2022 Kia Sorento
This year drew an ordinary 185 complaints for a Kia Sorento — the model's median is 242. What they were about is the unusual part: 21.1% of them mention transmission, against 3.2% across the model's other years.
Generation 4 of the Kia Sorento, which began in 2021. 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 | 185 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 242 |
| Involving a crash | 4 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 6 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 24.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- transmission — 21.1% of this year's complaints, against 3.2% across the model's other years (6.5×).
- message — 13.5% of this year's complaints, against 3.8% across the model's other years (3.6×). Owners wrote it as: message, error, transmission system, stating.
- reverse — 8.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.9% across the model's other years (4.2×). Owners wrote it as: reverse, able drive, occasionally.
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
Vehicle lost power and transmission failed. Vehicle only has 36,000 miles. Dealer is denying recall from manufacturer.
Check engine light came on after a weird sound clanked on start up. Error code p1c2d03 Was told it was a major transmission problem “Not related to the previous recall” I did trade the car in immediately due to being 3000 miles from home when it happened.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 22V202000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 22V509000 TIRES Fixed free of charge.
- 22V703000 TRAILER HITCHES Fixed free of charge.
- 22V760000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 23V610000 BACK OVER PREVENTION Fixed free of charge.
- 25V649000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 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 2022 Kia Sorento? What happened to yours?
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