2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV — Problems, Recalls & Safety Data
N/A
Safety Rating
14
Owner Complaints
2
Recalls
4
Service Bulletins
0
Investigations
Overview of the 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV
The 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV has received a total of 14 safety complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). There have been 9 recall campaigns affecting this vehicle, covering issues with BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA, TRAILER HITCHES. 4 technical service bulletins have been issued by Kia America, Inc. for this model year. The most commonly reported problems involve the Electrical System (3 complaints), Engine (3 complaints), and Unknown Or Other (3 complaints).
Recalls for the 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV
NHTSA has recorded 9 recalls for the 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV, potentially affecting up to 786,167 vehicles.
Recall 23V610000 — BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA
| 144,979 vehicles affected
Defect: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2022-2023 Sorento, Sorento Hybrid, and Sorento Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) vehicles. The mounting clips for the rearview camera may break, which can cause the rearview camera image not to appear properly on the display. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 111, "Rear Visibility."
Consequence: A rearview camera that does not properly display an image can reduce the driver's rear view, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace the rearview camera housing, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed October 27, 2023. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC280.
View full details →Recall 23V610000 — BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA
| 144,979 vehicles affected
Defect: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2022-2023 Sorento, Sorento Hybrid, and Sorento Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV) vehicles. The mounting clips for the rearview camera may break, which can cause the rearview camera image not to appear properly on the display. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 111, "Rear Visibility."
Consequence: A rearview camera that does not properly display an image can reduce the driver's rear view, increasing the risk of a crash.
Remedy: Dealers will inspect and replace the rearview camera housing, as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed October 27, 2023. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC280.
View full details →Recall 22V703000 — TRAILER HITCHES
| 70,887 vehicles affected
Defect: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2016-2022 Sorento, 2021-2022 Sorento Hybrid (HEV), 2022-2023 Sorento Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV), and 2017-2022 Sportage vehicles equipped with a tow hitch harness installed as original equipment, or purchased as an accessory through a Kia dealership. Debris and moisture accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short,...
Consequence: A fire while parked or driving can increase the risk of injury.
Remedy: Owners are advised to park outside and away from structures until the recall repair is complete. Dealers will inspect the vehicle, and, as necessary, replace the fuse and/or tow hitch harness module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed...
View full details →Recall 22V703000 — TRAILER HITCHES
| 70,887 vehicles affected
Defect: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2016-2022 Sorento, 2021-2022 Sorento Hybrid (HEV), 2022-2023 Sorento Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV), and 2017-2022 Sportage vehicles equipped with a tow hitch harness installed as original equipment, or purchased as an accessory through a Kia dealership. Debris and moisture accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short,...
Consequence: A fire while parked or driving can increase the risk of injury.
Remedy: Owners are advised to park outside and away from structures until the recall repair is complete. Dealers will inspect the vehicle, and, as necessary, replace the fuse and/or tow hitch harness module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed...
View full details →Recall 22V703000 — TRAILER HITCHES
| 70,887 vehicles affected
Defect: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2016-2022 Sorento, 2021-2022 Sorento Hybrid (HEV), 2022-2023 Sorento Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV), and 2017-2022 Sportage vehicles equipped with a tow hitch harness installed as original equipment, or purchased as an accessory through a Kia dealership. Debris and moisture accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short,...
Consequence: A fire while parked or driving can increase the risk of injury.
Remedy: Owners are advised to park outside and away from structures until the recall repair is complete. Dealers will inspect the vehicle, and, as necessary, replace the fuse and/or tow hitch harness module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed...
View full details →Recall 22V703000 — TRAILER HITCHES
| 70,887 vehicles affected
Defect: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2016-2022 Sorento, 2021-2022 Sorento Hybrid (HEV), 2022-2023 Sorento Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV), and 2017-2022 Sportage vehicles equipped with a tow hitch harness installed as original equipment, or purchased as an accessory through a Kia dealership. Debris and moisture accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short,...
Consequence: A fire while parked or driving can increase the risk of injury.
Remedy: Owners are advised to park outside and away from structures until the recall repair is complete. Dealers will inspect the vehicle, and, as necessary, replace the fuse and/or tow hitch harness module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed...
