Problems · by component
2013 Kia Soul service brakes problems
31 owner complaints to NHTSA about the 2013 Kia Soul cite service brakes, 5% of all 670 complaints for this model year.
Complaints
31
5% of all complaints
Crashes
2
Reported by owners
Fires
1
Reported by owners
Injuries
0
Reported by owners
What owners say about the service brakes
Verbatim from NHTSA complaints, newest first
“While parked at the top of our driveway on a portion that is only a mild slope and in first gear (a manual transmission) with the parking brake fully engaged, the car rolled backwards down the steep driveway and into a tree. The car had been parked with the key out of the ignition for 5-10 minutes. There were some leaves on the driveway but it was not wet. The parking break has acted iffy on this car before but not to this extent. If the car had not rolled the way it did, it could have hit someone!”
“Brake petal sensor broke keeping the tail light on. Has trouble accelerating and throws the traction light on burnt up battery, both front door locks have broke with no reason. Wipers broke does not give water.”
“Gas peddle gets very touchy before incident. RPMs spike to 3-4K, unable to stop car. Brakes do not work. Brakes get very hard and high brake peddle. Have to put the car in neutral, pull over, turn car off, put in park. Let car sit for a few minutes. Start car, something must reset because car is back to normal. My regular mechanic was unable to resolve, therefore took to dealer. $3500 later, the car is currently at the dealer for the 4th time trying to resolve. Very dangerous due to the car acceleration and inability to stop!! Has been happening for approx. 4 years. Started out happening once or twice per year, then increased to 4 times in one day. Did not happen for 5 months after brake booster was replaced in January 2024. Most recent incident 7-3-24”
“The contact owns a 2013 Kia Soul. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V652000 (Service Brake, Hydraulic) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. VIN tool confirms parts not available.”
“Have two active recalls on my soul. Not driving because could catch on fire. I still have to pay insurance on my vehicle. KIA is dragging their feet with a fix. They say a fuse but it isn’t fixing the problem unit! It’s been four months still no fix. They need to get this remedied I need my car back on the road.”
“Stering wheel makes a load clacking sound also lots of slack in the wheel git alignment twice and still making the sound and drifts to the right and steering wheel shakes when driving and breaking.”
Showing 6 of 31 reports. Read every report on NHTSA.gov.
Data from NHTSA Complaints API (owner reports, unverified) · synced Nov 10, 2026NHTSA vehicle page
Complaints are unverified owner reports to NHTSA and are not normalized for sales volume. One complaint can cite several components.