Kia Soul Complaints (2017)

290 consumer complaints on file.

#11766035September 22, 2026
ENGINE
This car since I had it burns alot and I mean alot of oil between oil changes i have to keep oil on hand and constantly checking the oil I have alot of friends with this car and the same issue I had my soul for over 5 years and it's still burning oil I take care of my car im still paying on it and it has less than 70,000 miles and 8m having problems with it. I'm disabled, one income. I need my car I've brought this to kua themselves they told me to...JUST KEEP WATCHING YOUR OIL LEVELS LIJE U VEEN U SHUD BE OK....ARE THEY SERIOUS. PLEASE HELP ME
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11763203September 9, 2026
STRUCTURE:BODY
The paint is completely failing on this kia soul. The eroded paint is a well known issue with Kia, nothing is being done about the paint failing and chipping across the whole body of the car, which will lead to inevitable rusting. It has been inspected, they are aware of the issue, and are doing nothing to resolve it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11752811July 25, 2026
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
My car has had intermittent faults of codes P1B25 and P1CF2 and are showing check EV system on the dash. This happens after about 30-45 minutes of driving and then restarting the car. It has been identified that the power relay assembly needs to be replaced on the vehicle, which lives in the high voltage battery pack. However, Kia does not want to replace this under warranty , claiming that it is not an EV system component. I am not going to pay out of pocket for this repair as it goes against their own warranty information, but continuing to drive the car would be dangerous as it could drop HV power at any point.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11752468July 23, 2026
ENGINE
One day I noticed my oil light flashed on and off about three times during a drive down the road, simultaneously a loud knocking started in my engine. Although I had gotten my oil changed just a couple months prior and always practiced appropriate maintenance I decided to pull over and check my oil, it was empty. No warnings, the oil light had never come on, the engine light had never come on. A modern car shouldn’t have complete engine failure due to oil starvation with no warning whatsoever. That is separate from the other problem where the car had obviously been burning oil excessively. I got my vehicle towed to the dealership and was told I don’t fall under any warranties. The cars engine failed at 92,000 miles with no warning, with regular maintenance and with low mileage driven per week.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11750111July 13, 2026
ENGINE, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM, POWER TRAIN
The engine has structural manufacturer defect causing extreme internal engine oil consumption with zero external leaks, creating a severe risk of sudden oil starvation catastrophic mechanical engine failure. The severe oil consumption problem was confirmed by a certified national corporate service center (Firestone Auto Care). An intermittent P0420 catalytic converter warning is actively appearing on the dashboard, which is a documented consequence of internal engine oil burning. When attempting to get this mechanical defect diagnosed and repaired under the class-action parameters, manufacturer dealerships (Findlay Kia and Jim Marsh Kia) declined to schedule the mandatory manufacturer diagnostic testing, preventing a known vehicle defect from being resolved.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11743757June 12, 2026
ENGINE
The contact owns a 2017 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving approximately 65 MPH, a loud knocking sound was heard, and the vehicle's speed decreased to approximately 25 MPH. The contact was able to safely pull over into a parking lot. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 197,000
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11738789May 19, 2026
ENGINE
2017 Kia Soul, 1.6L Gamma GDI engine, ~82,000 miles. Vehicle exhibits excessive oil consumption consistent with the known piston ring defect addressed in Kia TSB ENG222 (covering 2012–2019 Souls with Gamma/Nu engines) and consistent with the E2 Class Action Settlement that covered the same engine in 2012–2016 model years. The oil consumption has destroyed the catalytic converter, causing the engine to stall. The vehicle is not currently drivable. Kia dealer has refused to perform the oil consumption test or evaluate engine warranty coverage until the owner pays out of pocket to replace the catalytic converters (quoted at $6,000). Requesting NHTSA expand the existing Gamma engine recall coverage to include 2017 model year, which currently falls in a coverage gap despite using the identical defective engine.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11737896May 14, 2026
POWER TRAIN, ENGINE
2017 KIA SOUL, at approximately 87,000 miles began to show intermittent oil warning lights under regular G-loads pointing to oil starvation issues.Vehicle was taken to KIA Dealer for oil change. Dealer stated that possible oil consumption would trigger a need to return to dealer before the 1000 mile marker for second round of warranty checks per TSB 222 rev 8 Excessive Oil Consumption Nu/GAMMA/theta/kappa engines. Dealer is claiming that PN Oil Pressure Switch 94750 37100 is culprit and wanting to charge for service and parts. Existing TSB 237, Oil Pressure Switch Replacement, which outlines that the lambda engines have this exact same PN covered under warranty at no cost to client. This should set precedent that the TSB needs to include the same engine types in TSB 222 as the issue seems to be recurrent in engine types across the fleet of KIA manufactured vehicles. KIA corporate has a letter outlining that the repairs are to be covered by dealers for the Oil Pressure Switch in question.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11736438May 7, 2026
STEERING, ENGINE, SUSPENSION
The vehicle experiences major engine performance issues following a replacement engine installation (approximately 8,000 miles on the new engine). Additionally, the catalytic converter is malfunctioning, the steering exhibits significant pulsation during braking, and the suspension system is malfunctioning. These combined defects create an unsafe driving condition and pose a serious risk to the driver, passengers, and other motorists.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11735880May 5, 2026
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE
I reported the issue yesterday, but we have additional information. Here is a timeline of the incident as recorded by the doorbell camera: 2026-05-03 085400 Car parked 101423 Car is already trying to start by itself 101713 Car still starting, starter slowing down 101734 Starter sounds overheated 101740 Starter slows to stop 101835 First visible smoke 102304 Neighbor notices 102338 I was notified 102452 Used extinguisher 102600 Fire out 102744 Called the fire department 103600 Fire department arrives shortly after I have camera videos showing much of the timeline. I cannot upload because they exceed the limits of this form. Well over an hour after the car was driven, the starter engaged. It ran for almost 4 minutes straight as far as I can tell. In the videos we have, you can hear it seize up from the heat. About a minute later, smoke is visible. Had this not been caught in thte timely manner that it was, it would have been devastating. Here is a link to two of the videos. [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
No
Fire:
Yes
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11735549May 4, 2026
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
After multiple recent services at the dealership, the car caught fire while idle in the driveway. The fire was under the hood in the front part of the engine compartment, just behind the latch mechanism. Fire was extinguished and verified by the local fire department. The parking spaces are close to other cars and townhouses.
