Complete engine failure or seizure on the 2004 Kia Sorento
Only 4 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When complete engine failure or seizure gets reported
There are 4 reports of complete engine failure or seizure on the 2004 Kia Sorento, 4 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 105,000 miles. It is the 28th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 106,000 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $4,500–$12,000 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2021 at 125,000 miles.
By volume the 2012 carries the most reports, with 71; the 2004 has 4. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Engine seized due to a factory recall. Received the notice after the fact and kia is not willing to accept and take responsibility in correctly fixing my engine and paying for my $1000 rental car. *jb
My 2004 kia sorento was in the dealership for diagnostics due to engine misfire. During which phil smith kia technicians gave my cooling system green check that all was ok. Approximately ten miles afterwards the engine suffered failure, headgasket blown. Vehicle was towed to the dealership. Was advised by service manager when they started the vehicle the engine seized. Dealership is refusing to cover under warranty, claiming that the car overheated causing the failure. The even occurred within 5 minutes of the car starting and it never overheated. I have contacted kia consumer and received no assistance. Despite having documentation to support the cooling system was fine, they will not accept the claim. I am forced to pay for charges relating to the engine tear down, approximately $400 before they will release my vehicle back to me. I will then have to take it elsewhere to be repaired. *tr
While driving in the fast lane on the interstate, my 2004 kia sorento overheated and the engine seized, we were able to coast off the freeway at an exit and pull over safely. Upon inspection, we noticed the coolant reservoir was cracked on the bottom, allowing all the coolant to leak out. After a little research, I found the tsb about this old model coolant reservoir cracking and a new model was out. This damaged tank caused my engine to overheat, seize on the freeway and now has blown the head gasket and warped the aluminum heads. Why wasn't I told that these tanks were a problem, I had my oil changed at the dealership 3 weeks prior and 3 months before that, nobody said anything. *tr
Also reported on the 2004 Kia Sorento
Other engine problem
Radiator or coolant leak
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
Other body or interior problem
Differential or transfer case failure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 4 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 4 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does complete engine failure or seizure happen on the 2004 Kia Sorento?
Across 4 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 105,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is complete engine failure or seizure on the 2004 Kia Sorento?
4 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.1 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed