I bought my 2011 sorento sx awd 2 months ago and have had nothing but problems with it. The dealer has aligned the car 3 times for pulling to the right, it still does it. My biggest issue is the vibration and groan sound I get when driving at 57mph. The sound is a resonating and annoying sound which goes up and down and seems to subside after 60mph and get bad again at 80mph. The dealer has balanced the new tires 3 times, swapped the drive line with another sorento and it didn't improve it at all. They placed a new drive line and it made it worse. I have opened a trouble ticket and a case number with kia customer support but they have said the issue is an inherent characteristic of this vehicle. Not acceptable by me. Kia corp needs to find a solution for this issue. I am wondering if anyone else has had a similar issue and have a fix for it.
2011 Kia Sorento suspension complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 56 of 56, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I have taken my 2011 kia sorento in 3 or 4 times to see if they can find out what is wrong with the suspension. They did a visual inspection and said all looks good. They have refused to do anything to my vehicle. The mechanic agreed with me, on the rough ride. The vehicle bounces all over the road. Kia did change the suspension in oct of 2011 on all new sorentos. Which tells me they know there is a problem with the old ones. Also if you look online it appears a lot of people who bought sorentos in the beginning are complaining about the rough ride. Kia needs to do recall on all older models and up grade them. (this is from autoblog.com: kia noticed this ride quality issue and decided to take the costlier dfd dampers and employ them not just on the new sx model, but across the model's entire range beginning in the fourth quarter. While kia officials we spoke with at an atlanta press event this week stopped short of admitting that the sorento's ride quality has been an issue, they did note that once engineers sampled the dfd setup on the sx, they liked the ride so much they decided to institute the new units on all sorentos.)
Update to complaint of 6-2-2010: since my original filing, I have had a total of 5 alignments, 1 steering wheel straightening, 1 tightening of alignment specs, a front tire switch; also 4 new tires with spin balance were put on the SUV by kia. I have given up on kia being able to correct the SUV drifting to the right. The new tires did help somewhat, but mostly they gave it a better ride. Took sorento in on transmission recall fix may 2011; several days later the SUV wouldn't shift into gear and had to be towed back to dealer. Brand new transmission was installed, and SUV runs better than ever. The initial purchase of this vehicle was really a challenge, but the sorento has turned out to be a great vehicle and I am very satisfied with the driving and handling. I have hauled at least 1,000 pounds in the back at one time with no trouble; this SUV is a workhorse.
While traveling down the road the axle and transmission suddenly went out. This caused vehicle to come to a sudden abrupt stop. This could have caused a fatal accident if traveling at a higher rate of speed or on an interstate. When the problem occurred, you had no power to the vehicle and it could not even coast to the side of the road. Dealer stated it was due to a manufacturers defect caused by a bolt from the axle hitting the transmission and said they forwarded photos to kia corporate. I contacted kia corporate and asked for a written explanation and assurance that this particular problem would not happen to us again and they declined to provide anything in writing. Our problem was fixed, at least for now, but I want to know that my family or someone else's does not have this problem with a tractor trailer behind them at 70 MPH on an interstate.
I purchased a 2011 sorento ex in 2/2010. I was told at the time that the steering, when it pulled to the right, was normal for this type of suspension. I dealt with it for a long time. Then, I noticed one day a loud clanking noise coming from the back of the vehicle. I brought it in right away, and they told me that my rear shock went out on the right side and the back leftside was almost gone as well. So, they ordered the new ones. While they had my vehicle for 5 days, I asked them to do an alignment but told me that I was past 12k miles, and wouldnt be covered uner warranty. I called kia affairs and they covered the repair under the warranty. However, the pulling (after the alignment) is still the same. I also mentioned a noise coming from the front end especially when braking. It is not normal,but dont know what it is... They told me there was nothing wrong with the brakes. But, any passenger in my vehicle hears it and says something is wrong. I am waiting for either my steering to go out or my brakes to not work on day as I know theres an isssue. There is also a clanking noise when starting the engine. What could be causing that? It sounds like someone needs to investigate and help consumers! Please. I will also follow up with kia affairs, but someone needs to intervene. The same issues aer being experienced by many people. There should be a recall relating to the steering, suspension, clunking engine noise when starting...before something happens. These are just a few people who have spoken up, but all are similar in nature, and there must be many more who have not complained. ! Thank you.
