What 15 owners told NHTSA about the 2023 Kia Sportage Phev

1. Hybrid system failure And check engine light on . 2. Car jerk while driving and gone to limp mode and my speed was reduced to 10 mph at traffic putting my self and other in danger . 3. My vehicle is currently at the dealership getting inspected this is the second time my hybrid warning light came on and the first time they told me nothing was wrong with my vehicle. 4. All of these symptoms happened at the same time while driving.

NHTSA ODI 11708252

I had been driving on the freeway for about 5 minutes, and suddenly heard broken glass in my car. It was dark (around 8pm) so I looked around as I was driving and didn't see any of my visible windows broken. I then heard more glass shattering sound and realized it was my sunroof glass that had suddenly broken. The mesh cover beneath it was closed so I was not injured. When I went home and did a quick google search, several other incidents of this happening popped up. There were no warning lamps or messages or symptoms of the problem prior to failure. It has been 2 weeks of calling my local Kia as well as Kia Customer care and my car is still sitting idle with the broken glass on top.

NHTSA ODI 11696583

When engaging the cruise control using the steering wheel button, the speed will set itself at 110 miles an hour, and the vehicle will in fact attempt to reach that speed and accelerate. The problem has occurred at speeds as low as 30 miles an hour and as high as 70 miles an hour, it happens intermittently pressing the cruise control button does not disengage the cruise control every time sometimes it is necessary to press the brakes for the cruise control to be shut back off.

NHTSA ODI 11680392

Kia opted for Leather like material for the steering wheel cover. This material with only 14, 828 miles on the vehicle is starting to peel off causing a bad gripping scenario. The material is more like a vinyl instead of leather. I have brought the vehicle to the Dealer who is attempted a warranty submission but I believe they will maybe only replace it with the same material and it will do it again. In all my years of driving I have never seen a wheel cover peel like this material is doing. It has been slowly failing over time and not all at once.

NHTSA ODI 11676103

PHEV vehicle: charging interrupted in the middle of the night. When attempting to reconnect the charger, a "Charging unsuccessful" message was given. A warning with "Check Hybrid System" appeared, as well as the check engine light. I cannot charge the car anymore and had to leave it at the dealership.

NHTSA ODI 11653278

When driving, I get random flashing lights on the Dashboard with a Warning indicator: ”Check Hybrid system. Stop safely”. It happened at least on 7 occasions while driving at high speed on a highway and while stopped at a traffic light. When the issue happens, the car triggers aggressive Warning sounds forcing me to stop on the side of the road, placing the car into Park and having to turn the vehicle off. On every occasion, the vehicle appears to have corrected itself after being shutoff. In all cases while driving on a highway, the issue happened when driving on gas mode (not EV) and the RPM’s show 0.0 for more than 2 minutes. In the cases when I am stopped at a traffic light, the car is in EV mode and RPM’s are fluctuating. There should not be any RPMs when stopped. Due to theses multiples dangerous situations while driving, I took it to the dealership to get fixed ASAP. On October 5th 2024, Coral Springs Kia (dealer) accepted my car with same complaint mentioned on this letter, and they told me that this is a known issue, that another Kia owner came earlier that day with exactly the same problem. The dealer issued the service invoice# [XXX]- miles in 10636/miles out 10649-, stating: “Code 10643 Inspected the customer concern by checking the engine performance. Found the vehicle performance normal and no warning symbol came on when performing a long road test. Check for DTC and found no codes within the system, found the vehicle operating normal and was unable to duplicate customer concern”. After retrieving my car from the dealership on October 5th 2024, I continued to have the exact same scenario of Warning indicators. Since [XXX], the issue has happened at least 3 more times. This is clearly a glitch on the PHEV system and very dangerous to deal with, mostly when you are driving in a highway on high speed. A simple Google search indicates that is a known a common complaint from Kia owners. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6

NHTSA ODI 11633522

I have experienced a dangerous bug where cruise control shoots immediately to 110mph. I have experienced three incidents in the last 15 months. Too busy trying to disengage the accelerating vehicle to get a video, but many others have documented this bug: [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11618640

