Kia Soul Complaints

5,626 consumer complaints on file.

#11622661October 30, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
The contact owns a 2013 Kia Soul. The contact stated that the vehicle was parked and unoccupied in a carport when it suddenly caught fire near the engine compartment. The fire had expanded and caused damage to the entire garage near the carport and 2 other vehicles and a motorcycle inside the garage. The fire department arrived and extinguished the fire. A fire report was filed and the origin was an electrical issue. The vehicle was towed and identified as totaled. There were no injuries sustained. A dealer was not contacted. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V652000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulics), after the vehicle fire. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 110,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
Yes
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11622416October 29, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS
On Sunday l was driving my car and the car started making noise at green light when l try to press on the accurate to go forward to get to the green light. I try to get though the green light but the car shut off on me in the middle of the intersection. Started the car back up and try to accurate again but was only able move a little bit and get to the side of the road this is unsafe. I have had thj
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11622471October 29, 2024
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING, ENGINE
The contact owns a 2015 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving 30 MPH, there was an abnormal sound coming from the engine. The vehicle was driven to an independent mechanic and was diagnosed with catalytic converter failure. The contact was informed that the catalytic converter needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The VIN was not included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V120000 (ENGINE, ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 150,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11622563October 29, 2024
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
The contact owns a 2013 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle started making abnormally loud sounds and lost motive power. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact was able to pull over to the side of the road. The contact resumed driving; however, the failure persisted. The contact was able to drive to the residence and noticed that the oil level was low. The contact added oil to the vehicle and started the vehicle. The contact stated upon checking the oil level again, there was no oil left in the vehicle. The contact then inspected the ground, but there was no oil on the ground. The contact researched the failure online. The contact then inspected the exhaust pipe and noticed that the oil had leaked into the exhaust pipe. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the engine had failed and needed to be replaced. The dealer informed the contact that the repair was not covered under NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V120000 (Engine, Engine and Engine Cooling) because the failure was not related to the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 140,000. The VIN was not available.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11622005October 25, 2024
ENGINE, ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
The contact's daughter owns a 2013 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while his daughter was driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine and the low oil pressure warning lights illuminated. The contact's daughter was able to drive to the contact's residence. Additionally, the contact stated that while his daughter was driving 40-50 MPH, the vehicle started shuddering, and there was smoke coming out from underneath the hood. The vehicle stalled. The driver was able to pull over to the side of the road. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the engine had seized and needed to be rebuilt or replaced. The dealer informed the contact that the vehicle was not covered under NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V120000 (Engine, Engine and Engine Cooling). The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 112,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11622036October 25, 2024
ENGINE, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
purchased vehicle on 10/12/2024 was driving it home the car started knocking, and loosing acceleration on freeway. the car was smelling of very volatile gas fumes. i put some gas in car for the trip home . drove about 15-18 miles had to pullover into the v shape of the merging section of a on ramp,. could not make it to the emergency lane on the freeway. used family members road side assistance to get car home, took it to the kia dealer (car pros moreno valley) towed to them because they said had to get a appt,. which they set up for today 10/25/2024. the intake person was letting us know it was just a update as if the fuel leak and oil leak was not a part of the recall and it would cost us 9000-13,000 to fix the engine plus the diagnosis of 240.00 getting the run around already for a dangerous situation. the car has caught fire for other owners, of the same year and make. the customer care person stated to me it is just a oil pan leak, as if the car is safe and anything else is our problem. the car reeks of fumes and could not be safe to drive. they were questioning us about the recall as to why it was not done? we told him we were not the owners we dont know if they got the notices? no, unknown only owned the car 0n 10/12/24 for 30 minutes before this started warning lights appeared on dash after knocking and acceleration went out. car was towed and left at kia dealer today. he was talking to us as if it was our fault the car was dangerous and could blow up while driving!!!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11621679October 24, 2024
SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Soul. The contact stated that the MIL warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and repaired under NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V652000 (Service Brakes, Hydraulic); however, the failure persisted. Additionally, the contact stated while the vehicle was idling, the contact noticed an abnormal burning odor. The dealer was notified of the failure and advised the contact that a fee would be charged for additional repairs. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 152,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11621695October 24, 2024
ENGINE, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle failed to accelerate to highway speeds. The vehicle continuously went into LIMP Mode. The message for rod bearing failure was displayed on the display screen. The contact used a code reader and reset the system. While driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The knock sensor message was displayed. The contact called the local dealer and was informed that the vehicle had a salvage title and declined to perform the service. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 77,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11621529October 23, 2024
