2009 Kia Sorento
This year drew an ordinary 55 complaints for a Kia Sorento — the model's median is 242. What they were about is the unusual part: 23.6% of them mention check, against 9.4% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Kia Sorento, which began in 2003 and ran to 2010. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 55 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 242 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 17 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- check — 23.6% of this year's complaints, against 9.4% across the other years of this generation (2.5×).
- pedal — 16.4% of this year's complaints, against 5.4% across the other years of this generation (3.1×).
- seated — 9.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.3% across the other years of this generation (7×).
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.
What owners wrote
Currently my ESC OFF warning light is lit on my dash, and while lit my vehicle has trouble accelerating from 0 to 40 mph. The warning light goes on and off at random. I have had the accelerator pedal assembly replacement in 2015 and 2019 due to the same issue.…
THE AIR BAG LIGHT ILLUMINATED WHEN SOMEONE WAS SEATED IN THE PASSENGER SEAT AND WOULD NOT TURN OFF UNTIL THE VEHICLE WAS SHUT OFF. THE CONTACT CALLED THE [VIN] WHO ADVISED HIM TO TAKE THE VEHICLE TO THE DEALERSHIP FOR A REPAIR. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN AUTH…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V088000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 11E041000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 13V114000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Sorento 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.
Own a 2009 Kia Sorento? What happened to yours?
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