Complete transmission failure on the 2013 Kia Sorento
Only 6 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 complete transmission failure gets reported
There are 8 reports of complete transmission failure on the 2013 Kia Sorento, 6 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 98,000 miles. It is the 29th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 3,021 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 $2,800–$8,000 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.
This mode is classified as critical, which means a failure can leave the car unable to stop, steer, or stay out of the way of traffic. It is weighted accordingly in the risk score.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 5 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2013, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2017 at 200,000 miles.
By volume the 2011 carries the most reports, with 28; the 2013 has 8. 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 leased a 2013 kia sorrento on 8/11/2012. Vehicle had 4 miles when paperwork was done. On 8/25/2012 the check engine light came on. On 8/26/2012 the engine revved to 6,500 RPM when we were going 20 MPH. There was a large bang. I took in to the dealer on 8/27/2012. I was told a new transmission needed to be installed after 2 days of "diagnostics". We now have been without the vehicle for almost as long as we have had the vehicle. I am told it will not be ready until at least this wednesday. I frankly feel uncomfortable in taking the vehicle back in this condition. I have been told several times that I would be receiving a call from the national customer service desk at kia. No call has ever come. We have received no calls from kia's consumer affairs group though told repeatedly that such would occur. *tr
We leased a 2013 kia sorrento on 8/11/2012. Vehicle had 4 miles when paperwork was done. On 8/25/2012 the check engine light came on. On 8/26/2012 the engine revved to 6,500 RPM when we were going 20 MPH. There was a large bang. I took in to the dealer on 8/27/2012. I was told a new transmission needed to be installed after 2 days of "diagnostics". We now have been without the vehicle for almost as long as we have had the vehicle. I am told it will not be ready until at least this wednesday. I frankly feel uncomfortable in taking the vehicle back in this condition. I have been told several times that I would be receiving a call from the national customer service desk at kia. No call has ever come. We have received no calls from kia's consumer affairs group though told repeatedly that such would occur. *tr
I purchased my car on may 8, 2012. Approximately 2 months later, I began having trouble with a loud thumping noise in the front end when accelerating. This thumping was most noticeable at lower speeds. I took the car back to the dealer on saturday, july 21, 2012. I called on tuesday, july 24, 2012 and was told that they are still testing my vehicle to determine what was wrong. I finally heard from the dealer on thursday, july 26, 2012, and was told that my new car required a new transmission, that it was on order and my car would be ready by wednesday, august 1, 2012. My vehicle was ready for pick up on saturday, august 4, 2012. The car was running fine. I had a regular maintenance check at 5,477 miles, oil and filter change, etc., on saturday, september 29, 2012. On monday, march 4 2013, I again began to hear the thumping noise, not loud, but it became louder as the week progressed. I took my car back to the dealer on saturday, march 9, 2013, informed my service advisor that the thumping noise was back, and that the lumbar was not working on the driver's seat. I was informed that I had to leave my car, so that the technician can…
Also reported on the 2013 Kia Sorento
Other engine problem
Other body or interior problem
Other brake problem
Other electrical problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Complete engine failure or seizure
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 8 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 8 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 complete transmission failure happen on the 2013 Kia Sorento?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 5,000 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 complete transmission failure on the 2013 Kia Sorento?
8 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