View full details →Recall 22V703000 — TRAILER HITCHES
| 70,887 vehicles affected
Defect: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2016-2022 Sorento, 2021-2022 Sorento Hybrid (HEV), 2022-2023 Sorento Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV), and 2017-2022 Sportage vehicles equipped with a tow hitch harness installed as original equipment, or purchased as an accessory through a Kia dealership. Debris and moisture accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short,...
Consequence: A fire while parked or driving can increase the risk of injury.
Remedy: Owners are advised to park outside and away from structures until the recall repair is complete. Dealers will inspect the vehicle, and, as necessary, replace the fuse and/or tow hitch harness module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed...
View full details →Recall 22V703000 — TRAILER HITCHES
| 70,887 vehicles affected
Defect: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2016-2022 Sorento, 2021-2022 Sorento Hybrid (HEV), 2022-2023 Sorento Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV), and 2017-2022 Sportage vehicles equipped with a tow hitch harness installed as original equipment, or purchased as an accessory through a Kia dealership. Debris and moisture accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short,...
Consequence: A fire while parked or driving can increase the risk of injury.
Remedy: Owners are advised to park outside and away from structures until the recall repair is complete. Dealers will inspect the vehicle, and, as necessary, replace the fuse and/or tow hitch harness module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed...
View full details →Recall 22V703000 — TRAILER HITCHES
| 70,887 vehicles affected
Defect: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2016-2022 Sorento, 2021-2022 Sorento Hybrid (HEV), 2022-2023 Sorento Plug-In Hybrid (PHEV), and 2017-2022 Sportage vehicles equipped with a tow hitch harness installed as original equipment, or purchased as an accessory through a Kia dealership. Debris and moisture accumulation on the tow hitch harness module printed circuit board (PCB) may cause an electrical short,...
Consequence: A fire while parked or driving can increase the risk of injury.
Remedy: Owners are advised to park outside and away from structures until the recall repair is complete. Dealers will inspect the vehicle, and, as necessary, replace the fuse and/or tow hitch harness module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed...
View full details →Owner Complaints for the 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV
14 complaints have been filed with NHTSA for the 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV. Below is a breakdown by vehicle component.
| Component | Complaints | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | Deaths |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electrical System | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Engine | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Unknown Or Other | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fuelpropulsion System | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Power Train | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steering | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Vehicle Speed Control | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wheels | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Most Recent Complaints
While driving my 2023 Sorento plug-in hybrid a msg appeared that Charging Stopped Check Cable. When you stop the car and try to drive it will not go into any gear, msg says Shifting Conditions Not Met and Unplug Vehicle to Start and the wheels are locked up (E-brake) and needs a tow truck with dollies in order to load. This happened in the middle of the Highway and it’s happened FOUR times. By the time the dealer looks at it, the problem has cleared and does not show any codes. It’s not easy to reproduce since it just happens sometimes with the warning and sometimes no warning. The dealer tells me nothing is wrong with the car yet someone could get killed by being rear ended. I’ve tried for 4 months to get a Kia Field Tech out to diagnose but just keep getting lip service from Kia Customer “I don’t “ Care. I feel the car is to dangerous to drive and have refused to pick up from dealer until they fix it.
While driving my 2023 Sorento plug-in hybrid a msg appeared that Charging Stopped Check Cable. When you stop the car and try to drive it will not go into any gear, msg says Shifting Conditions Not Met and Unplug Vehicle to Start and the wheels are locked up (E-brake) and needs a tow truck with dollies in order to load. This happened in the middle of the Highway and it’s happened FOUR times. By the time the dealer looks at it, the problem has cleared and does not show any codes. It’s not easy to reproduce since it just happens sometimes with the warning and sometimes no warning. The dealer tells me nothing is wrong with the car yet someone could get killed by being rear ended. I’ve tried for 4 months to get a Kia Field Tech out to diagnose but just keep getting lip service from Kia Customer “I don’t “ Care. I feel the car is to dangerous to drive and have refused to pick up from dealer until they fix it.
When trying to accelerate from a standing stop, there is a one or two second delay, once the accelerator pedal is depressed, before the car moves. Extremely dangerous when pulling out into traffic. I had it back to the dealership to address this problem but they found nothing wrong. I guarantee you , the problem continues to exist.
When trying to accelerate from a standing stop, there is a one or two second delay, once the accelerator pedal is depressed, before the car moves. Extremely dangerous when pulling out into traffic. I had it back to the dealership to address this problem but they found nothing wrong. I guarantee you , the problem continues to exist.
