— There will be no Kia Sorento oil leak recall based on findings released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding 2015-2017 Sorento SUVs.
In September 2021, a consumer filed a federal defect petition arguing a Kia Sorento oil leak recall was necessary because the 3.3L V6 “Lambda” engines suffered from severe oil leaks.
The defect petition alleges Kia Sorento oil leaks from the oil pressure switch which could “lead to engine failure.”
The petitioner contends a Sorento driver will have no warning of an oil leak until problems occur.
NHTSA opened a defect petition in November 2021 to determine if a formal investigation was warranted.
The government looked into complaints, non-dealer field reports and testing and design information from Kia.
NHTSA and Kia also performed a joint inspection of the Sorento owned by the petitioner and determined the oil pressure switch was leaking oil. Inspectors also saw oil in the crevices on top the engine block.
The oil pressure switch was replaced and the Sorento was delivered back to the petitioner, and NHTSA retained the oil pressure switch for testing.
At the end of 2022 there were more than 161,000 model year 2015-2017 Kia Sorentos equipped with 3.3L engines. NHTSA could find no Kia Sorento complaints related to engine stalling or failures caused by oil leaks from the oil pressure switches.
NHTSA tested the oil pressure switch removed from the Kia Sorento owned by the petitioner and determined a Sorento would have to "miss more than a dozen oil change intervals to reach low engine oil capacity."
In addition, safety inspectors found the oil pressure switch operated as intended by illuminating the warning light to indicate low oil pressure.
However, in April 2022 Kia announced a warranty extension for the oil pressure switches from 5 years/60,000 miles to 15 years/150,000 miles on 2014-2018 Kia Sorento, 2014-2016 Kia Cadenza and 2015-2018 Kia Sedona vehicles equipped with 3.3L Lambda engines.
"The extended warranty coverage includes diagnosis, repair, and applies to customers experiencing engine oil leaking from the engine or if the engine oil pressure warning light stays illuminated after the engine is turned on." — NHTSA
NHTSA contends it does "not believe that an engine failure due to the alleged defect is likely and does not warrant a formal investigation."
