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Engine & cooling

2016 Kia Sedona Engine problems

Owners have filed 150 complaints about the 2016 Kia Sedona's engine & cooling with NHTSA - 50% of all its complaints, most recently on October 8, 2026. They describe 1 crash, 11 fires and 3 injuries. Stalling, loss of power, oil consumption, overheating, head gaskets, timing chains and engine failure.

Complaints
150
Recalls
0
Crashes
1
Fires
11
Injuries
3
Deaths
0

Engine complaints

Engine & cooling

In January 2026, I brought my vehicle to a Kia dealership specifically complaining that it was "burning oil." The dealership documented this exact complaint on the invoice, but only repaired external leaks. They failed to perform an oil consumption test, failed to diagnose the internal burning issue, and failed to warn me of any ongoing risk. Approximately four months later, while 400 miles from home en route to vacation and with no warning lights appearing, the engine suffered catastrophic oil starvation and...

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seized. Forced to pay out of pocket for towing, emergency logistics, and an immediate replacement vehicle to continue the trip. An out-of-pocket engine teardown confirmed the internal failure, and my extended warranty denied coverage due to the low oil condition.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11769783
Engine & cooling

While driving my van I had stopped to put car in reverse to park and as I was putting van back into drive to finish parking the engine quit, I was unable to restart the vehicle, just a click sound. All the lights doors everything electric worked, still purchased a new battery in case that was the issue. There were no service engine lights, oil lights or any other warning signal on the dash. My brother assisted me and checked my oil which was depleted and gummy on the tip. I reached out to a mechanic to see...

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about an engine replacement and after telling him the issue stated I should check with Kia because there has been some issues noted with that particular engine, I have reached out to my local Kia dealership Dutch Miller in barboursville WV, however there is no answer and I've left two voicemails and still have heard nothing back from them. From my research for engines it stated there was issue with the oil leaking into the coolant without any indications or lights warning due to head bolts loosening over time which was a manufactured part issue, I saw also there was a campaign concerning this and wanted to include my problems with your agency.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11766747
Engine & cooling

Total engine failure at 120k miles, no warning signs.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11762875
Engine & cooling1 injury

The vehicle radiator exploded while driving on the freeway. Towed to mechanic radiator replaced and housing. Problem persosted. With a simple pressure test the coolant in the reservoir began to boil immediately meaning there's a cracked engine block.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11758359
Engine & cooling

Engine experienced mass, sudden oil consumption with no warning of any sort, resulting in significant engine damage. Oil had been changed apx 800 miles prior to incident, and vehicle showed no signs of leaks or oil consumption following the oil change. No oil leaks or wetness were found around oil filter or drain plug. Vehicle drove perfectly fine one day, and when started to leave a store it began horrendously knocking, despite operating as normal on the drive to the store. Dipstick was completely dry. No engine...

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warning light was triggered, no low oil warning, etc. I contacted Kia America directly, as I had found examples of this same issue reported online and hoped for some cooperation, and was given a generic response to haul it to the nearest Kia dealership for diagnosis and repair, out of my own pocket.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11750702
Engine & cooling

Engine failure due to loud knocking as a result if high oil consumption. No warning lights ever. Needs replacement. Regular maintenance records available. Original owner with only 63900 miles in less than 10 years. Vehicle supposed to be under powertrain warranty (10 years/ 100000 miles). Kia and dealership keep denying warranty claim despite providing all records to prove regular maintenance.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11746357
Engine & cooling

Oil was changed and within a month was completely dried with no visible leak and without any warning or lights the engine shut off while driving and seized Turner Kia performed a thorough diagnostic and determined that will cost $13,508.90 to replace the engine.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11733864
Engine & cooling

Engine has multiple engine miss fires. Loss of coolant into exhaust. Engine knocking.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11732560
Engine & cooling

