2011 Kia Sorento
Complaints about this year name outside far more often than the other years of this generation — 18% of them, about 12× the usual rate of 1.5%.
First year of a new generation. The Kia Sorento was redesigned for 2011. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 1,517 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 217 |
| Involving a crash | 42 |
| Involving a fire | 61 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 22 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- door — 31.3% of this year's complaints, against 11.7% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: door, open, outside, inside.
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
- door — 23% of complaints, 6× usual
- open — 21% of complaints, 7× usual
- open outside — 11% of complaints, 27× usual
What owners wrote
DRIVERS SIDE PASSENGER DOOR WILL NOT OPEN FROM OUTSIDE BUT CAN OPEN FROM INSIDE.
FRONT PASSENGER SIDE WON'T OPEN FROM OUTSIDE AND REAR PASSENGER DOOR WON'T OPEN AT ALL.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 15V626000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 11E041000 EQUIPMENT Fixed free of charge.
- 13V114000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 11V258000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 10V388000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 10V599000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 23V652000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 23V877000 ENGINE 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 2011 Kia Sorento? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…