2020 Kia Sportage Recalls, Ratings & Complaints

Incident: October 24, 2026 · Filed: October 28, 2026

On Saturday, XXX, while driving on XXX in [XXX], my 2020 Kia Sportage (2,4 L engine, 152,245 miles) suffered a sudden, catastrophic loss of motive power. The vehicle actively entered Limp Home Mode at high speed, dropping velocity rapidly and creating an immediate traffic hazard that my husband and I stranded 6.5 hours away from home. The vehicle was brought back to [XXX] on Sunday XXX, to Stokes Hodges Kia in [XXX], where a diagnostic scan pulled faulted code P0404. No low-oil pressure warning light or dashboard oil alerts were illuminated prior to or during the failure. The engine suffered a sudden internal mechanical failure directly relating to the vehicle's progressive, severe internal oil consumption defect, causing a severe highway safety hazard. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Incident: October 28, 2026 · Filed: October 28, 2026

"While driving to work and actively attempting to pass another vehicle, the battery light suddenly illuminated out of nowhere. A short time later, while slowing down at a stoplight coming into town, the engine completely stalled out and died in the middle of a busy, active intersection. I lost all acceleration and power steering capabilities, and narrowly avoided an accident while coasting blindly across traffic to safety. The vehicle has had a chronic, active P0420 Catalytic Converter efficiency code caused by a known Kia manufacturing defect of massive, excessive oil consumption (requiring constant oil additions to maintain operation). The excessive oil burning directly fouled the exhaust and caused this sudden, life-threatening engine failure on a public roadway."

Incident: September 11, 2026 · Filed: October 25, 2026

My vehicle's check oil light repeatedly lit up on several occassions before my next scheduled maintenance. Contacted my vehicle's manufacturer for assistance and unfortunately got a lukewarm response.

Incident: October 15, 2026 · Filed: October 22, 2026

I was driving and my vehicle and saw smoke and it caught on fire and burnt..

Incident: June 29, 2026 · Filed: October 12, 2026

Rod Bearing failure June 29,2026 with prior Kia manufacturer recalls June 19,2023: (1.) SC206, HECU fire Recall, a serious safety recall regarding the Hydraulic Electronic Control unit. The circuit board can short out and cause an engine bay fire even when the vehicle is parked. (2.) SC249B (Tow Hitch Harness Fire Recall): Another active safety recall. Moisture or debris on the Tow Hitch accessory circuit board can short-circuit and spark a fire. March 11, 2024 Recalls (1.) SC340(Engine Emissions ECM Ligic Improvement). This is a voluntary service campaign to upgrade the software logic in your engine control module (ECM(. It is iften tier directly to how your car judges engine diagnostic faults. (2.) CS 2312/Theft Det recall(Theft Deterrent Ignition Cylinder Proctector): This is a customer satisfaction campaign that installs a physical metal protector sleeve around your Ignition cylinder to prevent "Kia Botz" style theft bypasses.

Incident: August 13, 2026 · Filed: September 27, 2026

My daughter's 2020 Kia Sportage S was purchased September 22, 2025 from a Nissan Dealership with 96,574 miles on it. It dove great. She used it less than 20 miles per day on residential streets to get to and from work and to church on Sunday. It was not used for interstate or freeway driving. By June of 2026, we noticed that it was requiring more oil between oil changes. The oil level was checked at least once every other week to see if more oil needed to be added. We were adding about a quart of oil every two to three weeks although there was no evidence of excess smoke coming from the exhaust. Then on my daughter's way to work on August 13, 2026 she experienced a sudden shaking of the car and the engine light came on. She immediately pulled over and turned off the engine. We were out of town at the time so my son came to see what was wrong with the car. He checked the engine oil first and it was within the right level. The car was limped to the local Kia dealership to trouble shoot it and they said that there was evidence of rod/bearing failure in one cylinder that was causing the shaking. There is no fix for it other than to replace the engine at a dealer discounted price of $6,600. Kia corporate is offering a $1,000 credit toward the repair and the dealership is contributing $4,040 to the engine replacement. The car has 103,510 miles on it now. The Theta II 2.4 engine had an engine settlement that covered model years through 2019. Ours is a 2020 that was built in May 2019 and has the same engine that failed under the engine settlement. But ours is not covered. We are still in the process of working with the local Kia Dealership and Kia Corporate to make it right on an engine that clearly has known problems causing premature engine failures. I have owned or recommended to family members to buy Kia/Hyundai vehicles and between all of us we have had 13 Kia/Hyundai vehicles. This may be the last Kia/Hyundai vehicle that we own...

Incident: September 6, 2026 · Filed: September 6, 2026

High oil consumption burning a quart of oil every 500-600 miles.

Incident: August 13, 2026 · Filed: August 13, 2026

Need an engine replaced for the infamous knocking of the motor from the previous class action but my model isn’t covered. Ridiculous to need a new engine on a less than 5 year old car

Incident: August 1, 2026 · Filed: August 13, 2026

While driving on the expressway posted speed 65 was doing 70, left lane driving, suddenly my check engine light started flashing, my oil light came on and my vehicle started slowing down. Acceleration was not an option, causing hazardous conditions to have to put my hazards on and cross two lanes of heavy traffic. Vehicle went into limp mode. Vehicle was caught up on an oil change, and was regularly checked and filled with oil. Oil seemed to have been burning rapidly or just simply disappearing. The motor blew and i purchased this vehicle less than 6 months ago. I only put 4,000 miles on it. 2020 kia sportage s, dealership was lilliston ford. Took vehicle to kia dealership to get two safety campaigns fixed. They informed me i was only a couple hundred miles over my warranty and my repairs are not covered. I now have an inoperable vehicle that i have payments on, which now needs a new engine. No recalls matching my vin, only my make, model and year. All repairs were denied. Worst vehicle decision ive ever made…

Incident: July 16, 2026 · Filed: July 17, 2026

My 2020 Kia sportage spontaneously caught fire. It started smoking about 1/3 mile from my destination. There were no dash lights on and the temperature gauge was not elevated and was below half so it wasn’t the engine overheating. I pulled into the parking lot and shut off the car and the smoke then increased and turned darker rapidly and the car caught fire and was quickly engulfed and then there were several explosions. The car was a complete loss. Had I taken any more time to figure out the smoke I would have been a casualty.