Since the day a bought the car I have had to constantly deal with oil leaks and burning up oil. We had to check the vehicle every Sunday for oil replacement. The vehicle on one day just stopped in the middle of the street. It had a complete engine failure. I had to pay thousands of dollars. I contacted Kia with out help. They claim my vehicle was not part of their class action settlement of engine failure. And I can't sell the car because all mechanics know the engine is trash and the vehicle is worth nothing. And Kia won't help at all.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11730877
Engine & cooling

I am the original owner of a 2016 Kia Sedona, purchased new from the DeMontrond Kia dealership in Houston, Texas, in August 2016. The vehicle currently has 63,400 miles and has been maintained according to standard schedules. Two weeks ago, I noticed a slight knocking sound and took the car to the dealership for an inspection. I was informed that there is sludge buildup in the engine and was told the repair would not be covered under warranty due to alleged owner neglect. The dealership quoted $10,000 for an...

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engine replacement. Prior to this, there were no warning lights or indicators of any issues, and there have been no oil leaks. I have retained most of the records and receipts for the oil changes performed on the vehicle.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11729090
Engine & cooling

Engine started knocking loosing power just like our 4cylinder GDI engine. These engines are also not safe to be operating

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11727091
Engine & cooling

Engine Failure due to rod and bearing failure

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11726605
Engine & cooling

Oil leak caused engine to fail.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11723019
Engine & cooling

I was driving my car, all of a sudden there was a loud knocking sound. The car suddenly wouldn't accelerate. I was in the middle of a busy intersection with kids! I am 95 pounds, I can't push the van! After being hit. I managed to get it moved with help. My van only had 108,000 miles on it! Took it to a mechanic, said needed an engine as there was no oil in it. How is that possible? We just changed it a month prior. It's out of warranty by 8000 miles so Kia will not do anything! I'm sorry, but there are numerous complaints about this, yet nothing is being done! Now I'm having to pay 5000+ to replace an engine because Kia is just terrible!

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11717582
Engine & cooling

My family and I were all driving in the car. We were at a stoplight, and fully stopped as it was a red light. All of a sudden, we heard a weird noise, and all of the dash lights on our car appeared, and then the car fully turned off. We could not get the car back on, and it would not start. Prior to this, it was driving totally fine, and we had no lights on our dashboard indicating something was wrong. Just stopped out of nowhere. If we were on the freeway, and our car just immediately turned off, we could have...

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been in a major, life-threatening accident. After 2-3 times of trying to restart the car, we were able to turn it on, and at least get it into neutral so we could move it off the side of the road. We were able to get it towed to a Kia dealership in which they diagnosed it as engine failure and said we would need to replace the whole engine. This car is around 10 years old and has less than 130,000 miles. It has been meticulously maintained according to Kia standards, and there should be no reason that a well maintained car should need a new engine at this point. We had frequent oil changes, and even had an oil leak that we had to repair just a couple months ago.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11717253
Engine & cooling

Motor Blew

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11710095
Engine & coolingFuel system

Kia service dealer diagnosed high oil consumption on my car with heavy sounds. They recommend to replace whole engine but it's out of warranty. It has only 106k miles on it. I am afraid the car is posing safety issue as well and it has less miles on it. I filed complain with kia consumer corporate a case has been generated on their system [[redacted]] but no one had contacted me yet. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Incident Engine · Fuel / propulsion systemNHTSA 11707644
Engine & cooling

2016 KIA Sedona. I was driving on the highway when the Engine started knocking and smoking. I had to cut cars off on the highway to get to the shoulder. The car was towed to a local mechanic who told us there were holes blown through the engine and it would need replaced. This was after a year and a half of driving it so we still had a loan on the car that we couldn't afford to just scrap the car. We had to get a new engine put in the car. Insurance would not help since we did not hit anything and it was a...

