Recall · 21V259000
Kia Motors America recalled 2 models over engine
147,249
Vehicles covered
2
Models
3
Model years
April 13, 2021
Filed with NHTSA
ENGINE
- The defect
- Kia Motors America (Kia) is recalling certain 2020-2021 Soul, and 2021 Seltos vehicles equipped with 2.0L Nu MPI engines. The piston oil rings may not have been properly heat-treated, which may result in engine damage.
- What it can cause
- A damaged engine may stall, increasing the risk of a crash. In addition, oil may leak onto hot exhaust components, increasing the risk of a fire.
- What the dealer does
- Kia will notify owners, and dealers will inspect and, if necessary, replace the engine, free of charge. In addition, Kia will deploy Piston Ring Noise Sensing System (PNSS) software. The recall began June 11, 2021. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC209.
- NHTSA's note
- Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.
The repair is free, whatever the age or mileage of the vehicle, and whether or not you are the original owner.
Which vehicles
A recall reaches a range of VINs inside these model years, not every car built in them. Yours may not be covered even if it is listed here, and the only way to find out is NHTSA's own VIN lookup .
How this campaign compares
At 147,249 vehicles this is a bigger campaign than 94% of the 19,818 vehicle recalls filed since 1995 whose size NHTSA published. The middle campaign on file covers 472. It covers model years 2020 to 2021, so the oldest vehicles on it were one model year old when the defect was reported to NHTSA.
Kia vehicles have been recalled over the engine 3 times before this, most recently in December 2020 as 20V750000. That is not evidence the earlier repair failed.
This site holds the complaint record for all 3 model years the campaign names. Their owners have filed 959 complaints with NHTSA, 122 of them before this campaign was filed. 577 of those name the engine, the system this recall is about — a count of complaints, not of this defect. The earliest of them reached NHTSA in June 2019, 1 year before this filing.
The vehicles on this campaign carry one other recall published here: 25V099000 (engine and engine cooling).
Check your own car
A VIN check is the only answer for a specific vehicle, and it also shows every other open recall on it, which is usually the reason it is worth doing rather than reading one campaign.
Filed by Kia Motors America with NHTSA on April 13, 2021 as campaign 21V259000. Every word of the defect, consequence and remedy above is NHTSA's published record of that filing, not a summary of it.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2021-04-13.
Independent developer and analyst