Other engine problem on the 2012 Kia Soul
1 crash 16 fires 1 injury 18 of the 130 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 2012 Kia Soul report other engine problem at a median of 120,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 92,500 miles and a quarter after 145,000 miles, from 86 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 42,500 miles at the tenth percentile to 170,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 128,000 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.
9% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 43,000 miles | 92,170 miles | 119,540 miles | 145,620 miles | 171,000 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, 1 a crash, 16 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 15 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2024, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2015 carries the most reports, with 323; the 2012 has 130. 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 bought a 2012 kia soul from capital city kia in montpelier, vermont just over a month ago. It had 600 miles on it. After two weeks of driving it very seldom, it stopped operating while I was driving it and I had it towed to the nearest kia dealership. They kept it there for a couple hours and worked on it while I waited and then sent me on my way. They said it was just loose connections. A half an hour later the car quite while I was driving again and I had to have it towed again. They kept the car for diagnostics. I was frustrated and afraid to drive the car without some reassurance that it was truly fixed. They said they did everything they could. I left with the car and went into a store for a half of an hour and when I went to drive home, it died again. This time they sent their most experienced technicians to me who experienced starting it up and then having it die again. They had to have it towed again. Upon picking it up after it was worked on, I was told that it was a specific thing( don't know what it was or how to explain) and that it was set to go. Yesterday, while I was out running errands it died while I was driving…
8-31-13 is the first time I went into the dealership to complain about the car accelerating when I would first start the car up in the garage and then when I was driving it would jerk into another gear. They reset the adaptive learning system. 10-9-13, is the 2nd time I went to dealership with the similar situation, but the car would seem like it was shifting from 1st to 2nd while I was actually driving. They checked transmission fluid levels and they thought it was low (they told me this is nonserviceable area and they had to access the cover which is bolted). They filled the transmission fluid and said to watch and check next time I have an oil change. 10-11-13, on way to work, car was being driven to work (30-45 MPH, city driving) when it seemed like it was holding its breath,,,suddenly downshifted on it's own. Got to office. When leaving for the day, car was jerking as it was shifting from first to 2nd and seemed to not engage properly. Happened a couple of times at speeds less than 40 MPH. Then noticed the equivalent of a check engine light came on and stayed on. Called dealership before I got home and asked if I could come…
The first time that this happened I was driving and was attempting to change lanes and I stepped on the gas pedal to speed up and the car hesitated after a few seconds I had power again. When the car did engage a big thick cloud of white smoke came out of the tailpipe.the second time this happen was on 5/25/2014 my wife was on a ramp trying to get on the interstate going about 30-40mph, there was a vehicle coming so she let off the gas pedal than when there was an opening she stepped on the gas pedal again and there was no power. After several seconds the car finally engaged and accelerated causing a big thick cloud of white smoke come out of the tail pipe. *tr
Also reported on the 2012 Kia Soul
Other steering problem
Steering column or shaft failure
Other brake problem
Catalytic converter failure
Other body or interior problem
No-start or intermittent start failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 130 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 2012 Kia Soul?
Across 86 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 120,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 92,500 miles and a quarter after 145,000 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 2012 Kia Soul?
130 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.7 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