2020 Kia Soul: start-stop system problems

8 of the 392 complaints about the 2020 Kia Soul describe start-stop system problems.

owner complaints: 8
of this car's complaints: 2%
recalls: 0

Is there a fix? 46 service bulletins cover this area of the car. See below

Start-stop system problems by model year

2023
1
2022
2
2021
3
2020
8
2015
1

What owners say

Filed Sep 11, 2026 · Acceleration, Engine · NC

This car was purchased in December of 2025 with 26K miles on it. There are stall issues when using the auto start stop feature. I had to power down the car and restart it up to get the car to move. It also will throw the check engine light code and then after you drive it, it goes away which makes it difficult to take to a service shop for diagnosis. Recently the car is now at 28K (9 mo later) and it has an intermittent stutter when driving; I can only describe it as a push/pull motion and its random, during this time the check engine light came on again. On my way to take it to a service station for diagnosis, it went away. Not sure if this has been reported by other 2020 Kia Soul owners.

Filed Jun 3, 2023 · TN

The auto start-stop function sometimes will not restart. This time it happened in the middle of traffic at an intersection, and I had to put the car in park and restart it before I could move. This could cause a collision in busy traffic times or if people are not paying attention. The problem has not been confirmed by a dealer at this time. During the time it shut off, the battery light and oil light came on, but I just had the car serviced three weeks ago and was told it passed their inspection (I only go to my manufacturer's dealership for service). The oil light and battery light shut off and did not reappear again after restarting the car. The vehicle can be available for inspection depending on time and date. This happened once before about a year ago, but the dealership said nothing was wrong with the vehicle.

Filed Jun 12, 2021 · FL

When pulling out into traffic the car started to go, RPMs spiked all the way and the car just died… I shut it off, and all was fine…. Then I stopped to get gas, and when the auto stop/start kicked in, the car didn’t restart… the oil pressure light turned on, battery light, and check engine light all at the same time. Would not let me shift into park. I had to push the shift release to let me put it into park. I was then able to shut off the car properly and start it just fine, and no lights active. This all happened around 19,000 miles. The last 2 times I’ve been in for an oil change, there has been 2 recalls completed , and now this new recall related to the oil piston.

Filed Jun 4, 2021 · Electrical · VA

Recently I noticed when I stop and the stop-start system feature and the Blind-spot sensors are turned on the car will either shut completely off or stall once I step on the gas.

Filed Apr 13, 2021 · Transmission · 26,500 miles · TX

When the automatic start stop start is on when I stop and the engine shuts off as it should, when I release the brake it makes a whining noise for a few seconds. Also happens when going up my driveway. Have read that this is happening in a lot of people's 2020 kia soul's and nobody seems to know or have a fix.

Filed Oct 7, 2020 · 6,000 miles · KS

When the isg (automatic stop/start) comes out (lift foot off of break pedal), the car makes a very loud noise. It only happens when coming out of isg. Other kia soul owners have found same thing. This happens only when coming out of a full stop, after the isg engages, then disengages (this is where sound occurs). Continues to happen after every isg stop.

Filed Dec 12, 2019 · 2,298 miles · MO

Vehicle is equipped with auto stop/start. When at a stop light the auto stop/start engaged, and before the brake was released the auto stop/start displayed an error in the display indicating that the car needed to be shifted to p or n and restarted as the stop/start function ended and engine was completely off. Replacement of the ECM seemed to fix this. Now the same vehicle displays the same error (engine stop/start is off) as the vehicle is being parked in a parking space and before the engine is physically turned off (the brake is being engaged, and the vehicle shifted to park at the same time. This happened in both my vehicle an ex model, and a 2020 s model (rental car). My vehicle has push button start/stop, and the s model is a key start model. This began on 082919 with the ex, and lastly on 120619 with the s model.

Filed Nov 7, 2019 · Brakes, Engine · 325 miles · SC

Problem with idle stop/start system-when I stop at a light, the engine shuts off, when I try to accelerate, I hear a loud groan sound, and the car shutters before eventually moving forward. I immediately took it to the dealership where it was purchased, and was told that the sound they heard was "normal", but if it continued try to get a audio recording of the sounds I was hearing, and they would look in to it. Ridiculous! I have seen at least 2 more complaints for this same issue. Right now I turn the function off as soon as I get in the vehicle, what good is it if you can't use it?