Other brake problem on the 2006 Kia Sorento
When other brake problem gets reported
Owners of the 2006 Kia Sorento report other brake problem at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 9th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 115,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 109,000 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
18% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8,000 miles | 53,483 miles | 85,000 miles | 102,562 miles | 117,000 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 $300–$1,800 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.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2009 at 140,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 94; the 2006 has 11. 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.
Like clockwork, every 6,000 - 8,000 miles the rotors warp. Kia machined them the first 2 times, then after that said it is my driving habits and I had to pay. I have owned 15 cars in my lifetime and never had a single one warp. It causes the vehicle to shake when stopping, especially at higher speeds and I am afraid to drive out of town due to the mountainous regions that surround where I live (phoenix, az). *tr
Brake problems. I have had to have extensive work on my brakes every 8000 miles. I can set my odometer by this it is so reliable. When I bought my sorrento in 2006 within the first 8000 miles the brakes went out. The dealership agreed to change the rotors for me. In 8000 miles the shoes, rotors everything was bad again. I called the dealership, they refused to fix it. I went to them and they wanted to charge an exorbitant price so I went to my usual car repair shop. They changed the brakes and as usual within 8000 miles again the brakes. I went back to my car repair shop and they said this time it was the back brakes (the first time the front). They repaired them and assured me that this should not happen again before about 30k miles. Now after 8000 miles my brakes are again bad. I have complained repeatedly to kia, they do nothing. Their consumer portion of kia is a joke. They always say it's the consumer's fault. My car is 3 years, and almost 4 years old and I only have 29k miles on it so I am not a rough driver, not a long distance driver and am a 50 year old woman so it's not like I'm out hotrodding. *tr
Coming home from work about 2miles away from home, I lost power, my power steering, and electrical and I had to pull over and get towed to my home. Not happy cause kia knows about this issue!!!! *js
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 11 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 other brake problem happen on the 2006 Kia Sorento?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 55,000 miles and a quarter after 105,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other brake problem on the 2006 Kia Sorento?
11 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