Kia Soul Complaints

5,626 consumer complaints on file.

#11439020November 2, 2021
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
On the evening of 7/31/2021 myself and my 2 brothers were on our way home from shopping. It had just got dark outside. Suddenly there was a loud noise under the hood and the vehicle stopped dead in the middle of the road. Thank GOD we were not hit from behind. I put the flashers on to warn others. Other cars were blowing there horns, it was very dangerous for us and others as well. I called and got AAA there as soon as possible. The car was smoking and oil was every where. I had the car taken to an independent shop. They told me the connecting rod had gone through the engine block and that it was very bad. They suggested that I take it to the Kia dealership. They said Kia would know about the warranty's. I had AAA take it to the Kia dealer ship in west Orlando. I paid them 265.00 to do the diagnostics on the car. They told me the connecting rod bearing had caused the rod to go thru the engine block. They said I would Have to have a new engine (approx. 10,000.00 ). I said if I gave them the money when could i get my car? They said they didn't know. I ask if I could have a loaner vehicle to get myself to work. They said they don't do that. They also said at that cost I would not get a new engine. I was not treated very nice. I never had any trouble with my car. I had no warning of any kind it just suddenly stopped. I am a widow and my husband always told me to keep my oil changed. He said it is the life of the car. So I always changed my oil ahead of the scheduled time for it to be changed. I got my oil changed on 7/29/2021 and the bearing went bad on 7/31/2021. A friend from my church tried to contact Kia Corp. in California for assistance,but was treated rudely.I know there have been recalls on different Kia and Hundai engines for connecting rod Bearing issues.This was very dangerous many people could have been hurt or killed. Kia Will not help. I only have 71,000 miles on my car. I was the second owner of the car so my warranty is no good. 3 tech's have seen it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11438934November 1, 2021
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM:EMISSION CONTROL:CATALYTIC CONVERTOR
The contact owns a 2015 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds there was heat emerging from underneath the dashboard. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the catalytic convertor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V120000 (Engine, Engine and Engine Cooling). The failure mileage was approximately 18,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11438975November 1, 2021
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM:EMISSION CONTROL:CATALYTIC CONVERTOR
Catalytic converter failed after only ba few years, other VINS of the same year were recalled for this already
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11438743October 30, 2021
ENGINE
Sound coming from the engine check engine light on , I took the car to the Kia dealership and they refuse to fix it even with that recall SC176 , thank you
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11438615October 29, 2021
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
The subject vehicle was take to dealer to address recall SC176. In this recall there is a flow chart instructing the dealer on how to repair the subject vehicle. This flow chart was clearly not followed. The dealer only performed the ECU Logic improvement and did not replace the catalytic converter. The subject vehicle had trouble code P0420 before it arrived. The code was cleared while in the dealers care but returned 6 miles after the vehicle was picked up. Service manager Nick was contacted, He said there were no stored codes however I provided documentation show the code was there and the check engine light was on when dropped off at the dealership. I believe this is a violation of NHTSA. Because the subject vehicle still has a defective Catalytic converter that is manufacture defect.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11438703October 29, 2021
POWER TRAIN
I was driving down the interstate at 70 mph. Noticed the car felt like it was accelerating and then decelerating like I was fighting against a strong wind. Looked at the tachometer and saw it fluctuating between 2000rpm and 3000 rpm. Suddenly it redlined to 7000 rpm and I had very little power to the wheels. It would drop back to 3000 but if I tried to accelerate it would redline. I was in heavy interstate traffic. I barely made it to an exit and into a parking lot. By the time I got off the highway it would go no faster than 5mph. I tried restarting the car to find I couldn't go forward or in reverse and the engine would go to 7000rpm. I have about 24k miles on the odometer. Bought brand new from the dealership. Easily could've been rear-ended or crashed in the heavy traffic with no power to the wheels.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11438456October 28, 2021
ENGINE
