2023 Kia Sorento Hybrid Engine Problems

While driving hybrid battery depletes and car stops accelerating. With pedal to the floor, it may get to 60 MPH, other times 15 MPH. Car doesn't sound great while this is happening. 3/4 times an error showed up stating "Check Hybrid System-Stop Safely". The 4th time the error didn't appear , but was driving on hilly road where battery charged when it was going down a hill. The problem occurred on back roads and Highways. It is VERY unsafe when you suddenly can't accelerate. The car was towed to a kia dealer twice. 1st time I was told it was "bad gas." $1,500 later, it happened again. The 3rd time I had it again towed to a Kia Dealer. 6 weeks later, I was told they couldn't find anything wrong, and Kia released the car. 1 week later, it happened again on the Highway. Dates of occurrence: November 17, 2025 November 25, 2025 December 11, 2025 February 9, 2026 (car was at the dealer from Dec 11-January 29th)

NHTSA ID

11716868

Incident

Feb 9, 2026

Vehicle suddenly loses power while driving. Engine does not turn on, vehicle will run on battery until battery is dead, then putting the vehicle in park once stopped. Vehicle will not accelerate normally since the engine does not turn on. Only goes 10-20 mph. Lights on the dash come on, prompting to keep car on to charge the battery. No code is found when the vehicle is scanned. Dealerships can't seem to diagnose the issue. This is a safety concern when driving on busy roads or state highways at higher speeds.

NHTSA ID

11661044

Incident

Feb 17, 2025

Critical Issue: Gasoline leaks into engine. That causes increasing engine oil level significantly and mixed with engine oil. I dropped off me car (mileage: 11731) at Kia Pro in Glendale, CA on 5/1/2025 as soon as I confirmed that engine oil level exceeds the maximum (twice of max) and smelled Gasoline from the dipstick. The service advisor and a tech confirmed that the excessive engine oil level and gasoline smell. However, they refused to repair it under warranty because they don't see any physical leaks and error codes. In addition to that, they told me that the car is not good to drive as is because Gasoline is mixed with engine oil. In my opinion, this can cause critical powertrain failures or possible life-threatening damages if that initiates fire from engine. Car maintenance history: at 6312miles, 1 oil change change at Kia in Alhambra, CA I have attached the service receipt on 5/1 for your reference. That shows that the dealership confirmed the issue but they didn't try to resolve the issue.

NHTSA ID

11658457

Incident

May 1, 2025

Faulty Oil filter placed in Vehicle during Oil Change at Dealership. On November 4, 2023 vehicle was taken into Rick Case Kia located at 3190 Satellite Blvd, Duluth, GA 30096. The oil was changed and vehicle driven approximately 5 miles home that afternoon, The following morning the vehicle was driven approximately 25 miles to Cobb Hospital. At no time during the ride did I note warning signals that something was wrong. At lunch I went to my car and started the vehicle and it alarmed with Engine and Oil lights. The vehicle was making a knocking noise. They added oil back to the engine and stated it was OK to drive. The manager of the dealership stated that this has happened several times.

NHTSA ID

11626773

Incident

Nov 4, 2024

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Sorento Hybrid. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The contact was able to restart the vehicle, but the failure persisted. The contact stated while attempting to drive the vehicle the following day the failure persisted. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where a diagnostic result was undetermined. The dealer stated that while attempting to drive the vehicle, there were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 19,700.

NHTSA ID

11595544

Incident

Jun 20, 2024

Mileage

19,700 mi

I was driving home from work when I felt my car was in a limp like a previous problem I had except this time I had a check engine light come on. I was almost home and I had a check hybrid system pop up on my dash and the car basically stopped driving. Luckily I was on a side street. I had a p0171 code on both of my issues . I had it fixed about a month and half ago the first time but couldn't say what caused the issue.

NHTSA ID

11594602

Incident

Jun 15, 2024

2023 Kia Sorrento - The engine turned off while driving, leaving me stranded in the middle of a busy road in the first six months of ownership. The vehicle was towed, and the dealer was unable to reproduce it. On 01/12/24, the car leaked all the contents of the coolant system onto my driveway. The vehicle was towed, and the dealer later stated the radiator adapter had a small pebble that appeared to have bent some of the fins. The dealer said it was "external forces," and they are not assuming liability. I firmly believe it was a failure of the radiator adapter and not a tiny pebble that caused the entire system to fail. I write this hoping that if other issues are reported with this vehicle's radiator, it will become a known issue to assist other customers and potentially keep people safe on the roadways. I complained to Kia America, who assumed no liability and stated it was not their problem, although they never requested photographs or the affected part. I am very saddened by the response from the dealer and Kia America during this incident.

