Engine sensor failure on the 2012 Kia Sorento
Only 7 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When engine sensor failure gets reported
There are 7 reports of engine sensor failure on the 2012 Kia Sorento, 7 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 30th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 112,000 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 $180–$900 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 8 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2017, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2014 at 135,000 miles.
By volume the 2006 carries the most reports, with 7; the 2012 has 7. 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.
We had struggled with the check engine lights on the car coming on and going off randomly. Had the camshaft position sensor replaced twice. Returned from a 11 day vacation and upon starting the car there was a knocking sound from the engine. Took it to a mechanic in town immediately for fear something was wrong with the car. The next day received a recall letter from kia but the mechanic in town had already run diagnostics and found several things wrong with the engine. Took it to kia per the recall and they reported that the diagnostic tool could find nothing wrong and that the engine was fun. I took it to a toyota dealership for trade assessment and they too told me the engine was bad. I have since traded the car in because a mechanic I trust advised me to do so. When this car was first purchased it was involved in an accident that was unreported and repaired by the dealership. I've constant trouble with the wiring and honesty of kia. I no longer own the vehicle but I suffered an expense to replace it because kia claimed this vehicle was unaffected. I did not feel safe driving it any longer.
Vehicle stalls while in motion and when stopped. When it stalls in motion, there is no steering or brakes. Awd kicks in for no reason and will not go off. I had the vehicle checked and both the map sensor and vcma actuator were both replaced as recommended by the diagnostic computer. I did have a tune up on the vehicle one day prior so I had hoped the spark plugs were the problem. Problem resumed one day after bringing home from shop. I called kia after seeing there was a recall in may of 2017 that covered certain sorento models that were stalling, however I was told mine was not a part of this recall. I don't know what to do now other than to take it to kia and spend enormous amounts in repairs.
Vehicle stalls while in motion and when stopped. When it stalls in motion, there is no steering or brakes. Awd kicks in for no reason and will not go off. I had the vehicle checked and both the map sensor and vcma actuator were both replaced as recommended by the diagnostic computer. I did have a tune up on the vehicle one day prior so I had hoped the spark plugs were the problem. Problem resumed one day after bringing home from shop. I called kia after seeing there was a recall in may of 2017 that covered certain sorento models that were stalling, however I was told mine was not a part of this recall. I don't know what to do now other than to take it to kia and spend enormous amounts in repairs.
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
This page is kept out of search results because 7 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 7 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 engine sensor failure happen on the 2012 Kia Sorento?
Across 7 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 110,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is engine sensor failure on the 2012 Kia Sorento?
7 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