Approximately six months ago, my check engine light came on and I took my car to a local mechanic. He said that I needed an oil change and my oil level seemed a bit low even though it wasn’t at the 5000 mile mark yet, so I should keep an eye on oil consumption. Around 3500 miles after this oil change, my check engine light came on again. I took my car back to the mechanic at Midas and he informed me that my car was consuming oil due to faulty seals around the pistons, and I would need to make a warranty claim to KIA. The dealership immediately knew what the issue was and agreed to make an appointment to replace the engine, but called back and informed me I needed to do an oil consumption test and would have to pay for an additional oil change from the dealership. I agreed and after driving 1000 miles I brought my car back. The dealership confirms it is burning over a quart of oil every 1000 miles, but now they claim the engine will not be covered unless it seizes up while I am driving. Their suggestion is I replace the engine on my own dime or put more oil in every few thousand miles until it seizes and causes a potentially fatal accident. As I have been researching online, I have found several people with similar issues, and many who’s cars HAVE seized while they were driving highway speeds. It seems as though KIA’s plan to keep costs low is to hope anyone with an engine claim dies in the crash when it inevitably seizes up. Burning over a quart of oil every 1000 miles and suggesting I pump more oil in to get burned up is hardly environmentally friendly or healthy for the air we breathe. There should be a recall for Kia engines because this is obviously a widespread and well known issue, but for some reason KIA was allowed to get away with recalling a fraction of the cars they should and letting the rest of us risk our lives waiting for our engine to seize up going 75MPH!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11438381October 27, 2021
ENGINE
On 10/23/2021, I took my vehicle for a oil change around 10:30 in the morning, afterwards I proceeded to run errands before heading to work. While on my way to work my vehicle started to make a rattling noise from the engine bay. So I decided to drive to the dealership to see if my oil change was done incorrectly on the way to dealership my vehicle rattling grew louder and started to sound like a freight train I made it to the dealership a the service advisor said I’m glad you made it and checked my vehicle after letting him know I just got a oil change I was advised oil change wasn’t done incorrectly but my vehicle is possibly among the recall for the 2.0L engines for failure my vehicle is only at 45,000 miles.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11438230October 26, 2021
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving approximately 45 mph, when there was an abnormal knocking noise coming from the engine compartment and suddenly there was smoke as well. The contact was able to pull over and EMS were called to the scene, before fire marshals arrived on the scene the fire extinguished on its own. The contact stated no warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a local dealer where it was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was informed of failure but was unable to assist the contact. The failure mileage was approximately 93,635.
Crash:
No
Fire:
Yes
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11438146October 25, 2021
ENGINE
While attempting to accelerate on the interstate (around 70 mph), the engine began to knock. No warning lights were illuminated. Took the vehicle to a local automotive repair and was informed that it had completely burned through the oil and the engine would need to be replaced. The technician advised that there is a technical service bulletin out for the issue in question as it relates to excessive oil consumption for affected vehicles. The engine could have failed at any point and we were advised it was unsafe to drive. As stated earlier, there were no warning lights and no reason to believe anything was wrong with the car prior to this incident as it has had routine oil changes and maintenance. The problem was detected at a Tires Plus location but the car is being towed to the dealer to confirm the issue this week. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone else.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11437893October 23, 2021
ENGINE
Engine rod bearing failure. Engine failure. Vehicle was consuming more oil than expected and engine just shut off. Vehicle would not shift into gear. Battery was not charged. When fine finally came on after charging there was a knocking sound. Engine would not accelerate and knocking sound became loud. Vehicle would not even stop.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11437711October 21, 2021
ENGINE
The car has the auto stop engine feature. Randomly, when ever I stop the car the engine will turn off because of the auto stop feature. But when I shift the car into park, the car won’t turn back on. Instead the green auto stop light will stay lit in the dashboard and when I take off my seatbelt I will get an error that states: “Auto Stop is Off. Shift to P or N to start engine” and I will hear a high pitch noise. If I shift the car to Neutral, Drive, Reverse or back to park nothing will happen. The engine won’t turn back on and if I’m on a incline or decline the car will start rolling. The only way to get the engine to turn back on is to turn off the car and turn it back on via turning the key. I have also had the car fail to turn back on at stop lights when the auto stop feature is activated. I would be at the stop light. The engine would turn off and when I take my foot off of the break the engine won’t turn back on. I won’t get the error that I stated earlier. I just see the