2025 Kia Sportage problems & reliability
51 owner complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2025 Kia Sportage, alongside 1 safety recall campaign. Last verified Sep 21, 2026. Complaints are unverified reports submitted by owners to the federal Office of Defects Investigation.
Each complaint is counted once (by NHTSA case number), even when it names several components.
4 complaints report injuries (7 injured).
Most reported problems
| Component | Complaints | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown / Other | 21 | 41% |
| Electrical System → | 15 | 29% |
| Forward Collision Avoidance | 8 | 16% |
| Engine | 6 | 12% |
| Power Train | 6 | 12% |
| Service Brakes | 5 | 10% |
| Vehicle Speed Control | 5 | 10% |
| Steering | 4 | 8% |
| Structure | 4 | 8% |
| Back Over Prevention | 3 | 6% |
Component groups as classified by NHTSA. A complaint can name more than one component, so shares may sum to more than 100%.
All 19 reported components →Complaints by incident year
What owners report
“VEHICLE: 2025 Kia Sportage X-Line VIN: 5XYK6CDF0SG319130 APPROXIMATE MILEAGE: 34,000 miles DATE OF INCIDENT: September 3, 2026 LOCATION OF INCIDENT: 6140 University Drive, Huntsville, Alabama 35806 COMPONENT: Steering / Motor-Driven Power Steering (MDPS) / Steering Column / Steering Shaft SAFETY ISSUE: Sudden loss of…”
Vehicle Speed Control · filed Sep 13, 2026
“The contact owns a 2025 Kia Sportage. The contact stated that while performing a normal inspection on the vehicle, the body side molding from the front to the rear on the passenger’s side of the roof had detached. The contact stated that the driver's side of the vehicle had started to detach from the rear. The failure…”
Structure · filed Sep 4, 2026
“We were getting in our car to drive home from a restaurant. We attempted to start our car like any other day, and the car started. However, our car was stuck in gear, it was in parking but also not in parking. The car was not moving, the gear was in “park”, the dot light for park was not showing, and then we had…”
Engine · filed Jun 27, 2026
Verbatim excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA. Reports are not independently verified.
Technical service bulletins
8 manufacturer communications (TSBs, service campaigns, warranty extensions) are on file with NHTSA for the 2025 Kia Sportage.
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: AVN GEN 5.0 WIDE SOFTWARE UPDATE - This bulletin provides information on the Audio Video Navigation (AVN) system software update for certain vehicles equipped with AVN5W and Navigation System…
TSB_ELE426 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Aug 19, 2026
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: INFOTAINMENT SYSTEM SOFTWARE UPDATE USING UPDATE.KIA.COM - This bulletin provides information and service procedures for updating the infotainment systems on applicable Kia vehicles using the…
TSB_ELE422 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued May 28, 2026
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: INFOTAINMENT SOFTWARE UPDATE PROCEDURE - This bulletin provides information on the process for downloading infotainment software updates and preparing USB for installation on applicable Kia…
TSB_ELE417 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Apr 14, 2026
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: CUSTOMER ACTION: ECU LOGIC IMPROVEMENT FOR DTC P2B59F0 (CA2516) - This bulletin provides information to upgrade the Engine Control Unit (ECU) software on certain 2024–2025MY vehicles equipped…
TSB_ENG264 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Apr 1, 2026
PITSTOP: TECHNICAL OPERATIONS: EXTERNAL DAMAGE TO ULTRASONIC SENSOR: This Pitstop provides information related to Parking Distance Warning (PDW) alerts and repairs involving ultrasonic sensors. The PDW system alerts the…
PS797 · Other · issued Dec 9, 2025
RELEASE NOTES: OVER-THE-AIR: VOLUNTARY SERVICE CAMPAIGN: SOFTWARE UPDATE FOR PARKING DISTANCE WARNING (SC350) - This Over-the-Air (OTA) software update is designed to update the Body Control Unit (BDC) logic of certain…
OTA_SC350 · Over The Air · issued Nov 7, 2025
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: TRANSMISSION FLUID APPLICATION GUIDE - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area…
TSB_TRA046_R5 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Apr 17, 2025
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: SERVICE ACTION: KIA CONNECT MODEM RESET (SA611) - This bulletin outlines the procedure for resetting the modem in certain 2016-2025MY Kia vehicles listed on page 3 that are equipped with Kia…
TSB_ELE378 · Service Bulletin/Repair Instructions · issued Mar 20, 2025
TSBs are repair guidance manufacturers send to dealers — they are not recalls and repairs are not automatically free. Full documents are available on NHTSA’s site.
Safety recalls
The 2025 Kia Sportage has 1 NHTSA recall campaign — recall repairs are free at franchised dealers regardless of the vehicle’s age.
Check whether your specific vehicle is affected
Recall campaigns often cover only certain VIN ranges. Enter your VIN on the official NHTSA site to confirm whether your vehicle is included and whether the repair is still open.
Check VIN on NHTSA →Buying a used 2025 Kia Sportage?
- · Decode the seller’s VIN with our free VIN decoder to confirm the exact year, engine and trim.
- · Check for unrepaired recalls by VIN on NHTSA’s official lookup — recall repairs are free.