Home · 2025 Kia Sorento Plug-in Hybrid · Complaints
These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.
Newest first · 5 complaints
Hybrid Control Unit failure was the fault that came up on the screen. 3rd time within 3 months now. The HCU was just replaced a week ago at the KIA dealership and the vehicle is only 1 year old. This left my wife stranded on the side of a busy highway in 100 degree temps over the 4th of July holiday.
NHTSA ODI 11748424
1st incident: Vehicle was unable to accelerate when attempting to speed up on freeway entrance ramp- high RPMs while continuing to decelerate and eventually vehicle would not move at all anymore. The driver assist system continued to activate the brakes due to high RPMs even though the vehicle could not accelerate. Very unsafe driving conditions on a busy freeway as the car could not go faster than 30 mph, and eventually stalled out completely. Vehicle brought to dealership and replaced fuel pump as they said there was a leak found. 2nd incident: Vehicle was unable to accelerate when attempting to speed up on freeway entrance ramp- high RPMs while continuing to decelerate. Driver assist was turned off in this instance. Car currently still at dealership, as they have so far been unable to identify the problem. Both incidents created very unsafe driving conditions, as the freeway speed limit is 75 mph and my car was unable to go over 30 mph despite fully depressing the gas pedal and having plenty of gas in the tank. Both instances occurred when the hybrid battery was low (<15%).
NHTSA ODI 11748461
The contact owns a 2025 Kia Sorento. The contact stated the messages "Take A Coffee Break" and "Hands on Steering Wheel" consistently illuminated while driving. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who stated that there was no issue with the vehicle. While driving approximately 60 - 70 MPH, the Forward Collision Avoidance system activated, causing the vehicle to swerve towards the right, and the brakes activated. The contact manually turned the steering wheel and depressed the accelerator pedal to continue driving. The vehicle was returned to the dealer; however, the dealer was unable to determine the cause of the failure because there was no data on the EDR. The dealer rebooted the software; however, 23 days later, the failure reoccurred. The vehicle was returned to the dealer, and the contact was informed that the software was updated. The vehicle had not been driven since the second software update. The manufacturer was informed of the failure. The contact opened a case with the Better Business Bureau. The failure mileage was 293.
NHTSA ODI 11747203
On March 13, 2026, Friday, at about 3:00 pm, was driving XXX on US XXX toward the XXX stop and go traffic backup for several miles. Sun was behind direction of traffic flow. Temperature was low-mid 50s and road was dry and no rain or snow. Winds were 10-15 mph with gusts to 25 mph. Road was 3 lanes in the east direction with one lane closed. Attempting to keep about a 3 foot distance from car in front. My was is a Kia 2025 Sorento PHEV model purchased in July 2024 and has had regular servicing. I was keeping a firm pressure on brake pedal to not allow car to roll into the car in front. Suddenly, the car surged forward into the other car. Keep both feet on the brake pedal to attempt to stop the car. Hit the other car and pushed it forward a foot or 2. The advertized FCA feature of the car appeared to have failed. It has stopped me in one prior situation. Damage to my Sorento is still be to determined. The car in front appears to have a body panel crease in the back tailgate. The damage appears to be at knee height. The car will be check out by KIA servicing this week (March 23rd, 2026). The car has several other quirks, but this is the most scary. Mileage is 9800. Most of my driving is main roadways city streets, US and Interstates. No recalls seem to address this situation. However, may other quirks are also not addressed. Report was filled with Maryland State Police.
NHTSA ODI 11726151
Spare tire jack collapsed when jacking up the vehicle. I don’t think the jack is rated for a PHEV Sorento.
NHTSA ODI 11634887
Working with the data? Download all 5 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 19, 2026