DRIVING. AND I HAVE NOT BEEN IN A WRECK WITH THIS VEHICLE

MY SORENTO MADE A CLANGING NOISE THEN THE ENGINE CAUGHT FIRE. THE CAR WAS TOTALLED. I WAS ON A BUSY CITY ROAD IN CINCINNATI WHEN IT CAUGHT FIRE. IT WAS IN MOTION, I PULLED INTO A PARKING LOT BEFORE IT DIED.

SUNROOF RANDOMLY EXPLODED WHILE DRIVING. JUST THE FRONT PORTION THAT OPENS UP HAS COMPLETELY SHATTERED.