Problems · by component
2019 Kia Sorento power train problems
51 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2019 Kia Sorento cite power train, 12% of all 435 complaints for this model year.
Complaints
51
12% of all complaints
Crashes
0
Reported by owners
Fires
1
Reported by owners
Injuries
0
Reported by owners
What owners say about the power train
Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“Engine seized per Kia Inspected by Kia after AAA TOWED AND COULD NOT START CAR warning lamps have been on for over 6 months. Kia inspected and ran diagnostics at that time and said it was nothing to fix just an annoying dashboard malfunction.”
“Had to replace transmission at 133k miles. It was jolting sometimes providing a hard jolt at times will driving. There are also times of what feels like a cylinder misfire. Oil is constantly leaking and have to replace oil every 1k Miles. Have had multiple shops look at it and not able to find anything. Now during acceleration there is a huge grey smoke cloud coming from the exhaust. Looking at this site and through online it seems to be a common issue with this car and engine. So there has been multiple issues with this car - oil consumption of the engine leading to smoke in the exhaust and the transmission which was replaced a week ago”
“This vehicle has theta 2 engine.. which is part of class lawsuit kia settled. My vehicle had high oil consumption and the defect was due to rod bearing would cause engine to fail and cause hi oil consumption. The dealer diagnosed it with burned valve and denied warranty even though my warranty was extended due to this engine being a defect. The reason they stated is that the rod bearing is a separate issue from burned valves which is a complete lie because a faulty rod bearing would cause valves problem. I feel kia is just trying to avoid repair cost. They did want to bill me for a new engine immediately. And they failed to test the rod bearing saying they could not determine if it was defect because of the burned valves”
“The vehicle just had an oil change. It was driven after that approximately 25 miles when there was a loud noise and the wheels locked up. The vehicle was shifted into neutral and coasted to the end of a dirt road. Could smell oil burning. Upon inspection of the underside there was oil blown onto the exhaust and down the underside of the vehicle. After looking further, I noticed a semi rectangular hole in the narrow end of the oil pan just above the exhaust pipe. Some oil had drained out but the dip stick was reading full. This incident could have resulted in losing control of the vehicle when the tires locked up or caused a fire when the oil hit the exhaust. It could have cause an accident if another vehicle was following. No lights were on until after the incident when the check engine and oil light came on. It still has not been diagnosed by the dealer because they are all backed up until May. Have to rent a vehicle due now and probably look for an independent garage.”
“A failing alternator caused me to take my kia into a mechanic for OEM replacement. The mechanic informed me that the engine rattles. I got to talking with the mechanic and told him that my car has been experiencing high oil consumption with no 'low oil' warning light on the dash and ive checked my oil periodically between changes and have found the dip stick bone dry multiple times. A year later, my alternator failed AGAIN and was replaced with another OEM part. The same mechanic told me that the engine is still rattling (i hadnt gotten it fixed/diagnosed because i am low income) and that he found out there had been a recall for Kia Sotento engines with my vehicle date range. Upon research, I find thousands of people on different platforms are also experiencing high oil consumption and there was actually a recall. When I checked my VIN, my vehicle was NOT part of the recall. There seems to be a high number of consumers who have the SAME issue, but are also NOT included in the original recall and we are all being told that unless we pay for a new engine out of pocket, there's NOTHING that can be done. High oil consumption with NO warning light is DANGEROUS. How…”
“The oil pressure switch is faulty. The oil indicator light comes on when I'm idling, and I'm also losing 1 quart of oil every 1,000 miles. This was reported on previous Kia models of this make and model, which extended the warranty to 15 years/150k miles. Kia isn't honoring this anymore, even though my switch was diagnosed as bad. Seems Kia never fixed the problem, as my Kia has 113,000 miles and would have been covered by a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) for the same issue a year earlier.”
Showing 6 of 51 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 3, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.