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manufacturer defect. Mechanic checked oil level and viscosity and did not see any issues with it. No warning lamps indicated there was anything wrong with the vehicle before the engine ripped itself apart. Thankfully none of our 3 kids were in the vehicle at the time. This was 2 months that we did not have our family van during the winter holidays and it was a very difficult time for the family.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11706073
Engine & cooling

I was at an intersection & was turning left. In the middle of the turn the car started knocking noise and vibrating and turned off in the middle of the intersection. It did not crank for several tries while I was panicking with a car full of kids in a busy intersection. When I got it to crank again it turned off again. Some good Samaritans then helped by holding traffic and pushing us out of harms way in a church parking lot. I kept trying to crank it and when it did, I tried to put it in drive and it started the...

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violent knocking and vibrating like it was going to blow up. I had it towed later when I had gotten paid. I had it towed to Keffer Kia where they told me total engine failure at 88,000 miles. I still pay $300 monthly for the car and have 5 kids that I have to shuffle in my mother in laws 4 door car.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11704943
Engine & cooling

The Sedona just stopped in traffic with out warning with my kids in the van. No type or warning lights came on. I had recently got an oil change and tune up. I almost caused an accident. It was extremely scary. I am thankful no one was hurt. I had to pay for a tow and come to find out the engine is locked . The machine started it had very low oil. Which makes no sense since it hadn't even been 7 days since my oil was changed .

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11703358
Engine & cooling

2016 Kia Sedona SX-L (VIN: [[redacted]]) equipped with 3.3L Lambda II GDI engine. This is the second engine failure - first engine failed due to head bolt studs separating from the block, second (mechanic sourced) engine began heavy smoking and nearly caught fire due to possible oil starvation/rod bearing failure. Vehicle is parked and unsafe to operate. Temperature gauge at time of incident was going towards above average operating temperature. This is the exact defect covered under multiple NHTSA investigations...

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into Lambda 3.3L engine seizing/fire hazard (including PE23-019 for similar Kia Sorento models with the same engine, and defect petition DP24-002 specifically for 2016 Kia Sedona). Kia has extended the warranty on these engines to 15 years/150,000 miles for bearing damage in some cases, but no full recall exists yet. Requesting immediate investigation and inclusion in an engine fire recall similar to those for Theta engines. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11702930
Engine & cooling

With a 140000 miles and the timing chain and component already failing my mechanic told it could die anytime soon local or on the highway

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11701953
Engine & cooling

My 2016 Kia Sedona had complete engine failure. I was driving home from work in January 2025 with both my young daughters and the vehicle completely died out of nowhere no warning light no check engine light no oil light I was stranded alongside the road with a four year-old and a six year-old in January temperatures for hours. I just had to have the engine completely replaced along with several other parts that needed replaced due to the engine failure. I had just gotten the oil changed less than 30 days before...

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this incident and I'm just now getting the vehicle back after $3500 in repairs. Also, the vehicle is still being financed. I had it about six months when this happened and I currently still owe $10,000 on it! I'm being told to get rid of it as soon as possible because there was an extreme problem of even trying to locate an engine for this vehicle because there is so many problems with this model. This has been an incredible financial burden on me as a single parent. Kia is doing nothing to accommodate the situation. I will add documentation of the repair bill as soon as it is sent to me.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11696413
Engine & cooling

I was driving down the highway and the engine light came on. The car suddenly wouldn't accelerate or go above 1500 rpm. There was also a rattle noise. I limped home and checked the oil. It was bone dry. I get regular oil changes every 3,000 to 5,000 miles. The car burned oil way too fast and gave no warnings that the oil was low and there was no leaking. I'm unsure of the extent of the damage. I'm adding oil and taking it to a mechanic for inspection. I fear I may need a new engine.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11696257
Engine & coolingFire

Complete engine failure while driving with 4 passengers along freeway. Engine began to have a knocking noise, with no warning lights. Engine failed a few miles down the road, and started a small fire in the engine bay. Vehicle is currently under inspection at the dealership. Mileage at the time of incident was about 98,200.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11694641

Kia Sedona engine complaints by year

Sedona engine problems, every year

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Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked . Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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