Crash:
No
Fire:
Yes
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11734660April 29, 2026
ENGINE
The contact owns a 2017 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the low oil pressure warning light illuminated. The contact added oil to the vehicle; however, the vehicle went into LIMP Mode and failed to exceed 60 MPH while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the engine needed to be replaced; however, the contact was informed that the engine replacement was not covered under an unknown class-action lawsuit settlement recall because only 12 out of the required 17 oil change service records were available. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and made the same assessment. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 128,129.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11730421April 10, 2026
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The paint is continuing to peel off and its getting worse. When I called Kia they said it is not covered. Apparently this is a manufacturing defect. I would really like this to be corrected if possible. T;hank you, Gail LeBrun
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11728291March 31, 2026
ENGINE
We heard a ticking noise, and took it to the autoshop. After investigating, they found that it was a total engine failure. The mechanics encouraged us to check the vin number, because total engine failure for the 2017 Kia Soul was very common. Our vin did not appear in this recall, but all the symptoms are the same. We've had regular maintenance, and it's less than 80k miles.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11726069March 21, 2026
ENGINE
Driving on busy highway with one passenger. Vehicle began losing power and acceleration, but no warning lights came on. Kept driving for 20 miles and oil warning light came on, but temp vuage registered fine. I parked, checked fluid amounts, and oil was extremely low (even though it had been checked the week prior and was full). Put 2 quarts in, started vehicle and warning lights went off. Proceeded back on to highway, drove 5 miles and engine lost acceleration and started knocking loudly, and all the warning gauges lit up. I pulled into parking lot, turned off the vehicle. Checked oil level and it was fine. Got towed home. Fairly certain it's the rod bearing. Engine has about 103,000 miles on it and has been well maintained. I see so many of this exact complaint, but our year model seemed to be ignored with a recall. Have loved our Kia's until now. Watchable got Hyundai?
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11715878February 5, 2026
ENGINE, POWER TRAIN, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM
While driving under normal conditions, the check engine light began flashing and the vehicle suddenly lost power and entered limp mode. Acceleration was severely limited, making it difficult to maintain speed in traffic. The vehicle was later diagnosed with diagnostic trouble code P1326, which is associated with engine rod bearing failure. This caused an unexpected loss of engine power and created a safety risk while driving. The vehicle had to be taken to a dealership for inspection due to the severity of the power loss.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11715590February 4, 2026
ENGINE
While driving, the vehicle suffered a sudden and total engine seizure and loss of power (stalling), creating a life-threatening hazard in traffic . A certified Kia technician diagnosed a seized short block, multi-cylinder misfires (P0300-P0304), and a hole in the exhaust valve. This failure is identical to the defects in Recall SC176 and the Engine Litigation II Settlement. Furthermore, the dealer previously refused my request for the KSDS safety software update, which would have prevented this catastrophic seizure by triggering Limp Home Mode.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11712473January 21, 2026
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE
I’ve had to get three oil changes in just five months of owning my vehicle. Honda of Brandon sold it to me with a clean Car-Fax report, but I’m now facing a possible manifold and catalytic converter replacement costing $4,200. When the service department called the warranty company, they claimed it was a catalytic converter issue, but it turned out to be an O-2 sensor, which would cost about $460. One month after purchase, I had to replace the ignition coil and requested spark plug replacements, though I wouldn’t have known if a spark plug was bad. That repair bill alone came to $802.17, just a month after buying the car. Problem with battery. Oil has to keep being replaced and no one knows since not on ground has to be going in the engine. service rpt are Aug/19, 2025, jan 20,2026
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11712485January 21, 2026
ENGINE
The engine failed while driving on the highway, putting myself and others at risk. First the car started shaking, then the check engine light flickered. Fortunately, I was able to get off the highway, but I was far from home. The engine failure was confirmed by an independent service center and a dealer. The vehicle was inspected by a third party and since it was still under warranty, the engine was rebuilt. A few weeks later, the check engine light came on again, this time 0420 code. The dealer where I purchased the vehicle called it in to the warranty company, and they have reset the check engine light and asked me to keep driving the car to see if the light comes back on. All of this happened after the car had undergone oil consumption testing, and a previous claim for a new engine had been denied both by the warranty company and the manufacturer.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11711695January 18, 2026
ENGINE
We had a new engine installed because of a recall. The dealership told us we needed a new catalytic converter because they were clogged due to the faulty engine. There is no recall and I am now in fear for my safety and my children's safety. I can smell exhaust extremely bad while driving and continue to smell it hours afterwards. Including feeling nauseous and developing a headache.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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