NHTSA ID

11567428

Incident

Jan 12, 2024

At times vehicle hesitates or doesn't responses when accelerator is pushed. Has occurred several times when moving into traffic from a yield lane or stop. Fortunately it hasn't lead to an accident but was very scary. Researching this problem on-line, this has been reported by many Sorento owners. This is an intermittent problem and when vehicle is taken to the dealer they report they can not duplicate problem so nothing is done. By the shear numbers of owners reporting the same issue, something needs to be corrected.

NHTSA ID

11566663

Incident

Jan 19, 2024

My vehicle died inThe middle of an extremely busy four lane road. A light came on That said to turn the car off immediately. The engine light and battery light flashed on. It sounds like the engine recall for the 22 and 21 hybrid sorento’s. I had to have the vehicle towed to the dealership, it is only 7 mos old.

NHTSA ID

11565469

Incident

Jan 14, 2024

Vehicle loses power from combustion engine and drives only on electric battery. Hybrid system doesn’t engage correctly and vehicle will accelerate extremely slowly after a delay and will only achieve roughly 30 mph with accelerator fully pressed. This vehicle has been sent to the dealer multiple times and they have recreated the problem. However even after parts being replaced and connections being replaced the problem persists. Vehicle can be inspected anytime. My family has been in several near collisions with oncoming traffic due to the vehicle moving after a delay and then at a much slower than expected pace. Pulling out in to traffic is nearly impossible when the vehicle malfunctions. It has also depleted the entire battery and left us motionless on the side of the road multiple times. Due to the problem being intermittent and not reliably duplicated a service technician was given permission to use the vehicle to commute to and from work for a time. This allowed him to experience the issue in person. The vehicle has been inspected multiple times by the dealers service department and they have been working with engineers from the manufacturer. When this problem occurs there typically is not a warning light or a code stored. They believe it is a faulty connection. This issue will cause an accident in the future if not resolved. The manufacturer has not been able to determine what is causing the issue. They also have not been concerned with our safety and have released the vehicle back to us 3 times stating that it is fixed yet the problem persists.

NHTSA ID

11553611

Incident

Sep 20, 2023

While driving on Oregon I-205 south bound received a refill inverter coolant warning. I was on my way to the dealer for other issues and decided to let the dealer fix it. About five miles down the freeway I began to lose power. I was in the center lane and had to move over two lanes of traffic while losing more power. Luckily I made it across with the help of a few understanding drivers and many horn honkers so there was no accident. I turned off the engine and called Kia roadside assistance. After about 15 minutes I was connected to a Kia assistant who after a few minutes asked if the engine would start and it did. I was then directed to try to make it to the nearest Kia dealer which was about 8 miles away. The car went the first seven miles with no problem but then I started to lose power again. I was doing five miles an hour tops when I pulled into Weston Kia in Gresham, Ore. I left my car at the dealer. I was called the next day to tell me that a small piece of metal (road debris) had flown through the air intake space below the grill and hit the invertor radiator and that the invertor radiator reservoir was empty causing the car to lose power to save the engine. Luckily they had an invertor radiator in stock and I got my car back six days later. It was not covered by warranty because it was not a manufactures defect. The cost to repair was almost $1100. I question this. I googled this problem and found out that I am not the first person to have this exact problem happen to. If the air intake to the invertor radiator had some protection (1/4 inch mesh) or the invertor radiator were behind the grill this would not of happened. This, in my opinion, is extremely dangerous and would have very easy fix. I asked to keep the old radiator and I have documentation from Weston Kia covering the repair.

NHTSA ID

11549499

Incident

Sep 22, 2023

car parked automatically while in drive. won't allow car to shift to drive or reverse due to "driving conditions not met". hybrid system light also randomly comes on.

NHTSA ID

11516071

Incident

Mar 21, 2023