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2023 Kia Sportage Hybrid

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

Limited comparison data

There is not enough comparable history to draw a useful model-year comparison.

About this comparison →

When problems were reported

Mileage at the reported incident

Limited mileage data: 8 of 97 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.

NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.

What to inspect

Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.

  • Electrical System. Review the 36 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Engine. Review the 26 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Vehicle Speed Control. Review the 23 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

4 crash reports0 fire reports2 injury reports

What owners actually said

97 reports
Mileage unknown · Nov 26, 2023
Lane DepartureSteeringUnknown Or Other

On several occasions the lane keeping assistance has attempted to steer my vehicle into energy absorbing barrier, both with me driving and with my sister driving. Vehicle speed approximately 40 mph, lane splitting, I was taking left lane. Forty feet from point of barrier, wheel jerks hard right, setting me up for dead center c…

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On several occasions the lane keeping assistance has attempted to steer my vehicle into energy absorbing barrier, both with me driving and with my sister driving. Vehicle speed approximately 40 mph, lane splitting, I was taking left lane. Forty feet from point of barrier, wheel jerks hard right, setting me up for dead center collision with point of barrier. If I had not immediately jerked the wheel left the results would have been catastrophic. I would have hit the barrier in a single second after the cars action. I took it to the Kia dealer service who claims he cannot disable "lane following". Additionally, that I have to disable it every time I start the car. Also, when going thru intersections the car will switch traffic lanes on it's own. I feel this is an incredibly unsafe system. For god's sake, the car just veers off on its own.

NHTSA ODI #11556837

Mileage unknown · Nov 10, 2023
Forward Collision Avoidance

The Cruise Control and Limit Control system activates itself suddenly while driving on roads, streets, highways or any road, accelerating or decelerating unlimitedly; endangering my physical integrity, my family and the people around me. It reported this UNSAFETY Kia Sportage 2023 to Kia car dealer over 5 times and Kia America C…

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The Cruise Control and Limit Control system activates itself suddenly while driving on roads, streets, highways or any road, accelerating or decelerating unlimitedly; endangering my physical integrity, my family and the people around me. It reported this UNSAFETY Kia Sportage 2023 to Kia car dealer over 5 times and Kia America Corporation but nothing; also to BBB AutoLine, AGO (Attorney General’s Office) and as far this case waiting for... I don't know what or where else could I do or go??

NHTSA ODI #11554581

Mileage unknown · Oct 20, 2023
Electrical SystemUnknown Or Other

When I open the tailgate using any of the three methods (key, button on tailgate, or button inside cabin), the gate opens, then immediately beeps three times and closes. This has happened about 10 times with me *underneath the tailgate* including one time with my one year old son in my arms. In each of these instances I was able…

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When I open the tailgate using any of the three methods (key, button on tailgate, or button inside cabin), the gate opens, then immediately beeps three times and closes. This has happened about 10 times with me *underneath the tailgate* including one time with my one year old son in my arms. In each of these instances I was able to throw my hand up and stop the gate from closing, but had to manually push it back to the fully open position in order to do this. If I had not been able to do so, or if someone less strong than myself were put in this position, the gate certainly would have struck them and caused bodily harm. The first time I brought this up with my dealership, I got a very passive response, not indicating any sense of urgency or even desire to fix the issue. A better quality dealership would have perhaps been much more concerned about such a safety defect and offered to check it out immediately. But it was happening so infrequently at that point that I chose not to have it addressed. Now that it's happening much more often, I brought the car back to be checked out. I showed them two videos of the defect occurring, including with my body under the tailgate. They reproduced the defect, but had to open a "tech ticket" or something with Kia, and so far, over 48 hours later, they have not received a response as to how to proceed. The dealer allowed me to take the car back until they receive direction on what to do (again, a bit surprising that they would let me do that, with such a safety defect). I have uploaded four screenshots of the video that shows the tailgate closing while I was underneath it. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? --> Not that I am aware of. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? --> No

NHTSA ODI #11551042

Mileage unknown · Oct 20, 2023
Unknown Or Other

On a hot day, I noticed an oily bluish fluid leak underneath my pedals. I brought it to the dealership to diagnose the issue twice already but they found nothing was wrong. I posted the photos of the leak on a facebook group that owns the same model of my car and found out that some owners have the same issue. I just wanna make …

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On a hot day, I noticed an oily bluish fluid leak underneath my pedals. I brought it to the dealership to diagnose the issue twice already but they found nothing was wrong. I posted the photos of the leak on a facebook group that owns the same model of my car and found out that some owners have the same issue. I just wanna make sure that this is not a defect on the same model of my car because that fluid leaking might start a fire or might cause the engine to seize anytime during use.

NHTSA ODI #11550941

Mileage unknown · Oct 12, 2023
Forward Collision AvoidanceVehicle Speed Control

When I achieved my desired speed while driving on the highway, I turned on my adaptive cruise control as I usually do. This time, the car began accelerating dramatically, set on 110mph instead of my desire 55mph. It did this twice, even after I turned off the cruise control. I parked on the side of the street and restarted the c…

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When I achieved my desired speed while driving on the highway, I turned on my adaptive cruise control as I usually do. This time, the car began accelerating dramatically, set on 110mph instead of my desire 55mph. It did this twice, even after I turned off the cruise control. I parked on the side of the street and restarted the car before it returned to normal. My life was very much threatened while I was driving as well as the lives of my fellow highway drivers that night. I will be taking this to my dealership but I also need this reported.

