The Recall Desk

Vehicle

Kia Sportage · 2012

5 recalls affect this vehicle. Sorted by severity, then date.

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1–5 of 5

  • Severity pendingNHTSA·23V652000·2023-09-25

    Kia Recalls Multiple Models Due to Electrical Short Fire Risk

    Kia is recalling 1.7 million vehicles because an electrical short in the brake control unit may cause an engine compartment fire.

    Product
    KIA — KIA SORENTO, RIO, OPTIMA HYBRID, SOUL
    Category
    Vehicle
    Distribution
    Distributed nationwide
  • Severity pendingNHTSA·20V750000·2020-12-02

    Kia Recalls 294,756 Vehicles for Engine Compartment Fire Risk

    Kia is recalling 294,756 vehicles from 2011-2015 due to a risk of engine compartment fire while driving. Dealers will inspect for leaks and update software.

    Product
    KIA — KIA FORTE KOUP, SOUL, FORTE, SORENTO
    Category
    Vehicle
    Distribution
    Distributed nationwide
  • Severity pendingNHTSA·18V907000·2018-12-19

    Kia Recalls Optima, Sportage, and Sorento for Fuel Leak Risk

    Kia is recalling 2011-2018 Optima, Sportage, and Sorento vehicles that had previous engine replacements due to a potential fuel pipe defect that could cause a leak and fire.

    Product
    KIA — KIA OPTIMA, SPORTAGE, SORENTO
    Category
    Vehicle
    Distribution
    Distributed nationwide
  • Severity pendingNHTSA·17V224000·2017-03-31

    Kia Recalls 2011-2014 Models Due to Engine Bearing Wear Risk

    Kia is recalling 2011-2014 Optima, Sorento, and Sportage vehicles because machining errors may cause premature engine bearing wear, potentially leading to engine seizure and increased crash risk.

    Product
    KIA — KIA OPTIMA, SPORTAGE, SORENTO
    Category
    Vehicle
    Distribution
    Distributed nationwide

NHTSA crash-test safety rating

Federal 5-Star Safety Rating from crash testing. This is a separate government program from the recall(s) above — a high star rating says nothing about whether a specific recall has been fixed, and a recall says nothing about crash-test performance.

  • 20125/5

    2 trims tested for 2012; overall ratings can differ by trim.

    View on NHTSA.gov

Source: NHTSA New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), a federal crash-test program — not a recall record.

Wider context for this vehicle

Beyond the official recalls above. These are third-party figures derived from NHTSA complaint data — useful signal, but not part of our verified recall record.

Federal investigations

  • AQ25001 Audit Query · engine and engine cooling:engine:hard parts internal/mechanical
  • PE19004 Preliminary Evaluation · electrical system:12v/24v/48v battery:cables
  • RQ17003 Recall Query · engine

Complaint clusters with no matching recall

  • 2017 · engine 154 complaints, median 81,174 mi
    Includes 12 alleging a fire. Unverified owner allegations from complaint filings — not confirmed by any agency.
  • 2020 · engine 67 complaints, median 63,120 mi
    Includes 4 alleging a fire. Unverified owner allegations from complaint filings — not confirmed by any agency.
  • 2018 · engine 67 complaints, median 60,000 mi
    Includes 7 alleging a fire. Unverified owner allegations from complaint filings — not confirmed by any agency.
  • 2015 · engine 58 complaints, median 103,000 mi
    Includes 2 alleging a fire. Unverified owner allegations from complaint filings — not confirmed by any agency.
  • 2014 · engine 58 complaints, median 98,000 mi
    Includes 1 alleging a fire. Unverified owner allegations from complaint filings — not confirmed by any agency.

Technical service bulletins

774 manufacturer service bulletins across 22 model years. A TSB is repair guidance to dealers, not a safety recall.

Third-party reliability score

  • 2026: 4.9/5
  • 2025: 4.0/5 · 49 complaints · most complained-of: electrical
  • 2024: 3.7/5 · 68 complaints · most complained-of: electrical
  • 2023: 3.1/5 · 187 complaints · most complained-of: electrical
  • 2022: 4.0/5 · 46 complaints · most complained-of: engine

This is ProblemsByVin’s own published heuristic (1 worst – 5 best), not an official rating and unrelated to our severity scale.

Data on this panel comes from ProblemsByVin, derived from US NHTSA owner complaints and recalls, and licensed CC BY 4.0. It is not published by a federal agency and is not part of our verified recall record.

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