ENGINE
Oil plug fell out while driving, engine needed to be replaced.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11621607October 23, 2024
UNKNOWN OR OTHER, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
My wife was driving the 2016 KIA Soul EV and the car just shut itself off in the middle of the intersection. She was able to turn the car off and turn it back on, but nearly caused an accident. A few months later it did it again. After getting a new software update, I told KIA About the vehicle shutting down, and they told me that if it happens again that we will need to bring it it. So we brought it in. We believe we were able to narrow down the cause to be related to regenerative breaking on a full battery. On Newer EV models, when the battery is fully recharged, regenerative breaking is disabled to prevent overcharging the battery, I dont know what they do to these kias. When we brought it in they said it needed a new battery, but I am not sure if they are going to fix the vehicle shutdown issue. I think that the BMS may be shutting the car down to prevent the vehicle from overcharging the battery when we are going down hills. I've got tired of KIA and their lies. I read information about a battery recall, and they wouldn't recall the battery and replace it with the e400 battery. They said the battery was fine. They lied to me and my wife. The battery was proven recently to be defective and they were hoping the vehicle would make it past its warranty date so they wouldn't have to replace it. We took the vehicle to KIA to replace the battery, and a couple of weeks later they were able to put a battery in it, then driving it home I was bombarded with warnings, and the vehicle power was reduced by 50%, I was afraid something would happen. The vehicle also would not charge. KIA Techs came to our house and drove it back to the dealership, and it's been there ever since. They say the vehicle needs a new BMS. I think this issue with the vehicle shutting down like this is highly dangerous and needs to be reported. It even happened once when I was in the vehicle at the middle of an intersection, which could have caused an accident! (29k miles)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11621254October 22, 2024
ENGINE
On [XXX] my 2014 Kia Soul caught on fire while I was at a gas station. There had been no warning lights, however when I first started it that day it acted like it didn't want to start. A man ran in the gas station and got their fire extinguisher and put the engine fire out. I called 911 , and when the fire department inspected it they said the fire was completely out. They filed a report and I had my car towed to Glassman Kia Southfield Michigan. It's been there since August 31st, and they still haven't told me what caused my fire. I've been in contact with KIA America in California and have been getting nothing but what seems like a snow job. The car is available at the car dealership for inspection, but only God knows if they have inspected it yet. I am [XXX] with no transportation for almost two months. This is just wrong. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
No
Fire:
Yes
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11621309October 22, 2024
ENGINE
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked, an abnormal sound and odor was coming from the engine compartment. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed and determined that the engine needed to be replaced. The contact was informed that the VIN was included in the NHTSA Campaign Number: 20V750000 (Engine); however, the dealer requested for the contact to pay for the repairs out of pocket. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and confirmed that the VIN was included in the recall. The failure mileage was unknown.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11621372October 22, 2024
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
My car has never had the gas mileage that is advertised; it’s always been about 3-4 mpg less than the 28 mpg city/31 mpg highway. Recently, I had multiple engine system failures with the plug-in check devices at places like AutoZone saying my ignition coils were misfiring, and after bringing it to the dealership twice for about 1.5 months each time for a total of 3 months, they replaced the fuel injectors and a few other parts the first time before releasing the car to me only to have the same errors come back within 24 hours and I ended up bringing it back only for them to tell me the entire fuel pump system is shot and needed to be completely replaced and all fuel flushed out. Both times I brought it in they claimed it was due to bad gas, but after talking to my insurance, my claim agent concluded it was not bad gas as newer cars like mine have internal sensors that will completely stop the car from driving or even turning on if bad gas is detected to prevent further damage and that’s never been the case for me. I’ve always been able to drive my vehicle and the only noticeable issue would be my fuel mileage. I’ve had the new fuel pump system for about a week now, and my fuel mileage is around 28-29 mpg, more than it’s ever been since I bought the vehicle back in November 2020. I’ve only ever had a max of 26 mpg no matter how or where I drive. I did find recalls on similar makes of cars with the same year as mine from both Kia and Hyundai, and I believe that the Kia Souls around 2020-2021 also have faulty fuel pump systems and should be recalled. I don’t know how many of them are out there, but despite only having 50k miles on my car, the bad gas diagnosis excluded it from the warranty and I had to pay out of pocket the $1,516.83 for the fuel pump system replacement and flushing of the ‘bad gas’ at the Kia dealership.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11620960October 21, 2024
ENGINE, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM, POWER TRAIN
My 2014 Kia Soul ! has had 2 codes, P1326 which is related to a Knock Sensor Detection System (KSDS) which has ties to a known Rod Bearing issue. And a P0420 code related to the Catalytic converter. There was a lawsuit which led to a Recall issued for this vehicle, however, it appears only for 1.6L engine. Mine is 2.0. Just basic online searches have discovered an overwhelming amount of other owners of 2.0 also getting the same issues with there's as well.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11621027October 21, 2024
ENGINE
My kia has always used a lot of oil to the point I need to top it off regularly despite getting recommended oil changes and doing recommended maintenance. Recently My engine started misfiring so I replaced all spark plugs and ignition coils, but was still having issues. Found out today that catalytic converter is main issue and needs to be replaced. Dealer is requiring I bring in to determine if a warranty will cover. Never had a check engine light but very slow acceleration that created several dangerous situations for me on the road. My professional mechanic repaired other issues/diagnosed this problem.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11621146October 21, 2024
