2025 Kia Sportage HybridRecalls, problems, MPG & safety

“My 2025 Kia Sportage Hybrid SX-Prestige AWD has experienced two recent episodes of significantly reduced acceleration despite accelerator input. The first occurred approximately 3-4 days before November 2, 2026, while driving downhill. The vehicle did not accelerate normally. I did not observe a warning beforehand. The second occurred on November 2, 2026, less than half a mile after leaving home. The vehicle again failed to respond properly to accelerator input and displayed a limited-power warning on the instrument cluster. I pulled over, stopped and restarted the vehicle. It subsequently appeared to operate normally. Separately, for several months, the AWD Lock and downhill-control indicators have activated intermittently without my selecting those functions. It is unknown whether these symptoms are related to the acceleration failures. Unexpected loss of acceleration creates a potential collision hazard, particularly when merging into traffic, crossing intersections or maintaining speed among other vehicles. The cause is unknown. The vehicle has approximately 38,000 miles. No diagnosis or repair has yet been completed for these incidents. An appointment is…”

“The hybrid system completely failed and ev battery completely discharged. That issue is a major safety concern and I no longer feel confident driving myself and my child in that vehicle. I was on a hilly 55mph County Road, with few turn offs, when the hybrid system failed, resulting in a loss of acceleration, power steering, power brakes and heat. Check engine light, Oil Light and battery light illuminated while entire dash display started flashing red with critical fault message. The vehicle then went into limp mode. Dash showed that hybrid battery was completely discharged and warning message displayed saying vehicle would shut off in 5 minutes. Able to restart after a few minutes, but warning light said vehicle had to be left in park and vehicle started shuddering hard. It was a frightening few minutes trying to get to a safe place to turn off and park with the dashboard flashing red. The vehicle had to be towed to the dealership. The vehicle would not go into neutral and the tow company had to drag the vehicle with wheels locked onto the flatbed. The Kia dealership service department states both the wiring harness and wiring fuse box need to be replaced as…”

“My KIA Sportage Hybrid SX Prestige, bought brand new on 4/29/2025 and had 250 miles when I had transmission problem on weekend after 3 days of ownership. The car, when slowed down to about 30 miles/Hr, transmission suddenly shifted to neutral and the engine became dead. This happened 3 times within half an hour on freeway during the time of high traffic. I had to pull over and restarted the engine. I brought the car to the dealership on Monday, May 5 of 2025 and it took them 3 days to reproduced the problem to send to KIA service headquarter and today is May 29 (3 weeks and 3 days later) the car is still in the shop waiting for a new transmission replacement.”