— A Kia Sorento headlight recall won't be necessary after hundreds of owners complained about losing the low-beam headlights in 2011-2013 Sorentos.
Federal safety regulators opened an investigation in June 2020 and discovered more than 1,300 customer complaints about Kia Sorento headlight problems.
The complaints indicated the low-beam headlights dimmed or failed due to faulty or overheated headlight connector terminals.
Some Sorento owners said the headlights only flickered but never went out, and less than 200 of the reports indicated both low-beam headlights failed together.
In most cases the drivers were able to toggle the Sorento headlight switch to get the lights working again, and in some cases using the ON instead of the AUTO setting to keep the low-beams working.
With about 392,000 Sorentos possibly affected, the government needed to determine if a Kia Sorento headlight recall was necessary due to safety defects. However, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration closed its investigation without need of a Sorento headlight recall.
NHTSA found even if the Sorento low-beam headlights suffered problems, the high-beam headlights were always available.
In a response from Kia, NHTSA was told each Sorento headlight circuit is powered separately by the smart junction box which allegedly minimizes the chance of both headlights failing simultaneously due to a headlight connector defect.
Kia also says the junction box has a safety feature that stops the electrical current if needed to prevent any material from getting so hot a fire occurs.
Additionally, Kia initiated a 10 years/unlimited mileage warranty extension program in April 2019 to replace the headlight connectors for 2011-2013 Sorento vehicles.
NHTSA also says it didn't find any crash, fire or injury reports related to the Sorento headlights, but incidents of melting or odors were confirmed.
Based on its findings, NHTSA says it doesn't believe a safety-related defect exists and a Kia Sorento headlight recall is unwarranted.
