2019 Kia Sedona: What to check before buying

Oil disappears between changes with no visible leaks, no error codes and no warning light. Two reports describe the oil running dangerously low before anyone noticed, and one owner adds three quarts within 2,500 miles. Other symptoms include rattling under acceleration, misfiring, and a leaking oil pressure switch with a red oil light. Some engines fail outright, including one with a hole in the bottom of the engine housing. In the most serious report, the engine seizes at highway speed and catches fire, and the driver goes to the hospital.

Power sliding doors fail to close and latch, beep as if open, and have to be shut by hand. The fault shows up on both sides, and the driver's side door comes up most often. Some doors grind, stop partway, open too far, or will not open by hand once the power feature is off. Reports include a door opening on its own while parked and motors failing again after the motor and actuator are replaced. Paid diagnostics and sensor replacements often leave the beeping unresolved.

Under acceleration, the van jerks, hesitates or lunges forward, often from very low mileage. Failures are reported at 250, 400 and 5,000 miles. Drivers also describe hard downshifts when braking, sputtering and power loss while passing, and engine speed climbing without the van picking up speed. Dealers often cannot reproduce the problem, or they install software updates that do not fix it, and some owners return many times. Hesitation while passing or merging creates a real collision risk.

The driver's side brake light keeps burning out, and owners replace it again and again, one of them about every 3 months. Both of these owners say they often see other Sedonas on the road with the same light out. A separate report ties a failed inhibitor switch to false blind spot warnings, a possible transmission failure message and a shifter stuck in park. That owner had to use the shift lock release to drive the van in for service.

In both reported crashes, the bags stay folded. One involves a high-speed impact on the driver's side, where the side air bag does not deploy and the driver suffers a head injury. The other is a rear-end collision at 20 mph that pushes the van into the car ahead, and neither front air bag deploys. Both complaints involve real crashes with a police report or injury, but two reports are too few to show a broader pattern.

A strong fuel smell fills the cabin, along with a check engine light that stays on or flashes. Dealers find fuel leaks and replace parts, including the high-pressure fuel regulator, yet the smell persists in both reports. One case goes a year without a successful repair, and the fumes make the driver and a passenger sick. The other failure appears at 39,000 miles. A lingering gas smell inside the cabin is a direct health and fire concern.

A hard pull or a shaking wheel shows up on nearly new vans, within the first few thousand miles. One report describes a strong drift to the left that takes a tight grip to hold straight and nearly causes several accidents. Another describes a wheel that shakes badly on the first drive home. The dealer finds nothing wrong with the tires or suspension, calls the behavior normal and declines warranty work.

The factory-installed tires wear out early. One set develops dry rot on all four tires before the tread is half gone, in a mild climate, and the tire maker initially denies the warranty claim. Another set develops uneven cupping at 16,000 miles, and the van shakes badly and becomes hard to control at highway speed. Both reports involve the original tires the van came with.