2025 Kia Sorento Reliability Report

Limp mode kicks in with a message limiting speed, usually to 20 mph, sometimes while slowing from highway speed or pulling into traffic. Drivers report coasting with the pedal on the floor while traffic swerves around them. One crash follows a speed limit warning, a hard brake pedal, and brakes that pulse violently. One failure happens in near-freezing weather, and dealers often cannot reproduce the problem. Another is reported at about 4,000 miles. A separate report describes the instrument cluster freezing, which hides speed and gear position.

Limp mode at highway speed, with a sharp drop in speed, leads these reports. Dealers often cannot find a cause, and in one case the problem returned about 1,500 miles after the first event. Other drivers describe RPMs rising with no gain in speed, slipping, and refusing to move from a stop until shifted back through park. One report describes strong fumes in the cabin, then power loss with gas and oil leaking together, followed by a 5 day wait for parts. Road debris puncturing the inverter radiator can leave the car undrivable.

Lane keep assist makes the car wobble back and forth inside its lane. Hybrid owners say it can make drivers dizzy and sometimes swerves enough to risk a crash. A separate complaint involves the driver attention warning, which comes on often for no clear reason and distracts the driver. One owner says the distraction contributed to a near miss with a horse and buggy. Both problems involve driver assistance features acting when nothing is wrong.

The airbags fail to deploy in serious crashes. Both reports involve crashes, with 3 injuries in total. One is a head-on collision in which the other vehicle's airbags deploy. The other is a deer strike at 80 mph, where the driver also says the car made no attempt to brake. Neither driver saw a warning light or any other sign of a fault beforehand. The reports are few, but each describes a failure of a core crash protection system.

The sunroof explodes at highway speed with a sound like a gunshot. Glass scatters outward, and the driver sees no sign that anything struck the car. In a separate problem, both side mirrors partly fold inward at highway speed in wind, blocking the view of blind spots. That owner also reports a check engine light on since the car was 5 days old and a dealer that cannot take the car in until a loaner is available.

A sudden lockup while turning can stop the car in the road with every warning light on. Effort at the wheel becomes heavier than in a car without power steering. In that case the dealer found a loose wiring harness rubbing against the steering shaft. Another report describes the engine starting to cut out while adaptive steering and lane assist seem to fight each other, jerking the car between lane lines until lane assist is turned off.