NHTSA ODI #11549711

Mileage unknown · Oct 12, 2023
Electrical SystemEngineUnknown Or Other

ISSUE WITH KIA SPORTAGE 2023 HYBRID (GAS AND ELECTRIC) Battery shut off. The battery turned off. I was driving on the fwy and the car started to drive rough so I exited off the fwy and barely made it over the intersection and the car shut off. (as the car was shutting off I opened my door) all other doors were locked and could…

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ISSUE WITH KIA SPORTAGE 2023 HYBRID (GAS AND ELECTRIC) Battery shut off. The battery turned off. I was driving on the fwy and the car started to drive rough so I exited off the fwy and barely made it over the intersection and the car shut off. (as the car was shutting off I opened my door) all other doors were locked and could not open. (had I not opened my car door I would have been locked in/out of my car) The emergency lights would not turn on. None of the electrical buttons work. I called a tow truck to come get me 20+ min in Arizona is a lifetime in the heat. (luckily my kids were not in the vehicle). My car could have stopped in the middle of the fwy and things could have really gotten ugly. My car is currently in the kia dealership parking lot (where the tow truck dropped it off 2+ weeks ago). The dealer got me into a rental but my vehicle won't get a battery till 2 + months. Even if it gets a new battery it doesn't solve the problem Kia knows these batteries have these issues yet they are still selling the vehicles and not letting the consumer know that they might have a battery issue. battery cost ($11,000+ after the warranty is over) I would have never bought this car if I knew this was a potential issue. complete driving hazard. There was a warning light that turned on seconds before my car shut off, "check hybrid system stop safely" then it shut off. a couple of times before this all the lights on the dash turned on for a few minutes then shut off. I HAVE A COUPLE OF FRIENDS WITH THE SAME CAR BOUGHT AROUND THE SAME TIME AND THEY HAVE THE SAME ISSUE AND ARE IN RENTAL CARS TOO. THE DEALER IS NOT WILLING TO ASSIST OR COME UP WITH A DEAL SO WE BREAK EVEN (THEY ARE TRYING TO SELL US ANOTHER VEHICLE AT MORE $$ A MONTH. Had we gotten a good vehicle we would not be trying to trade in the car for another one.

NHTSA ODI #11549697

Mileage unknown · Sep 12, 2023
Electrical SystemEngineVehicle Speed Control

While driving, the car came to an abrupt stop. Lights and alarms flashed stating "Do not drive" "hybrid system malfunction". Car could not be driven. Had I been on the highway, which I just exited, I could have been dead with how suddenly the car stopped without prior warning. The warning came when the car was shutting down. It …

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While driving, the car came to an abrupt stop. Lights and alarms flashed stating "Do not drive" "hybrid system malfunction". Car could not be driven. Had I been on the highway, which I just exited, I could have been dead with how suddenly the car stopped without prior warning. The warning came when the car was shutting down. It has now been at the dealership for 3 weeks and they are unable to pinpoint the problem. Apparently they are selling hybrids with no one to work on them. Smh

NHTSA ODI #11544119

Mileage unknown · Sep 8, 2023
Electrical SystemUnknown Or Other

Car shuts off error says check hybrid system

NHTSA ODI #11543403

Mileage unknown · Sep 2, 2023
Unknown Or Other

I was driving on the highway going 75 mph and my panoramic sunroof exploded. My cover was not closed so glass came back in the car all over me. Luckily I didn’t have any passengers in the car but what if I had? Kia has been having this problem for years without doing anything about it.

NHTSA ODI #11542242

Mileage unknown · Aug 31, 2023
Electrical SystemVehicle Speed Control

While on a 65 mph enforced highway, cruise control was turned on via the button on the steering wheel. The digital cruise control set itself at 110 mph and the vehicle began to accelerate to match the speed. Aside from turning on the cruise control, no other buttons on the steering wheel were pushed. The car’s cruise control f…

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While on a 65 mph enforced highway, cruise control was turned on via the button on the steering wheel. The digital cruise control set itself at 110 mph and the vehicle began to accelerate to match the speed. Aside from turning on the cruise control, no other buttons on the steering wheel were pushed. The car’s cruise control feature had previously been set at 70 mph to match current conditions and was used regularly throughout the length of the trip. While the car continued to accelerate on its own to match the self-set speed, we tried to decrease the speed both by trying to set it at the current speed, and by holding the dial down to decrease the speed manually. The car did not reflect any changes in speed and a message popped up saying “Cruise Control conditions not met” and it tried to disengage cruise control and acceleration. Driver had to manually turn off the cruise control function. Upon additional attempts to use cruise control and set speed to match current driving conditions, the same issue occurred. A recording of the incident was taken to be able to show proof that the car’s digital functions are to blame. Had the cruise control function not been able to be manually disengaged, the car would have continued to accelerate on its own to dangerous speeds. Dealer has been unable to replicate issue and has escalated incident to Kia’s corporate office.

NHTSA ODI #11541954

Official recalls

1

23V298000 · Electrical System: Instrument Cluster/panel

Apr 26, 2023

Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2023 Sportage, Sportage Hybrid, Sportage Plug-in Hybrid, Niro Hybrid, Niro Plug-in Hybrid, Soul, and Telluride vehicles equipped with a digital instrument cluster containing a 4.2" LCD screen.  The instrument cluster may fail to display any information when the vehicle is started.  As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard numbers 101, "Control and Displays," and 138, "Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems."

Consequence & remedy

Consequence: A blank instrument cluster display will not show critical information, such as tire pressure, warning messages, and warning lights, increasing the risk of a crash.

Remedy: Dealers will update the instrument cluster software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 26, 2023. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC270.

Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗

NHTSA investigations

0

No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.