See attached document for complaint

NHTSA ODI 11610130

At approximately 5:05pm today (6/4) as I was leaving a parking lot, I was reversing into the parking lot. The van directly opposite me also had their reverse lights on but was not moving. It was one of those whos-going-to-go-first situations. I had proximity warnings going off because of the cars parked around me and I started to reverse when I realized the van was waiting for me, and as I pulled back about 3 feet, the car auto braked. I looked around to make sure the car had not detected anything I hadn't seen, like a pedestrian or another car approaching from the side, and there was nothing. The van on the other side of the parking lot still had not moved as they were waiting for me to leave.  The following is a letter we sent to Kia 3 months ago regarding the same issue happening multiple times with our car. They held the car under investigation, did not fix anything, and gave it back to us in terrible condition (cleanliness). I attached a copy of the letter to this submission. This is the 4th time we have had this problem. Eventually someone will get hurt or killed if this car continued to automatically brake due to faulty sensors or unvalidated software.

NHTSA ODI 11592513

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Sportage. The contact stated that the vehicle independently lurched forward while depressing the brake pedal. There was no warning light illuminated. The failure continued intermittently, and the contact stated that while driving 27 MPH, the vehicle failed to stop upon depression of the brake pedal. The contact immediately merged into the open right lane to avoid striking another vehicle and shifted the vehicle into park(P). The contact stated that the check brake system message, an orange warning symbol, and the emergency brake light all appeared on the instrument panel. The contact initially parked the vehicle and later had the vehicle towed to the residence. The next day, the contact was able to drive the vehicle to the dealer where the vehicle remained in the dealer possession for two weeks. The contact then received a call from the dealer that the warning lights were no longer illuminated, and the vehicle could be picked up. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and an investigator was assigned to inspect the vehicle. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired and remained with the dealer. The failure mileage was approximately 9,000.

NHTSA ODI 11579486

I was driving to work recently on a smooth road. I was not near overpasses or other surroundings that would cause debris. Suddenly out of nowhere my glass sunroof spontaneously shattered, sounding like a gunshot went off. The dealer said this was from a rock but there is no way this could have occurred given the circumstance I was in or the position of the “point of impact” they believe caused the shatter. Both the dealer and Kia Corporate have denied my claim to cover the cost of their faulty part. Given the many other reports of people going through similar incidents this must stop. The manufacturers need to be held accountable for this huge safety issue. It’s truly unbelievable that corporations treat consumers this way and get away with it. There is no evidence they were willing to provide me with what a “non-debris” impact would look like to compare cases, furthering my belief that they know this is a design flaw on their vehicles to save a buck. It’s seriously their word against mine.

NHTSA ODI 11577257

It happened after the 1st oil change from Kia dealership, the car itself is PHEV so while driving on electric there is no smell on it but right after switching over to engine gasoline HEV only. the interior & exterior smell with heavily burned gasoline. the smell has been complained by my wife and parents. Specially I have a 11 months old baby. not sure what will cause in the future but it makes them dizziness from the gasoline burning from engine to the inside of cabinet. my entire garage now smells with the burned gasoline and its very hard to go away. every time I drive with HEV mode it smells bad, very bad. I've called to schedule a check up on the car on [XXX] but not sure if is common issue with this type of PHEV cars. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11569409

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Sportage PHEV. The contact stated that while the vehicle was being charged, the battery failed to fully charge. The contact stated that the vehicle was only able to drive for 29 miles after being charged. The contact then stated that on multiple occasions while attempting to make a left turn or while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle intermittently stalled without warning. The contact was able to restart the vehicle; however, the contact was concerned for his and other’s safety while on the roads. No warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure could not be duplicated. The contact then stated that upon inspecting the battery, he noticed that it was a different battery but was not notified of any repairs or replacements. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was provided a case number. The failure mileage was approximately 1,000.

NHTSA ODI 11544778

Fuel reading is inaccurate. Range miles drop drastically while traveling. Vehicle says it’s is out of fuels when there is more than a half a tax. Fuel range miles go from 313 miles while vehicle is off to 417 without refueling. Then drop about 40 range mile during a short 5 or less mile commute. This is all happening while vehicle is traveling is electric mode. Multiple times the vehicles dash display said I was out of gas, but when I went to refuel, there’s more than a half a tank. From doing a little online research seems like this is not a isolated incident and many others are having this problem.

NHTSA ODI 11538190

the rear collision avoidance can not be disabled permanently. This becomes an issue when backing up while towing, or with a bike rack equipped, as the vehicle will slam on the brakes every time the driver reverses, impairing the driver's ability to quickly maneuver the vehicle in case of an emergency.

NHTSA ODI 11527895