2019 Kia Sorento transmission problems

Filed Sep 4, 2026 · Electrical, Engine · NJ

Engine seized per Kia Inspected by Kia after AAA TOWED AND COULD NOT START CAR warning lamps have been on for over 6 months. Kia inspected and ran diagnostics at that time and said it was nothing to fix just an annoying dashboard malfunction.

Filed May 11, 2026 · Engine, Transmission · WV

Had to replace transmission at 133k miles. It was jolting sometimes providing a hard jolt at times will driving. There are also times of what feels like a cylinder misfire. Oil is constantly leaking and have to replace oil every 1k Miles. Have had multiple shops look at it and not able to find anything. Now during acceleration there is a huge grey smoke cloud coming from the exhaust. Looking at this site and through online it seems to be a common issue with this car and engine. So there has been multiple issues with this car - oil consumption of the engine leading to smoke in the exhaust and the transmission which was replaced a week ago

Filed May 3, 2026 · Engine, Transmission · CA

This vehicle has theta 2 engine.. which is part of class lawsuit kia settled. My vehicle had high oil consumption and the defect was due to rod bearing would cause engine to fail and cause hi oil consumption. The dealer diagnosed it with burned valve and denied warranty even though my warranty was extended due to this engine being a defect. The reason they stated is that the rod bearing is a separate issue from burned valves which is a complete lie because a faulty rod bearing would cause valves problem. I feel kia is just trying to avoid repair cost. They did want to bill me for a new engine immediately. And they failed to test the rod bearing saying they could not determine if it was defect because of the burned valves

Filed Mar 11, 2026 · Engine, Transmission · ME

The vehicle just had an oil change. It was driven after that approximately 25 miles when there was a loud noise and the wheels locked up. The vehicle was shifted into neutral and coasted to the end of a dirt road. Could smell oil burning. Upon inspection of the underside there was oil blown onto the exhaust and down the underside of the vehicle. After looking further, I noticed a semi rectangular hole in the narrow end of the oil pan just above the exhaust pipe. Some oil had drained out but the dip stick was reading full. This incident could have resulted in losing control of the vehicle when the tires locked up or caused a fire when the oil hit the exhaust. It could have cause an accident if another vehicle was following. No lights were on until after the incident when the check engine and oil light came on. It still has not been diagnosed by the dealer because they are all backed up until May. Have to rent a vehicle due now and probably look for an independent garage.

Filed Feb 18, 2026 · Driver assistance, Fuel system · TX

Car would randomly stall and jerk while accelerating. Unsafe to drive. May cause accident. Having to constantly set hazard lights to prevent accident.

Filed Feb 13, 2026 · Engine, Transmission · WA

A failing alternator caused me to take my kia into a mechanic for OEM replacement. The mechanic informed me that the engine rattles. I got to talking with the mechanic and told him that my car has been experiencing high oil consumption with no 'low oil' warning light on the dash and ive checked my oil periodically between changes and have found the dip stick bone dry multiple times. A year later, my alternator failed AGAIN and was replaced with another OEM part. The same mechanic told me that the engine is still rattling (i hadnt gotten it fixed/diagnosed because i am low income) and that he found out there had been a recall for Kia Sotento engines with my vehicle date range. Upon research, I find thousands of people on different platforms are also experiencing high oil consumption and there was actually a recall. When I checked my VIN, my vehicle was NOT part of the recall. There seems to be a high number of consumers who have the SAME issue, but are also NOT included in the original recall and we are all being told that unless we pay for a new engine out of pocket, there's NOTHING that can be done. High oil consumption with NO warning light is DANGEROUS. How is it possible that only HALF of the vehicles with the SAME defect are eligible for a recall/repair and the rest of us are S.O.L? I am the second owner of this vehicle and purchased from a used lot, however Kia knew about this defect before I purchased the vehicle from the used lot. The used car dealership no longer exists so I can't even ask them if Kia made them aware (which they potentially did not since my VIN isn't considered eligible anyways) This issue needs to be rectified for the thousands of consumers/customers that are experiencing this problem and I strongly suggest a new investigation be conducted for the remaining vehicles that were manufactured in the same time frame as the vehicles that ARE covered. My vehicle has only 90K miles on it!

Filed Jan 28, 2026 · Transmission · VA

The oil pressure switch is faulty. The oil indicator light comes on when I'm idling, and I'm also losing 1 quart of oil every 1,000 miles. This was reported on previous Kia models of this make and model, which extended the warranty to 15 years/150k miles. Kia isn't honoring this anymore, even though my switch was diagnosed as bad. Seems Kia never fixed the problem, as my Kia has 113,000 miles and would have been covered by a TSB (Technical Service Bulletin) for the same issue a year earlier.

Filed Jan 16, 2026 · Engine, Transmission · 100,000 miles · OH

The contact owns a 2019 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the temperature gauge indicated that the engine was overheating. The contact became aware of puddles of oil on the driveway while the vehicle was parked. Additionally, the transmission warning light was displayed, and the vehicle hesitated to start while pressing the Push to Start button. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, and the contact was informed that the oil level was extremely low. The vehicle had been taken to two separate independent mechanics, who both confirmed that the vehicle was losing oil very quickly; however, an oil leak was not found. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer; however, the dealer was unable to determine the cause of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 100,000.

Filed Dec 4, 2025 · Transmission · TX

Car has 77,593 miles. The oil light came on only at idle. Immediately hauled to dealership and was told it was a faulty pressure switch and not covered by the warranty even though its part of the powertrain and the earlier models had the same problem and were extended. Should I expect every 77,000 miles or so to have to spend $1700? The tech said no because they are replacing the known faulty switch with new version of it.

Filed Nov 30, 2025 · Engine, Transmission · MI

2019 Kia sorento with the 2.4 is consuming so much oil and is very noisy. I just changed the oil 4k miles ago and the dipstick doesn’t show any oil. Dealer says it’s normal. There is clearly a problem with these motors. The Kia dealership doesn’t want to figure it out unless they’re getting paid a ridiculous amount of money. Kia should take care of this and pay the bill. They basically said to drive it until it dies and maybe the motor will get replaced. So basically my family and I have to drive this thing and hopefully we don’t get hurt if it seizes up. They want to charge me for an oil change, oil consumption test and an $800 cleaner for a maybe temporary fix. I don’t have a date when this started because it’s been so long with getting the run around. Kia is avoiding our problems when we spend so much money.