Model years › Kia Sedona

2016 Kia Sedona

Complaints about this year name oil far more often than the model's other years — 30% of them, about 4× the usual rate of 7.7%.

NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.

What the complaints were about

• oil — 30.6% of this year's complaints, against 9.6% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: oil, oil change, engine oil, low oil.
• knocking — 7.9% of this year's complaints, against 0.3% across the model's other years (30.4×).
• engines — 6.2% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (30.9×). Owners wrote it as: engines, gdi.

Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.

Also unusual this year

• engine failure — 9% of complaints, 22× usual
• turn — 19% of complaints, 3× usual
• knocking — 8% of complaints, 20× usual

What owners wrote

Engine failure at 155,540 miles. Presented a knocking sound. When evaluated by the dealership, metal fragments were present at the oil pan, indicating internal breakage. The driver was traveling on a highway when noticed the knocking, the engine could have cea…

Engine failure due to loud knocking as a result if high oil consumption. No warning lights ever. Needs replacement. Regular maintenance records available. Original owner with only 63900 miles in less than 10 years. Vehicle supposed to be under powertrain warra…

Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.

Recalls for this year

• 18V338000 STRUCTURE Fixed free of charge.
• 21V725000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
• 19V109000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
• 22V612000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.

Own a 2016 Kia Sedona? What happened to yours?

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How this was worked out

Every year of the Kia Sedona was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.

This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.

Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.

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