What 22 owners told NHTSA about the 2026 Kia Sportage Plug-in Hybrid

I am reporting two separate safety-related failures on this low-mileage vehicle. The first occurred at 2,431 miles while driving on the highway. The vehicle suddenly lost propulsion and coasted with no throttle response, and multiple warning lights and messages appeared simultaneously, including braking, electronic parking brake, and driver-assistance warnings. A sudden, unexpected loss of power at highway speed creates a serious crash risk, including rear-end collision, particularly with faster or following traffic. The vehicle was taken to an authorized Kia dealer on 3/9/26 and returned on 3/19/26 after wiring/connector-related work. The second failure occurred at 4,658 miles when the panoramic sunroof glass suddenly shattered while the vehicle was in motion. A spontaneous glass failure while driving is a safety hazard: had the interior sunshade been open, falling glass could have struck rear-seat passengers, and shattering glass while driving can cause driver distraction and loss of vehicle control, as well as a road hazard to surrounding vehicles. The vehicle was taken to the same authorized Kia dealer on 4/1/26 and remained there until 5/21/26. The sunroof was not repaired. The dealer's repair order states that it "cannot identify a specific outside object or cause" and that "no damage was found clearly identifying an external object as the cause," which is consistent with a spontaneous glass failure rather than external impact. Despite this, warranty assistance was denied on the basis that an outside impact "could not be ruled out." I am concerned these represent defects involving the panoramic sunroof glass and/or the vehicle's electrical and safety systems. Both failures occurred well under 5,000 miles and within months of each other. Across the two repair visits, the vehicle was out of service for approximately 60 total calendar days, including roughly 50 days for the sunroof issue, which remains unrepaired.

NHTSA ODI 11748017

I was stopped in the left hand turn lane, then accelerated to cross 2 lanes of traffic. I then let off the accelerator, and applied the brakes to stop, and the brakes did not function. I then rear ended a vehicle in front of me due to the intermittent loss of brakes. It may have also been the propulsion system kept going. Either way the vehicle maintained the same speed of about 15mph until I collided with the vehicle in front of me which stopped me. The brakes worked fine again after the collision. There also was no Forward Collision Avoidance system that was triggered in any way. This vehicle is a Rental Car.

NHTSA ODI 11724621

Shortly after purchase (9/20/25), I noticed that each trip showed much lower gas mileage than would be expected/reported via the vehicle sticker. Initially, these post-drive reports showed mileage around 17 mpg (city-equivalent). We noticed this quickly-- after the first few trips made. I calculated the mpg in early October & my calculations showed 16.7 mpg. Over the next few weeks, similar mpg was calculated/showing. I reported this finding to Kia St. Charles (point of purchase) early-to-mid October & was told to keep calculating mpg. I called again, indicating the problem continued &that we had a two occasions where we were unable to fill the car with gas-- a technician stated that the low MPG could be related to the long vehicle break-in period. We decided to take the car into the Naperville Kia dealership on 11/25 as this issue persisted. After nearly a week, we were ultimately told that without a check-engine warning, there wasn't much they could do to pinpoint or investigate. A check engine light then came on around 12/10 & we took the car back to Naperville Kia on 12/16 asking to look at the check-engine warning & continued gas mileage issues. We were told there was damage to the underside of the vehicle with the Evap Cannister split open & the under-shield smashed in. The technician, in the inspection video stated this would directly impact fuel economy. We were further told this was the result of damage to the vehicle caused by us, though we had not driven over anything, nor was there any other damage to underside, lower front of vehicle, etc. When I asked why gas mileage was impacted since the purchase in September & how this 'new' issue oddly happened to impact gas mileage, they had no answer. We were told this was outside of warranty & we'd be responsible for repairs. My concern is simple: there is a history of issues with the Evap cannister with Kias. And, the gas mileage issues was reported almost immediately. I feel the issue existed

NHTSA ODI 11708073