1. First incident occurred on 10/29/24. My wife pulled into driveway and placed car into Park. When she shifted to reverse, the transmission didn't respond and the car revved to a very high RPM when she took foot off of brake, no foot on gas. Unable to shift it to go forward or backward. She then turned car off, back on, and was able to reverse it. This situation occurred numerous times. 2. Sometimes, after this happened, she'd place it into drive, and the vehicle would only crawl (<5 mph) forward and not accelerate, though gas pedal was touching the floor of car. She'd place it back into Park (in traffic!), shut it off, then restart it. 3. Sometimes she would place it into Reverse, the dashboard would show it in R, and the vehicle would be silent and non-reactive (no back-up beep). 4. She would place it into drive, the engine would do nothing for a few seconds, and suddenly drop into gear with a loud thud. 11/11/24 took car to KIA, they said nothing was wrong. 5. On 11/29/24, she placed the car into Park, loaded passengers, and tried to place the car into reverse and NOTHING happened. The vehicle would not move forward or backward. The dashboard indicated that it was in D, the gear shift dial indicated it was in D, but nothing happened. Car was then turned off in Drive. Drive indicator ("D") was lit up on dash, gear shift dial had "D" still illuminated too. Tried to restart, dash said to put car into Park to start. Car would not go into Park. When flatbed tow truck arrived (6 hours later) the battery was fully discharged The tow truck driver was able to charge the battery with a portable charger sufficiently to start the car (if it would have been in Park), but was still unable to get the transmission to respond. The dealership claims that they can find nothing wrong and KIA won't acknowledge any issue. We have multiple videos of the issues and witnesses. There are numerous reports on Reddit of similar issues with Kia 2023 Sorento PHEVs.
Safety Rating for the 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV
NHTSA has not yet tested the 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV in its New Car Assessment Program.
Technical Service Bulletins for the 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV
Kia America, Inc. has issued 4 technical service bulletins (TSBs) for the 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV. TSBs are notices sent by manufacturers to their dealers describing a known issue and the recommended repair procedure.
TSB_TRA112 — POWER TRAIN
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: TRANSAXLE ASSEMBLY REPLACEMENT & HCU LOGIC IMPROVEMENT - This bulletin provides information to replace the transaxle assembly and upgrade the Hybrid Control Unit Low-Voltage DC Converter (HCULDC) software on some 2022-2024MY Sorento Plug-In Hybrid (MQ4 PHEV) vehicles equipped with a 1.6L T-GDI engine and All-Wheel Drive (AWD),...
TSB_ELE352_R1 — ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: SERVICE ACTION: AVN 5.0 WIDE NON-RESPONSIVE RADIO ICON (AM, FM, SXM) (SA582) - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides information to update the software on 5th...
TSB_ELE343 — ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: SERVICE ACTION: ICU LOGIC UPGRADE FOR OIL CHANGE REMINDER DISPLAY (SA573) - This bulletin provides information to improve the Integrated Central Control Unit (ICU) operation logic on certain 2023MY Sorento PHEV (MQ4 PHEV) vehicles produced from June 27, 2022 through August 16, 2023. The affected vehicles may...
TSB_CLI049_R1 — VISIBILITY:DEFROSTER/DEFOGGER/HVAC SYSTEM:COMPRESSOR
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: PARTIAL REPAIR - ELECTRICAL A/C COMPRESSOR - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides information regarding partial repair of the Air Conditioning (A/C) compressor assembly on some...
NHTSA Investigations for the 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV
There are no NHTSA defect investigations on record for this vehicle.
Other Model Years of the KIA SORENTO PHEV
- 2022 KIA SORENTO PHEV — 32 complaints
- 2023 KIA SORENTO PHEV (current)
- 2024 KIA SORENTO PHEV — 4 complaints
- 2025 KIA SORENTO PHEV — 1 complaint
- 2026 KIA SORENTO PHEV — 0 complaints
Other KIA Models
- KIA SORENTO — 13,451 total complaints
- KIA OPTIMA — 10,045 total complaints
- KIA SOUL — 7,147 total complaints
- KIA SPORTAGE — 6,540 total complaints
- KIA FORTE — 3,450 total complaints
- KIA SEDONA — 3,334 total complaints
- KIA SEPHIA — 3,080 total complaints
- KIA TELLURIDE — 2,109 total complaints