Alternator or charging system failure on the 2011 Kia Sorento
4 fires 4 of the 15 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When alternator or charging system failure gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Kia Sorento report alternator or charging system failure at a median of 150,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 150,000 miles, from 9 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 98,000 miles. It is the 30th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 30,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 210,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 180,238 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
11% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 31,762 miles | 61,000 miles | 150,000 miles | 150,000 miles | 212,000 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
Of these reports, 4 a fire is mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
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 2011 has 15. 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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 kia sorento. The contact stated that while driving 10 MPH the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who was unable to diagnose the failure but replaced the alternator as a temporary remedy. The remedy failed to repair the failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure who advised the contact that they would follow up with the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 10 and the current mileage was 47,000.
The car had problems starting and the starter, alternator and battery was fine. The dealer claims it was a switch and it was replaced. The problem kept happening on occasion (2-3 times) in the last year and last time they replaced the battery. I believe there is a bigger problem and defect. *tr
Car began to act like it did not want to crank. Once I got to destination, radio went off first, then everything started dimming, then it shut off. Tried to jump it off, got it down the road 1/2 a mile then shut off again. Took battery out and tried to charge it but it was dead. Bought another fully charged battery, drove the car home. Tried to crank next morning, wouldn't crank again. Charged it up took it to 2 different places..it was the alternator. According to a service bulletin #sa061, there was an issue where the battery light was illuminated causing the alternators not to charge. This was the same issue mine was doing..the battery light was showing but I did not know about the alternator. This is third battery in 3 years for this car! After looking around everywhere with no alternators in stock and no one knowing how to re-build them, the kia dealership wanted to charge me $443 for an alternator and another $300 to put it in! Not to mention I would have to probably tow it over there! That is crazy! This is not the only issue with this car! My sunroof, back-up camera, right front light, radio knob has fell off, passenger…
Also reported on the 2011 Kia Sorento
Other body or interior problem
Other engine problem
Other powertrain problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other electrical problem
Door latch or handle failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 15 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 2011 Kia Sorento?
Across 9 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 150,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 60,000 miles and a quarter after 150,000 miles. 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 2011 Kia Sorento?
15 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