green auto stop light turn off and then the check engine light, the battery light, and the oil light turns on. There was another time I was with my sister and we were getting food. We were at a stoplight and the engine turned off. When the light turned green and I went to take my foot of the break, the whole car died. Everything turned off. The radio and the dashboard all went black and lost power. The car also wouldn’t let me turn the key to try and restart it. When I got the car restarted, I was at the same traffic light. The car lost all power again. The same thing happened again. The engine turned off and when I went to take my foot of the break, everything went black. Finally, this last thing only happened so far 1 time. I was driving home on the highway. I heard the car making a sound like it was increasing in revs. Then all of a sudden everything went black. The car lost power when I was driving on the highway. I pulled over and had to restart the car.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11437436October 20, 2021
ENGINE
Engine making knocking noise, car turns off while driving, it won't start sometimes, hard hesitates when gears change, I'm mostly concerned about it turning off while driving in a high way it happened three times already to me!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11437441October 20, 2021
ENGINE
My check engine light was continually going on and off for a month took it t get it check found out it was converter and their a recall for converter . Took to the Kia dealership with check engine light on to have this taken care they did only a reboot of the engine and light was off so I thought the problem was solve bit the very next day the light was back on went again to the check engine light and again they said it was the catalyst converter took it back to dealership and told their was no more recall on my vehicle I told them about the problem and recall they didn't fix and was told it cost me to do diagnostic test and I week to do that I told I can't be with out a car that long so it was nothing they can do I left and now my check engine light coming on more frequently I might have this fix myself I don't want more engine or worst but why should I pay when this was be taken of them I received a recall notice for same thing 2 days ago and they still won't fix it free of charge what going on and now what shall I do?
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11437518October 20, 2021
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I put my car in park, turned off my car, and it lit up with an alarm saying that my car was not in park. It doesn't happen every time but it has happened twice.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11437305October 19, 2021
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:EXHAUST SYSTEM:EMISSION CONTROL:CATALYTIC CONVERTOR
Driving along on highway, the vehicle struggles to go uphill. Loses acceleration and have difficulty revving to next gear. Brought the vehicle to dealer. Dealer states the catalytic converter is clogged. This is the third time in three years that this has happen. First time, I paid full price to replace because vehicle was out of its warranty. Second time, Kia did a good-faith repair, replaced catalytic for free. Now it is happening again. Oil consumption is high. Would have to top off oil after two gas fill-ups. The vehicle is regularly maintain with oil and filter changes. I seen many posts of owners with same vehicle having the same issues. Kia dealer wants to charge $2600 to replace converter. They also suggests an oil consumption test that will cost around $500+. Never have any warnings that the oil is low. If I was not diligent in checking my oil levels, I could be driving the vehicle with no oil and potentially damaging the engine or worse a fire will break out. This vehicle needs to be recalled.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11437252October 18, 2021
ENGINE
while driving on the freeway, car completely shut off. There was a safety risk as the car was driving 65 on the freeway at the time. Car has been at a indpependent car shop and has now been at the dealership for 5 weeks and was told that complete engine failure. Car was driving fine up until the moment it died. There was no sputtering, or engine light that came on for a warning. Had to very carefully get the car over to the side of the freeway.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11437113October 18, 2021
ENGINE
The contact owns a 2013 Kia Soul. The contact stated that the engine was making a tapping sound. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was jerking while idling. The contact who is a certified mechanic diagnosed that the vehicle had a valve tap failure. The vehicle had not been repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 119,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11436990October 16, 2021
ENGINE
Catalytic converter failed. Car can over heat and catch on fire. Took to dealership and has been confirmed catalytic converter failed. Vehicle only has 83,000 miles. No warning engine start rattling really bad and vehicle was struggling to go up bridges and speed up.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11436879October 15, 2021
ENGINE
I towed my car to a Kia Dealership and was told the Engine needs to be replaced
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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