2025 Kia Sportage: What to check before buying

The instrument cluster goes blank while driving, runs a startup-style system check, and returns after 5 to 10 seconds, sometimes with inaccurate readings. Cruise control drops out during the reset, so the car slows in traffic. Other reports describe the engine shutting off at speed, with heavy steering and braking until auto start-stop restarts it. Infotainment screens freeze or go black, and one is tied to open recall SC359B with no remedy available. Some hybrids hesitate pulling away from a stop and then lurch forward. Problems can start under 300 miles, and dealers often cannot replicate them.

Complete loss of steering is the most serious pattern here. In two reports the wheel separates from the column, and another driver says steering quit without warning at 119 miles. Lane assist can also jerk the wheel hard enough to cause a crash. Several filings are really power failures, such as a hybrid system shutdown or a car that stops moving and shows multiple fault codes, which also cuts power steering and power brakes. Three complaints involve crashes, and two report injuries.

The transmission fails to shift or drops into neutral, sometimes stalling the engine in traffic. Drivers describe the engine revving while the car does not speed up, refusing to climb a hill, an amber auto start-stop light, and stalls at 45 to 50 mph that need a restart. One hybrid needed a replacement transmission at 250 miles and sat at the dealer for weeks. A surge after a dash reset with cruise control set is also reported. Dealers often cannot reproduce the fault.

The car revs loudly and lunges forward without warning while pulling into a parking spot. Both crashes in this category happened that way, one into a tree and one into a brick pillar, and an airbag deployed in one. Other reports describe cruise control stuck at a 110 mph set speed and violent bucking under acceleration on busy roads, with no warning lights. A dealer could not replicate the cruise control fault.

Automatic emergency braking slams on hard in slowing highway traffic, leaving following drivers little time to react. It also fires while reversing for cars that are not actually behind the vehicle. Highway driving assist can switch off with no warning while it is steering. Lane keeping assist turns itself back on when adaptive cruise is re-engaged on the freeway, even after the driver disables it, and the sudden wheel movement can startle drivers into jerking the wheel.

Panoramic sunroof glass explodes at highway speed with a bang like a gunshot, and glass rains into the cabin. Both reports describe shards landing on occupants, including a child, and tiny cuts. The glass broke outward with no sign of impact. Similar sunroof failures appear in other complaint categories for this model year, so this is a recurring problem rather than a one-off.

Blind spot detection and lane assist fail to warn about a car in the next lane, and one report describes a collision during a lane change. That driver says the warning failed again afterward. The other complaint describes an unexplained alarm while driving that appeared to involve a door. Neither report mentions a confirmed diagnosis or repair, and one says Kia refused to repair the damaged areas so they could be inspected.

Roof moldings blow off both sides of the car. The owner links it to a recall on 2023 and 2024 models, and the repair involved gluing the molding back on. In the other report, a rodent reached the cabin air filter through a hole between the engine compartment and passenger compartment at about 17,000 miles, and the dealer did not repair it. These are isolated reports, not a broad pattern.