ENGINE, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
Earlier last year, we had suddenly had an issue with the Kia Soul. We received a check engine light and noticed a loud clicking noise as the vehicle began accelerating and noticed the vehicle had difficulty accelrating. We left the vehicle parked and then attempted to change the battery and oil to see if either were a contributing factor. When we noticed no improvement upon turning on the car, we took the vehicle to a licensed dealership: Arapahoe Kia to check the vehicle to diagnose the issue and help determine if this was covered under warranty. On our drive (which was about 2 miles from where we had left the car, the engine seized so we had the vehicle towed there. Once we got the diag back, they told us the code but wanted service records to honor the warranty from all oil changes in all states for the past 5 years or pay full cost of vehicle. No mention was made of the prior repaired recalls or determination if the cause could have been because of the unprepared recall that clearly states the syptoms and result being the exact problem we experienced. A few months later when we received notification from a different licensed dealer we had the unrepaired recall (in automated texts and emails), we called back Arapahoe Kia who still had the car, and they again stated service records would be needed to honor the NHTSA recall and also admitted they didn’t attempt to identify if the engine issue we had was caused by the unrepaired recall, as they only looked at the code and visual inspection of oil sludge, and treated it like a warranty claim to deny and did not validate the recall as the cause. But they still have refused to actually inspect the recall concern to determine if the engine trouble was caused by it and repair it as obligated if it was. Instead they keep asking us to pay for the full engine without validating root cause under the NHTSA recall.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11620874October 20, 2024
ENGINE, POWER TRAIN
1.) We were driving to Nashville and once my car got around 70,000 mile my check engine light came on. Then my car started to make a humming noise. We pulled over to check the oil the oil was fine. Once we got back into the car and left the gas station the light started to blink. Yes 2.) We were on the highway, and if the engine could have blown up or we could've got stuck on the way there and back. Also, the where the car started to act up was around a bad neighborhood. 3.) Yes 4.) Yes 5.) The car started to hum but once my car hit 70,000 miles the check engine light came on and started to flash.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11620659October 18, 2024
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power, failed to accelerate, and stalled. The check engine warning light was flashing. The contact pulled over and checked the oil level. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the pistons were not operating correctly. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was previously taken to an independent mechanic, who replaced the engine. The manufacturer was contacted, opened a case, but no additional assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 130,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11620494October 17, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Periodically while driving, I receive error notifications on the dashboard through both sound alerts and warning lights, resulting in the affected systems temporarily ceasing to function. The dashboard provides specific warnings: "check forward safety system," "check lane safety system," "check speed limit system," "check high beam assist system," and "check inattentive driving warning system." These warnings cycle through with flashing lights and ongoing alert noises. While the issue sometimes resolves after the first or second warning, it often continues cycling through all of the previously described warnings before returning to normal. On some occasions, the warning lights remain on for an extended period, with the longest observed duration being 16 minutes. There are no observable patterns to the frequency or cause of the issue, although it is occurring at least once per day now; initially ~2x/week. It happens at any time of day or night and in any weather conditions. I've scheduled service for this issue 5 separate times. The first time, the dealership advised they did not have a fix and declined to take the car into the service department. The second time, the camera was replaced, but the issue persisted. The third time I took the car in for service, it was at the dealer for a week and I was advised the issue was part of the normal functioning of the car. The fourth time, the service techs did not make an effort to observe the problem and reported that the car was working as designed. The car is now in for service again. Each time I have scheduled service, I have provided them with a video of the problem. The continuous disabling of these safety features is not only distracting but also diminishes the value of the vehicle. I rely on these systems for my safety and purchased this vehicle specifically for these features. I am concerned that this ongoing issue may desensitize me to important warning signals and compromise the overall functionality of the car.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11620152October 16, 2024
ENGINE
The engine light and oil light were coming on and the engine was making horrible noises. My wife called me and we had it towed to the nearest dealer, Allentown KIA. The paperwork we received from KIA stated if those 3 things occur, get towed and the dealer will look the car over over. According to the paperwork that we received it could be possible for the engine to be replaced and in addition, a knock sensor recall should be performed. After sitting at the dealer a month before it was diagnosed, they came back with a quote for $9000 for the engine to be replaced because of upper and lower engine noise and timing chain noise, at my expense. I was told it was not covered because I never had the knock sensor recall performed. I never received any paperwork for the recall to be performed. I am a mechanic and I take my car to a private garage for all my service work. I was told there were other recalls not performed. The second person from KIA said that because of an EVAP leak, the engine could not be replaced and they checked the rod bearings by not even taking the engine apart. The engine light is on, the oil light flickers and the engine makes various noises and consumes oil. I do not know what the real story is but I feel my engine should be replaced. I do not know what to do and I own another KIA.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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