2016 Kia Sorento
Complaints about this year name paint far more often than the other years of this generation — 7% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 2.2%.
First year of a new generation. The Kia Sorento was redesigned for 2016. 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 | 1,241 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 217 |
| Involving a crash | 29 |
| Involving a fire | 49 |
| Recalls | 8 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What owners wrote
Paint started peeling. I thought it might have been a rock chip but it got worse in about 2 weeks.
My car has the Pearl White paint, it started peeling in 2021 and now is increasing. It mostly on the hood of the car.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V907000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 15V446000 SEAT BELTS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V770000 SEATS Fixed free of charge.
- 16V862000 TRAILER HITCHES Fixed free of charge.
- 16V480000 SUSPENSION Fixed free of charge.
- 15V089000 VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL Fixed free of charge.
- 22V612000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 22V703000 TRAILER HITCHES 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 2016 Kia Sorento? What happened to yours?
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