2025 Kia Sportage problems, complaints & recalls
Most-reported problem areas: Service Brakes (6) · Vehicle Speed Control (5) · Power Train (5)
🧭 Reliability snapshot
Compared against other Kia Sportage model years — complaint volume vs the model's median year, recalls and severity. How we score →
Safety recalls (1)
Trailer Hitches 2025-12-17 · campaign 25V874000 · 5,046 vehicles
Defect: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2023-2025 Sportage Plug-In Hybrid Electric (PHEV) and 2024-2025 Sportage vehicles equipped with a 4.2" screen and a Genuine Kia tow hitch harness accessory. Due to a software error, the instrument panel screen may fail. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 101, "Controls and Displays."
Risk: An instrument panel screen that fails to display critical safety information, such as the speedometer or warning lights, can increase the risk of a crash.
Fix: Dealers will replace the tow hitch harness control module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed February 13, 2026. Owners may contact Kia Customer Service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC359. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning December 31, 2025.
Service bulletins (15)
Technical service bulletins are repair instructions manufacturers send dealers for known issues. Unlike recalls, the fix is not automatically free — but naming the bulletin at the service desk can save diagnosis time and support goodwill repairs.
Suspension 2026-09-25 · WTY047_TSB · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions
technical service bulletin: warranty extension campaign: rear shock absorber inspection & replacement (wty047) - this bulletin provides information associated with the ‘warranty extension program’ (wty047) to inspect, and if necessary, replace one or both left and right rear shock absorber assemblie
Suspension 2026-09-11 · WTY047_REIMB · Warranty Program/Extension
warranty extension campaign: reimbursement form (wty047) - this document is a reimbursement request form that was mailed with the customer letter advising them to submit the form if they had paid for repairs for this same matter prior to the warranty extension campaign program launch.
Suspension 2026-09-11 · WTY047_OWNR · Warranty Program/Extension
warranty extension campaign: owner notification (wty047) - this document is the owner notification advising that kia is extending the new vehicle limited warranty coverage to owners for certain repairs related to oil leakage from the rear shock absorbers on the following vehicles that were originall
Suspension 2026-09-10 · WTY047_REIMB · Warranty Program/Extension
warranty extension campaign: reimbursement form (wty047) - this document is a reimbursement request form that was mailed with the customer letter advising them to submit the form if they had paid for repairs for this same matter prior to the warranty extension campaign program launch.
Suspension 2026-09-09 · WTY047_QA · Warranty Program/Extension
warranty extension campaign: question and answer (wty047) – this document is the question and answer guide containing the most frequently asked questions regarding warranty extension campaign wty047.
Suspension 2026-09-09 · WTY047_DPSM · Warranty Program/Extension
warranty extension campaign: dealer parts and service manager memo (wty047) - this document is the announcement to dealer parts and service managers advising that kia is extending the new vehicle limited warranty coverage to owners for certain repairs related to oil leakage from the rear shock absor
Showing the 6 most recent of 15 bulletins. Search all of them free at nhtsa.gov.
What owners report
2026-10-21 · Service Brakes“while driving to work this morning, i experienced an unintended engine acceleration while at a stop sign. it was about 7:30am at the time of event, i had been driving for about 10 minutes up to that point. prior to that, the vehicle had been in the garage all evening. the temperature outside was cool, but i had no heat or air turned on at the ti…”
2026-10-14 · Forward Collision Avoidance: Automatic Emergency Braking“"2025 kia sportage unexpectedly applies braking when vehicles are traveling in adjacent lanes and are not in my path of travel. the event is intermittent and creates a safety concern because the vehicle decelerates when no collision risk exists. vehicle was inspected by a kia dealer, but the condition could not be duplicated during a road test." my…”
2026-09-25 · Structure:body · 💥 crash“i was involved in a rollover accident and the driver's side door opened during the accident. had i not been wearing my seatbelt, i would have been ejected from the vehicle.…”
2026-09-13 · Vehicle Speed Control · 💥 crash“vehicle: 2025 kia sportage x-line vin: 5xyk6cdf0sg319130 approximate mileage: 34,000 miles date of incident: september 3, 2026 location of incident: 6140 university drive, huntsville, alabama 35806 component: steering / motor-driven power steering (mdps) / steering column / steering shaft safety issue: sudden loss of steering control immediately pr…”
2026-09-04 · Structure · 25,000 mi“the contact owns a 2025 kia sportage. the contact stated that while performing a normal inspection on the vehicle, the body side molding from the front to the rear on the passenger’s side of the roof had detached. the contact stated that the driver's side of the vehicle had started to detach from the rear. the failure mileage was approximately 25,0…”
2026-06-30 · Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness“the car seat is defective. fraying where it is comes out of the car seat, where it is sewn together. …”
2026-06-27 · Power Train“we were getting in our car to drive home from a restaurant. we attempted to start our car like any other day, and the car started. however, our car was stuck in gear, it was in parking but also not in parking. the car was not moving, the gear was in “park”, the dot light for park was not showing, and then we had several warnings appear on our dashb…”
2026-06-18 · Unknown Or Other“twice since i purchased my car, once in 2025 and two weeks ago in 2026, i turned my car off in the garage and the engine kept running. i had to start the car up and turn it off again in order for it to shut down. i mentioned that to arapaho kia at my last visit in november 2025 and they just said that they didn’t find anything on the computer.…”
2026-06-09 · Service Brakes“in november 2025, with approximately 6,900 miles on the vehicle, i reported brake issues to the dealership. after inspection, the dealership resurfaced (turned) the brake rotors at no charge. at that time, i was led to believe that the issue had been corrected. however, in june 2026, with only 14,300 miles on the vehicle, i returned to the dealersh…”
Excerpts of consumer complaints filed with NHTSA, lightly truncated. They are owner statements, not verified findings.