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 ID

11708252

Incident

Dec 24, 2025

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 ID

11696583

Incident

Oct 14, 2025

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 ID

11680392

Incident

Feb 13, 2024

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 ID

11676103

Incident

Jul 25, 2025

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 ID

11653278

Incident

Apr 5, 2025

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 ID

11633522

Incident

Sep 3, 2024

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 ID

11618640

Incident

Jul 1, 2024

See attached document for complaint

NHTSA ID

11610130

Incident

Mar 5, 2024

TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: ON-BOARD CHARGER INSPECTION AND REPLACMENT (SA644) - This bulletin provides information related to charging system diagnosis and repair on certain Sportage (NQ5 PHEV) vehicles produced from December 13, 2022 through May 30, 2023. The affected vehicles may experience interrupted or inoperative high‑voltage battery charging due to an on‑board charger (OBC) internal malfunction. As a result, charging of the high-voltage battery may be interrupted or unavailable, with several diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) stored related to the OBC unit. If this occurs, the vehicle can still be driven by the internal combustion engine.

TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: INFOTAINMENT SYSTEM SOFTWARE UPDATE USING UPDATE.KIA.COM - This bulletin provides information and service procedures for updating the infotainment systems on applicable Kia vehicles using the Kia Navigation Updater available at update.kia.com. The software update may improve system performance, enhance existing features, and apply the latest operating software for supported vehicles (2021-2026MY All Models).

TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: INFOTAINMENT SOFTWARE UPDATE PROCEDURE - This bulletin provides information on the process for downloading infotainment software updates and preparing USB for installation on applicable Kia vehicles. The software downloads and USB preparation process is similar across all supported platforms; however, in‑vehicle installation procedures vary by head unit type.

TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: AVN5.0W DTC P17A000 DAIGNOSTIC PROCEDURE - This bulletin provides information regarding a potential illuminated Malfunction Indicator Lamp (MIL) accompanied by DTC P17A000 on some 2022-2025MY Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEV) and Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) equipped with AVN5.0Wide head units listed below. This condition occurs when the Global Positioning System (GPS) module within the Audio Video Navigation (AVN) head unit, sends an inaccurate signal to the Hybrid Power Control Unit (HPCU), causing the DTC to set. There are no drivability symptoms associated with this condition.

TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: VOLUNTARY EMISSIONS SERVICE CAMPAIGN: AEWP INSPECTION AND REPLACEMENT (SC325) - 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 inspect and, if necessary, replace the Auxiliary Electric Water Pump (AEWP), control harness wiring, and/or engine room junction box for coolant intrusion and/or corrosion on certain 2022-2023MY Kia Hybrid and Plug-in Hybrid vehicles listed in the table below. The AEWP in the subject vehicles may crack internally and allow coolant to intrude into the AEWP circuitry. If coolant enters the AEWP circuitry, the Check Engine Light (CEL) may be illuminated with one or more DTCs listed on page 2. If the vehicle continues to be driven in this condition, the Active Air Flap (AAF) warning message can also activate, and coolant may eventually migrate through the wiring harness to the engine room junction block. This may result in a reduction of motive power and may cause the vehicle to release air pollutants which exceeds Federal and California standards. These standards were established to protect the public health and welfare from the dangers of air pollution.

PITSTOP: TECHNICAL OPERATIONS: EXTERNAL DAMAGE TO ULTRASONIC SENSOR: This Pitstop provides information related to Parking Distance Warning (PDW) alerts and repairs involving ultrasonic sensors. The PDW system alerts the driver while parking, by calculating distance based on the difference in signal transmission and reception times between the vehicle (ultrasonic sensor) and an object. The membrane film of the ultrasonic sensor is used for object detention and can be damaged by stone chips or foreign substances while driving. Damage to the cover of the ultrasonic sensor can also lead to damage to the internal circuit. As a result of this external damage, the PDW system may not receive the proper signal from the ultrasonic sensor. In some cases, the system may cause a false alarm, no alert, or phantom warnings by a “Warning Lamp’ to be displayed on the cluster. The ultrasonic sensor membrane film should be always inspected for external damage and if any part replacement should be treated as a general repair, not as a warranty claim repair for this concern. (Please note that this Pitstop only applies to models/trims that are equipped with the ultrasonic sensors.)