2006 Kia Sorento: sudden loss of power

Filed Oct 6, 2016 · Engine · 139,500 miles · TX

This is the third time that this has happen to me. I was driving and my car stop in the middle of the street need a tow truck so I took it to the shop and the diagnose was crank shift sensor $700.00. About 3 yrs later driving on the freeway lost all power light came on guide of the freeway I took it to the shop the same problem again crank shift sensor again $700.00. The yr driving from work on the freeway it happen again no power light came on another $ 700.00. [xxx]. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Jan 22, 2016 · Engine · 159,000 miles · MO · crash · fire

Belt sprocket and harmonic balancer with bolt. The bolt is made of substandard material and broke causing the automobile to lose power steering and other vital car features. No warning, it just broke while in motion causing all of the belts to seize. I was on a hilly mountainous road in my home area of high ridge missouri, acutally on the high ridge.I am lucky that I am smart enough to drive defensively and was able to coast to a safe side road. Two mechanics came to my rescue and easily saw that the problem stating that I would need a whole new engine.I have a temporary fix estimate from my mechanic but he says the car really needs a whole new engine.....

Filed Jan 21, 2016 · Engine · 140,000 miles · WA

6/2015 vehicle began to run rough. Local mechanic discovered crankcase bolt had snapped and the pulley and balancer mounting screw had sheared off. Shop confirmed a kia kit to fix the issue ($1200.00 + 1007.00 for timing gear kit and water pump) 1/15/2016 while driving into the roundabout on portal way (15 MPH) there was a loud clunk from the engine compartment immediately followed by the loss of power steering, asb braking and voltmeter warning lights. The vehicle was towed to mechanics shop where it was confirmed that the new crankcase bolt has broken again damaging the new pulley and balancer also. The shop contacted the local kia dealer and they confirmed that the 2003-2006 v6 3.5l misabishi engines used have a long record of this problem with no permanent fix. The following information was emailed to me from the owner of axton automotive, ferndale wa an ase certified shop, "on wednesday, january 20, 2016, axton automotive wrote: hello, on you kia. It doesn't look like any fix is permanent on the vehicle. Even their own recall/fix is failing. I recommend filing a complaint at the federal safety agency.. I will come up with some options tomorrow and get back to you. But whatever we decide I recommend not using this vehicle. Jim" the vehicle is disabled at this time with no response from kia.

Filed Aug 28, 2015 · Engine · 107,000 miles · OH

While driving down highway, both the break light and battery light came on and lost power steering. Was able to make it to a safe location. When at first glance it appeared that the main belt has slipped off the pulley. When towed to a service station for assessment and repair, it was discovered that the harmonic balancer bolt had broken off in the crankshaft. We are still in process of trying to find out of the remaining part of the bolt can be removed or if the entire engine will need to be replaced. The bolt is not considered a 'working part' of the engine and extended warranty refuses to cover the repairs. The root of the problem is in the roll pin inside the casing that wears down and the bolt can not support the stress. Kia has had a recall on model years 2003 and 2004 but the problem continues for 2005 and 2006 years and research is showing that kia is not covering the problem for 2005 or 2006

Filed Aug 10, 2015 · Steering · 130,000 miles · MS

Tl* the contact owns a 2006 kia sorento. The contact stated that while traveling 60 MPH, there was a sudden loss of power steering and the steering wheel locked with no warning. The vehicle was merged over to the side of the road and the contact was able to restart the vehicle which reset the computer. The contact stated that the vehicle was making an extremely loud abnormal noise when the failure occurred. The vehicle was parked at the contacts residence. An independent mechanic inspected the vehicle and indicated that a bolt fractured into the crank shaft. The vehicle was towed to a repair shop for further diagnosis. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 130,000.

Filed Jun 18, 2015 · Engine, Steering · 180,000 miles · IN

I was turning at a stop light when I loss power steering and nearly crashed.I was able to get it pulled over.I raised the hood and saw the crankshaft pulley lying on the the bottom skid plate.I looked on the internet only to find there are probably thousands of similar cases worldwide.I called kia .they basically blew me off!

Filed Dec 23, 2014 · Engine · 73,000 miles · TX

Was sitting parked thankfully but the crankshaft bolt sheared off causing loss of power steering and loss of alternator. This is the second time this has happened within a year. Thankfully we weren't in motion when this happened. Please investigate as this keeps happening and has happened to a lot of kia sorento owners (looking online). Kia issued a service memo telling the service people to use an upgraded bolt, however we had the upgraded bolt and the issue still occurred.

Filed Dec 17, 2014 · Steering, Transmission · 121,000 miles · TX

While driving down the highway, the crankshaft bolt broke inside the crankshaft causing steering problems, and the car shutdown. This is very dangerous and could cause death by losing steering control or a serious accident with others due to lost of power.

Filed Oct 26, 2014 · Transmission · 64,000 miles · PA

We were just turning around a bend and all of the sudden, we lost power steering and the car lost power. Then we managed to pull it over to a parking lot. Then we needed to have the car towed. We have already contacted kia to see if there was a recall on it. They informed me that there wasn't that particular recall on that model. It is my understanding that this model should have bin included in the recall list.

Filed Sep 18, 2014 · Engine · 113,000 miles · VA

Car at first would shut off while driving , pulled car over and would start back up, took car to mechanic and said it was the crankshaft sensor, replace crank shaft sensor, few weeks later problem return, mechanic thought it was the camshaft sensor still had the problem of car shutting off while driving in city and highway.finally after months of back in and out of the mechanics while driving crankshaft bolt broke while driving, affecting the harmonica balancer and timing belt causing the vehicle to lose all power in the car and had no power steering, very little control of the vehicle, coasted into driveway luckily no on-coming cars , after spending several hundreds of dollars for repairs, mechanic is telling me the engine is no good, car is undrivable needs new engine at cost of 5300 dollars.

Filed May 17, 2014 · Brakes, Electrical · 100,123 miles · NY

Coming home from work about 2miles away from home, I lost power, my power steering, and electrical and I had to pull over and get towed to my home. Not happy cause kia knows about this issue!!!!

Filed Jul 30, 2013 · Engine, Steering · 97,000 miles · PA

I was merging onto a highway when all of a sudden I heard a loud thud and my battery light & e brake light came on and I lost power steering. I was able to drive the vehicle to a local mechanic who informed me that the harmonic balancer had fallen off due to the crankshaft bolt shearing off. Once it was fixed by an ase certified mechanic, approximately 8000 miles later I was driving to work and the car started shaking like I was driving on rumble strips. I took it back to a service garage and after replacing the harmonic balancer and crankbolt again they came to the conclusion that the crankshaft was bent. The garage suggested replacing the entire crankshaft and balancer and then having the engine rebalanced or a complete engine replacement both of which are greater than $3500 to repair on a vehicle that's worth about $5500..it's been approximately $2000 that I've already spent to correct this problem and the problem still exists. It's at a local kia dealership now, where I purchased the vehicle and they told me that it's not fixable and they can only recommend to replace the engine which would cost $6,700 for a used engine with 71,000 miles on it. It seems that this same issue happens on these motors between 60k and 90k miles then from doing some research, it seems after repairs are done the same problem happens approximately 6k-10k miles later. After looking into it, it leads me to believe that the only cause of this problem would be manufacturer defects and faulty parts. This has caused me to be out of a vehicle since mid november of 2012. It's disturbing with how many other complaints I'm reading on this site about the same exact thing!