Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Kia Soul

What it says about you

Opinion

Bought young, or bought cheerfully, or both. It is a box and it is honest about being a box, and there is something restful about that.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

16 model years on record, 7,568 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2016 (catalytic converter), 2015 (engine cooling), 2014 (headlights). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • engine engine 2012, 2013, 2015 peak 15.8% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2025 0 recalls 12 complaints
  2. 2024 0 recalls 28 complaints
  3. 2023 4 recalls 48 complaints
  4. 2022 1 recall 88 complaints
  5. 2021 2 recalls 226 complaints
  6. 2020 1 recall 369 complaints
  7. 2019 1 recall 271 complaints
  8. 2018 1 recall 429 complaints
  9. 2017 1 recall 288 complaints
  10. 2016 catalytic converter 1,610 complaints
  11. 2015 engine cooling 1,804 complaints
  12. 2014 headlights 894 complaints
  13. 2013 3 recalls 660 complaints
  14. 2012 3 recalls 514 complaints
  15. 2011 3 recalls 193 complaints
  16. 2010 3 recalls 134 complaints

What does a Kia Soul say about you?

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Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.