Alternator or charging system failure on the 2005 Kia Sorento
Only 6 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 alternator or charging system failure gets reported
There are 6 reports of alternator or charging system failure on the 2005 Kia Sorento, 6 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 98,000 miles. It is the 21st most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 108,712 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 $450–$1,600 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 10 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2007, at a median of 600 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 150,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 25; the 2005 has 6. 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.
Balancer bolt has broken off in the crank shaft pulley causing the alternator not to spin. Required to drill out the bolt and replace the balancer and remove and replace the sprocket. *tr
My car has broken down 3 times in the last month. I have a 2005 kia sorento with 115,000 miles on it. Ever since I bought my car, it has continually had electrical issues such as replacement of the headlights every few months. I have just dealt with it and learned how to replace them myself. One month ago though, my car broke down and I had it towed to my local mechanic. He said it was the alternator and went ahead and replaced it. Everything was running smooth when I drove it away but then 2 weeks later, I broke down again (same symptoms occurred from when I broke down the first time - brake & battery light blinks and then the airbag light comes on and boom, no power). Brought it to the same mechanic and this time it was the battery that needed replaced so he went ahead and replaced it. Just yesterday, 2 weeks after the battery issue, my car broke down again with the same symptoms occurring. I'm still waiting on it to be diagnosed but there is no other explanation than for it to be an electrical issue. Suggestions? *tr
The power steering on our 2005 kia sorento being driven by my 18 year old daughter failed. It was so fortunate that it occurred when she was decelerating to turn a corner, however it was incredibly hard to steer with the loss of power. She was lucky to be able to navigate out of traffic safely. Had aaa tow to the dealer who had sold us the car 2 months earlier. I had purchased an extended warranty for just this purpose...never thinking that I would need to use it so soon.. The aaa driver said it looked as a belt had come off. When at the dealer, found that the crank pully bolt had sheared off resulting in no power steering, AC or charging system! Bolt had broken off and harmonic balancer had dropped off the vehicle! After some net research I found a technical service bulletin{ #072 revised} for this same crankshaft bolt. Kia is well aware of this failing bolt and continues to put peoples lives at risk? This is a huge design flaw. *tr
Also reported on the 2005 Kia Sorento
Other engine problem
Other lighting problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 6 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 6 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 alternator or charging system failure happen on the 2005 Kia Sorento?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 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 alternator or charging system failure on the 2005 Kia Sorento?
6 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.2 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