Loss of power steering on the 2006 Kia Sorento
When loss of power steering gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Kia Sorento report loss of power steering at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 80,000 miles. It is the 11th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 45,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 95,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 52,179 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
Reports bunched into a band this tight usually mean the component has a life of its own: it goes at roughly the same mileage regardless of who owns it.
0% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43,621 miles | 46,777 miles | 71,246 miles | 92,000 miles | 95,800 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 $600–$2,800 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 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2003, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 85,000 miles.
By volume the 2005 carries the most reports, with 13; the 2006 has 10. 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.
Bolt sheared causing the harmonic balancer to fall off causing extensive damage to vehicle while driving. Vehicle became very hard to steer. Clearly this vehicle can not be safe to drive if bolts that hold the engine and steering just shear off. *tr
Driving on the highway 230 miles from home, 150 miles from my destination brake light and battery light came on. Pulled off road loss of steering power. Opened hood and found belts off. Towed to nearest town in the middle of nowhere and mechanic diagnosed the crankshaft (harmonic balancer) bolt had sheered off and broken piece still in crankshaft. Towed to nearest kia dealership 150 miles away and was told possible crankshaft/engine damage. Could not do further diagnosis due to weekend (saturday) and will need to stay in town until car is repaired (no other transportation). No loaner car offered. This is a dangerous common occurrence with kia sorento owners that the company seems to know about but does not want to address or cover cost of repairs. Recall on bolt for 2003 models does not cover later models but dangerous situation still exists with those later models. I am afraid to drive my car after it is repaired knowing that other owners have had this problem reoccur and loss of power steering at highway speed is a dangerous situation. *tr
Driving on the highway 230 miles from home, 150 miles from my destination brake light and battery light came on. Pulled off road loss of steering power. Opened hood and found belts off. Towed to nearest town in the middle of nowhere and mechanic diagnosed the crankshaft (harmonic balancer) bolt had sheered off and broken piece still in crankshaft. Towed to nearest kia dealership 150 miles away and was told possible crankshaft/engine damage. Could not do further diagnosis due to weekend (saturday) and will need to stay in town until car is repaired (no other transportation). No loaner car offered. This is a dangerous common occurrence with kia sorento owners that the company seems to know about but does not want to address or cover cost of repairs. Recall on bolt for 2003 models does not cover later models but dangerous situation still exists with those later models. I am afraid to drive my car after it is repaired knowing that other owners have had this problem reoccur and loss of power steering at highway speed is a dangerous situation. *tr
Also reported on the 2006 Kia Sorento
Other engine problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Other lighting problem
Timing chain, belt or tensioner failure
Other electrical problem
Tail light, brake light or signal failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 10 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 loss of power steering happen on the 2006 Kia Sorento?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 90,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is loss of power steering on the 2006 Kia Sorento?
10 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.6 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