2016 Kia Soul

The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, there was smoke detected and the vehicle was making an abnormal popping sound. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic who informed him that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer who informed the contact that the vehicle was not covered under the extended warranty. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was towed to another independent mechanic where the engine was replaced. The manufacturer was notified; however, no additional assistance was provided. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V120000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The failure mileage was approximately 156,000.

Coming home from town our 2016 Kia Soul lost power. The engine light came on flashing then we could not accelerate the gas pedal. It would not go over 55 mph even if I had the pedal to the floor. I checked recall and it says none. I was reading the other complaints from Kia owners. They are having the same issue. It should be a recall. This needs investigated. We’ve only had ours since May 2022. Kia needs to make this right. I know I probably won’t buy another Kia.

The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving at 35 MPH, when he heard an abnormal sound coming from the vehicle. When the contact arrived at home the vehicle shut down and would not restart. The battery was replaced but the failure reoccurred again. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The dealer or the manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 126,000.

On a rainy night, I lost all external visibility due to excessive condensation on the front windshield and the other windows on the car seemingly made worse by utilizing the de-fogger on my car. Of the result of this, I ended up in opposing lanes of traffic and narrowly avoided head on collisions with several vehicles. I am a professional driver with thousands of hours behind the wheel and I know how to react in nearly every emergency situation due to advanced experience and quality training. Upon further research, I discovered that this issue is amongst the more commonly reported complaints on the soul forums most commonly attributed to a design flaw in the Air conditioner drain where the drain line is built too small and tends to become clogged. Component failure: AC Drain Line. Safety risk: complete loss of external visibility resulting in high potential for a head on collision with opposing traffic. Reproduction: Unknown. Inspected: no MILs Illuminated: none.

A couple months ago had an oil sensor go bad and leaked oil everywhere. Engine after that kept burning oil and was seen by multiple mechanics. Then the other day my engine light came on the fault was the ocv. Changed that out and when it was taken out metal shaving came out with it. So now I have a car that has a blown engine due to underlying mechanical issues.

The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated that while driving at slow speeds, the engine seized without warning. The contact initially had the vehicle towed to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed with engine failure. The contact then discovered that his vehicle was included in NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V120000 (Engine, Engine and Engine Cooling). The vehicle was then towed to the dealer where he was informed that the vehicle was out of warranty. The contact contested that the vehicle should be repaired under the recall; the dealer then referred him to the manufacturer. The contact filed a claim with the manufacturer who later also informed him that the vehicle would not be covered under warranty. The vehicle remained in the possession of the dealer unrepaired. The failure mileage was approximately 102,000.

The contact owns a 2016 Kia Soul. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, there was a loss of performance with the engine, and the speed inadvertently decelerated to 5 MPH. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer but was not repaired or diagnosed; however, the dealer updated an unknown software. The contact also stated that the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and was diagnosed with catalytic converter failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 19V120000 (Engine, Engine, and Engine Cooling). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 144,000.

Catalytic converter needed to be replaced at 98,914 miles in my 2016 2.0 L ( Cost me $3,144.78 since out of warranty). Oil consumption seems to be a big problem too. I usually change oil every 3 months, regardless of mileage, but this car needs it every 2 months. Dealer recommended using synthetic oil. No warning lights, car wouldn't go over 35 mph on highway. I have another Soul (2010) I bought new, it has 280,000 miles and it runs better and only uses regular oil.

I was heading home on the highway when I noticed the car was having trouble accelerating.  I was taking the exit to my house when I heard the knocking in the engine start.  I was half a mile from my house so I continued slowly as the acceleration issues continued. As I was getting closer to my house the oil light came on.  I parked the car in the driveway and turned it off immediately. A cursory inspection indicates that the engine has suffered catastrophic damage. There is high end a “tapping” sound coming from the top side, even while briefly idling the engine, indicating damage in the area of lifter/s and/or camshaft lobe/s. Inspection of the engine oil presents metallic particles. Finally, we observed that an uncharacteristic and excessive pressure is coming from the crankcase when the oil filler cap is removed while the engine is idling. This is consistent with the GDI engine failure mode - lack of lubrication between piston rings and cylinder walls due to fuel thinned oil caused by high-pressure fuel pump Fortunately, since I exited the highway and the failure occurred close to home, the dangerous stall condition that is a typical failure mode of the GDI engine did not occur in this particular instance.  Nevertheless, severe damage to the motor has been observed.  The fact that the engine began “knocking” prior to the low oil indicator lamp illuminating would indicate that the engine was damaged due to the thin oil/fuel mixture rather than the engine being completely deficient in lubricating engine oil. Internet research has brought to our attention the issues and the precedent-setting class action lawsuits, that Kia Inc. has been forced to contend with due to the inherent design problems of the Theta II, GDI 1.6L, and 2.0L engines - direct injection (DI) system and high-pressure fuel pump issues causing the engine failure through piston ring “blowby” and subsequent thinning of the engine oil. I contacted KIA and I still have the Soul in my possession.