2015 Kia Sorento
Complaints about this year name paint far more often than the other years of this generation — 16% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 5%.
Last year of its generation. This Kia Sorento ran from 2011 to 2015, so it had the whole run for its faults to be found and fixed. Last years are usually the most sorted of a generation.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 747 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 217 |
| Involving a crash | 20 |
| Involving a fire | 14 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- engines — 6.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.2% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: engines, theta.
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
- white — 10% of complaints, 3× usual
- peeling — 10% of complaints, 3× usual
- pearl — 8% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
Pearl white paint is peeling off on both sides of windshield and hood. Air bag light stays on.
Snow White Pearl Paint has started peeling from roof by windshield and on driver door pilar causing rust spots.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V907000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 20V519000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 21V331000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 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 2015 Kia Sorento? What happened to yours?
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