2011 kia sorento. Consumer writes regarding problems with vehicle within the first 2 months of purchase *tgw the consumer stated the stalled while driving on the highway. It would down shift unexpectedly and then jerk and jolt. There were times when the consumer applied the accelerator and the vehicle would not respond for a short period before the vehicle revved up and accelerated. The vehicle also pulled to the right and there was a bad grinding/rubbing sound coming from the front drivers side of the vehicle, along with spongy brakes which was a problem from the start. The consumer stated when she started the vehicle, there was a knocking noise coming from the engine. The interior lights went out, the drivers side window switch was faulty and the back-up camera stopped working.
Front strut failure at 3k miles. Car randomly has a loud metallic clunk sound when starting, sometimes the car will surge/jump forward when starting (while the car is in park, parking brake on and foot on brake). The transmission shifter gets stuck in park and does not release, with great effort releasing from park(car made loud metallic clank sound and surged/jumped in reverse). I'm afraid to park too close to another car because starting car can cause collision. When the transmission is stuck the brakes depress to floor of car. Since day one the car has pulled to the right, after strut replacement the problem is worse (the faster the speed the harder it is to steer straight).
I recently purchased a 2011 kia sorento 4 cyl. And just after one day of ownership noticed that the car was pulling to the right. I immediately took it back to the dealership with only 150 miles on it. They said it was the alignment and did a test on it and after the test the car pulled to the left. The steering wheel is also off center, like many others have reported. I have taken it back once more and this time they performed a tire rotation, this did not fix the problem. After three weeks of ownership the brakes have started to make substantial noise and the suspension feels and sounds like it is coming apart. The dealer is waiting for kia technician representative to come by and take a look and report on this vehicle.
Our 2011 kia sorento has experienced two suspension failures in the last 6 or 7 weeks. Kia has found it necessary to replace the right rear and left rear shock absorber assemblies.
Clunking noise coming from right front of car when going over small bumps. Seems like something is loose and banging around. Car is currently at the dealer with numerous problems. I will list more later.
Bought a 2011 kia sorento 4cyl standard package. Noticed at around 200 miles the front right tire was making some clunking noises and felt very wobbly. The car also pulls to the right on the highway. Called the local kia dealership and they looked at it and said it was a suspension problem and they had another car with the same problem so they knew what it was. It's been 3 weeks, kia said they would call but they never did so I have called the dealer over 4 times to hear the words "we don't have your part" they told me one other time that one of the guys tried to order too many parts and they got rejected! Lies! The RPM's also reeve up for no apparent reason. They make the car sound like the motor is going to blow up and last, the car pulls to the right while driving on the highway. Very unsafe!I don't feel safe driving this car and it feels like I am driving a pile of junk. I am waiting to break down on the freeway!
Tl*the contact owns a 2011 kia sorento. While driving approximately 30 MPH the vehicle began to pull towards the right. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where they put air into the tires. The failure continued to recur and the vehicle was taken back to the authorized dealer where the tires were rotated and an unknown engine adjustment was performed. The failure continued to recur so the vehicle was again taken to an authorized dealer where she was informed the front spring coils needed to be replaced. The parts were on back order so the vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 200 and the current mileage was 600. The VIN was unavailable.
2011 kia sorento v6 has spring coil issues. Our brand new sorento kept pulling to the right. Making it difficult to drive. No injuries as of yet. The coils are on back order due to so many complaints. Not a word from kia motors.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 kia sorrento. The contact stated when driving on uneven road surfaces, the vehicle would exhibit an abnormal wobbling sound similar to driving on a flat tire. The dealer was able to duplicate the failure but was unable to determine the cause or provide a remedy. The manufacturer advised that the failure was under investigation but did not provide any further assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 300 and the current mileage was approximately 3,500.
From day 1 I complained of a clunking/banging noise on the front passenger side of vehicle when going over small bumps. 3 attempts at dealers and calls to kia produced only the statement "common to this vehicle platform" I now have over 4,000 miles and still the same problem.
2011 kia sorento 4-cyl ex alignment issue: purchased auto 3/27/10 and noticed the next day that the car drifts to the right. Was told to wait 30 days (or 1000 miles) for break-in period. The dealership did an alignment on 5/5/10; they then straightened the steering wheel on 5/6/10; and tightened the specs on 5/7/10. They could not fix the problem. I took it to another kia dealership in akron on 5/19/10, and they rotated the front tires and did another alignment--they couldn't fix the problem either. The car still drifts to the right. I am working with kia corporation to try to find a fix, but felt the information was important to the federal safety agency should other complaints be received on the same problem.
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