The contact called on behalf of his wife who owns a 2020 Kia SOUL LX. The contact stated that they had began to notice that while driving at various speeds and turning the steering wheel the steering would remain turned and would not return to its original position, no warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed and the contact was advised that the steering rack and pinion plugs were faulty and would need to be replaced. The vehicle was not repair. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 232,000.
2020 Kia Soul steering problems
16 complaints (4% of all complaints for this car). Typical mileage when it fails: 4,000.
- owner complaints
- 16
- of this car's complaints
- 4%
- typical mileage
- 4,000
- crashes
- 0
- recalls
- 0
Which part fails
Owners did not name a specific part.
At what mileage
Complaints by mileage at the time of the problem.
Kia Soul steering problems in other years
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
What 2020 Kia Soul owners say
Most recent owner complaints, unedited.
The contact’s wife owns a 2020 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving at various speeds and turning the steering wheel, the steering wheel failed to return to center. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where the vehicle was diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the steering rack, and pinion plugs were faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 232,000.
Motor driven power steering failed, dealer (Hyman Bros Kia Midlothian VA) replaced the flexible coupling in the power steering assembly.
The contact owns a 2020 Kia Soul. The contact stated while starting the vehicle in a parking lot, the steering wheel locked, and the contact was unable to turn the steering wheel. The contact shifted the vehicle into park(P) and turned off and restarted the vehicle and the power steering functionality returned. The contact stated a symbol of a steering wheel in a circle with a line through the steering wheel was illuminated. The contact stated she drove the vehicle to her residence and turned off and restarted the vehicle; however, the vehicle lost power steering functionality. The contact had the vehicle towed to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the steering column needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 14,000.
At around 91, 697 miles, our 2020 Kia Soul EX began to have issues with the engine stalling out while downshifting in lower speeds, We took our Kia into the local (still an hour away from our home) dealership, for the recall "fix" which involved uploading a firmware update to the ECM for the knock sensor. We also had the dealership look into the issue of stalling out, but they could not replicate the issue and therefore sent us on our way. About two weeks later, the vehicle started making an extreme knocking sound (I am a mechanic and knew what the issue was immediately), and it brought up a check engine light, however there was no oil light or warning of any kind that came on. Upon further inspection, it was discovered that there was no oil in the vehicle. Upon filling the vehicle back up with oil, everything seemed normal, until the weekend of 11 October, when the motor again had an extreme amount of oil consumption, to the point of the same symptoms, along with a loud rattling sound, as if something had broken due to lack of lubrication, despite having an oil change completed less than a month prior, with approximately 1200 miles due to the next oil change. This almost left us stranded approximately 1.5 hours away from home. Again, we filled the engine with oil, and drove with extreme caution as the check engine light never shut off. Again, no oil light or indication the vehicle was experiencing a no-oil condition was present. After getting an appointment and taking the vehicle into the dealership on 20 October 2022, the technician stated that there were multiple CEL codes, including P0017 Crankshaft Position, multiple cylinder misfire codes, and low compression on cylinders 2,3, and 4, with cylinder 2 being the lowest. It was deemed that the top end of the motor looked good, with no obvious signs of neglect in maintenance, or issues that may cause false codes. The vehicle continues to exhibit stalling, and low acceleration, posing a severe safety issue.
Electrical power steering system froze and would not turn left nor right while car was running in both Reverse and Drive as I was trying to leave my home to run errands. My Kia Access application on my phone showed an issue with Electrical Power Steering and the dash of my car had the red steering wheel with exclamation point warning light in red on. When tow truck came 4 hours later and turned vehicle on to get it into tow truck the steer issue disappeared. However, he did tell me that the night of 8.17.20222 he towed another Kia Soul that the steering locked up in mid turn of another vehicle on a driver her in Phoenix, AZ. This is a huge concern and very scary to think of what could happen if I was in traffic. My car is currently at the dealership for diagnostics, and if they can't find an issue I have to pay a minimum $170 just for them to look at it. This is not a good situation as a whole!!! This vehicle needs to have an electrical power steering issue recall.
The steering wheel locked and I was unable to turn the engine key around. I was unable to start the car as the steering wheel was jammed. It took me over 1 hrs to finally unnamed the steering wheel. This has happened twice.
The steering wheel of my kia soul 2020 hammer. I was unable to start the car as the steering when became stuck..jammed. Called a town truck to towed into the kia dealer for repairs.
My kia soul 2020, the engine lights came up, the parking lights, the right headlights, the rear back right signal lights, the fuel system and the breaks system all of them malfunctioned. The dealer charged for the repairs.
At 8960 miles steering indicator dash light came on. Dealership determined it was a bad steering wheel assembly. Due to the corona virus part took 2 1/2 weeks to get to the dealership.
Questions about the 2020 Kia Soul steering
Does the 2020 Kia Soul have steering problems?
Owners have filed 16 complaints about the steering of the 2020 Kia Soul, 4% of all its complaints.
At what mileage do 2020 Kia Soul steering problems start?
The typical (median) mileage in owner complaints is 4,000 miles.
Was there a recall on the 2020 Kia Soul steering?
There is no recall for this problem on this model year.
What year does the Kia Soul have bad steering?
The Kia Soul model years with the most steering complaints are 2012 (167 complaints), 2013 (155 complaints) and 2014 (56 complaints).
Other 2020 Kia Soul problems
Engine 255Transmission 91Electrical 28Fuel system 16Acceleration 14Body 11Brakes 11Driver assistance 6Lights 6Airbags 3Visibility 3Seat belts 2Seats 2Suspension 1Wheels 1
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