Other electrical problem on the 2012 Kia Sorento
14 fires 14 of the 74 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 other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2012 Kia Sorento report other electrical problem at a median of 67,500 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles, from 46 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 5,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 145,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 138,000 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.
30% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6,000 miles | 25,500 miles | 66,250 miles | 100,000 miles | 144,000 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, 14 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 $250–$2,000 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 21 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2023, at a median of 2,000 miles, and latest on the 2007 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 119; the 2012 has 74. 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 2012 kia sorento. The contact stated that the push start feature did not properly function and would not turn the vehicle off. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and the dealer disconnected the ignition from under the hood, but had not been able to repair the failure. The failure and current mileages were 38. The VIN was not available.
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 kia sorento. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled. The contact was able to successfully restart the vehicle after numerous attempts. The vehicle was then taken to an authorized dealer and the contact was informed that the failure may be related to the electronic system. The dealer stated that the key might have disconnected from the vehicle and caused the failure. The vehicle was in the process of having the key synchronized with the electrical system. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 6,000.
My family and I (wife, 4 year old daughter and 9 month old daughter) had just exited the freeway and entered our housing complex. While driving through the neighborhood our vehicle's engine as well as all electrical components turned off. We were in motion at the time it turned off. We had another vehicle behind us, but luckily they saw our vehicle slowing down and drove around us. My wife was driving and stated everything locked up and, as expected, she had to muscle the steering to pull to the side and out of the way of traffic. The brake pedal was also depressed all the way to the floor, and had no ABS. We had to wait for the vehicle to come to a complete stop then put the vehicle in park and start the engine back up. I initially told my wife to put it in neutral but after trying that, it did not work. After we got the vehicle back on we drove straight home. I contacted citrus kia that day and told them what had happened. I was told that they have not heard of that issue and would have no way confirming what happened unless it did it while they were inspecting it. My vehicle was being serviced from 4/10/13- 4/13/13. The end…
Also reported on the 2012 Kia Sorento
Other engine problem
Other brake problem
Complete engine failure or seizure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Headlight failure or clouding
Other powertrain problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 74 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 electrical problem happen on the 2012 Kia Sorento?
Across 46 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 67,500 miles. A quarter were filed before 25,000 miles and a quarter after 100,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2012 Kia Sorento?
74 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