Other engine problem on the 2015 Kia Sorento
3 crashes 5 fires 1 injury 9 of the 213 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 engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2015 Kia Sorento report other engine problem at a median of 89,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 61,000 miles and a quarter after 106,000 miles, from 106 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 31,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 109,053 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
13% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30,947 miles | 61,197 miles | 88,500 miles | 105,750 miles | 140,000 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, 3 a crash, 5 a fire and 1 an injury are 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 $300–$4,000 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 1,600 miles, and latest on the 2014 at 101,000 miles.
By volume the 2016 carries the most reports, with 340; the 2015 has 213. 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.
I purchased a new 2015 kia sorento may 17, 2014. As I was driving down the road last night at approximately 45mph, suddenly the car jerked around, sounded like I downshifted (although it's an automatic) and I got the diagnostic message of the "engine control system- possible engine condition" it told me to take it to the dealership for service immediately. They said today that they had to order a new throttle body assembly and it was too dangerous for me to drive. Not sure if anyone else has had these problems yet but it shouldn't be happening in a brand new car! *tr
How can NHTSA give a 5-star safety rating to a 2015 kia sorrento based on a 2013 crash test done on this model vehicle when there is obvious a problem with this vehicle in the 2014/2015 kia sorrento models. Since 2014, there has been at least 2 serious injuries and other complaints due to this defect and its non-deployent of airbags, etc. (please look at the photos, video & small overlay crash report at http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/kia/sorento-4-door-SUV/2015)..the manufactiurer was well aware of this since they redesigned the 2016 model. This defect should be made public for all vehicles affected with these issues which should repaired or recalled to avoid further risk of serious injuries and/or loss of life. It is completely wrongful, harmful and negligent of NHTSA to give an "5-star safety rating" on a later model vehicle based on an outdated test & without fully and appropriatel testing; rendering false misrepresentation to the vehicle shopper.....updated 06/21/17 *bf *js
I was driving down the road with my 4 children in the car at 45 MPH when all of a sudden my car completely lost power. Luckily I was able to coast to the side of the road. It was over a 100 degrees outside and my 4 kids under 6 had to sit and wait on a ride in the heat. The car has 40,000 miles on it and has had 7 oil changes, of which I have provided the receipts for. There is engine sludge despite the fact that the oil was changed more frequently than the manual suggested 7500 miles,
Also reported on the 2015 Kia Sorento
Other body or interior problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Other lighting problem
Complete engine failure or seizure
Other powertrain problem
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 213 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 engine problem happen on the 2015 Kia Sorento?
Across 106 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 89,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 61,000 miles and a quarter after 106,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other engine problem on the 2015 Kia Sorento?
213 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.4 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