No-start or intermittent start failure on the 2012 Kia Sorento
When no-start or intermittent start failure gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Kia Sorento report no-start or intermittent start failure at a median of 30,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles, from 10 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 88,000 miles. It is the 19th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 100 miles at the tenth percentile to 160,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 159,870 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.
50% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 130 miles | 2,678 miles | 30,500 miles | 109,500 miles | 160,000 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 $200–$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 13 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2012, at a median of 30,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 175,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 42; the 2012 has 12. 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.
While attempting to start the vehicle it would not start. The 2012 sorento has a push button start. The issue started the day we purchased the vehicle and it seems like it is a repeated issue. The kia dealer in omaha nebraska replaced the switch twice and the dealer in fairview hts, il has replaced the same part at least three times. I'm thinking lemon. It is currently at the dealer in fairview hts, il for the same issue again. *tr
A few months ago I was driving my daughter to her volleyball practice and upon leaving the parking lot and driving into the street I lost all power and control of my car including my power steering etc. I almost crashed the car into the side of a house but lucky I was able to press the brakes hard enough to finally get the car to stop. I then pushed the power button and all of the lights came on the display but no power to the car. I pressed the power again and the car started. Then three days ago I was in the car pick up line picking up another daughter from school. I had the power of the car off and when I went to start the car it would not start. I pushed the power button and again all of the light on the display came on. Then I pushed it again and it started. I believe this is a very serious issue. If myself or my husband are driving any of our 4 children on the freeway at 65-70 miles and hour and the car decides to power itself off it could become a catastrophe one of which I am not willing to risk. I have done my research and found several other complaints about these exact issues however nothing is ever done about. It's the…
At dealership to possibly purchase used 2012 kia sorento. Vehicle would not start. Dealer had to jump start. Everything seemed ok and drove to nearby parking lot to look over the car. Left the car running in park and after 5 minutes various dash lights began to light up, engine would not accelerate, and the stop button would not shutdown the car. Eventually the engine labored and then stopped. Called dealer and we jump started the engine. On the way back to dealership (less than a mile) the engine labored, throttle would not respond, power steering got very heavy, and then the engine quit. This happened twice requiring jump starts. It died again entering the dealership. Battery had been replaced by dealership but troubleshooting determined the alternator was not charging. Sent to kia dealership and they replaced the alternator. *tr
Also reported on the 2012 Kia Sorento
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
Other electrical problem
Complete engine failure or seizure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Headlight failure or clouding
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 no-start or intermittent start failure happen on the 2012 Kia Sorento?
Across 10 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 30,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 110,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is no-start or intermittent start failure on the 2012 Kia Sorento?
12 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