2019 Kia Soul: owner complaints and recalls

65% of everything owners report about the 2019 Kia Soul points at a single system: engine. That is 86 of 133 complaints on file.

133
Complaints
1
Recalls
11
Crash reports
8
Fire reports
12
Injuries
141.4
Severity index

Severity index 141.4 - High. It weights crashes, fires, injuries and fatalities per 100 complaints, so a vehicle attracting serious reports scores above one attracting many trivial ones (how this is calculated).

Middle half of all tracked vehiclesThis vehicle: 141.4p25 35p75 96cleanestworst
Where the 2019 Kia Soul sits against the quartiles of every vehicle we track.

Among the 123 2019 vehicles we track with at least 40 complaints on file, the 2019 Kia Soul ranks 4 of 123 by severity, where 1 is the worst. Its severity is higher than 97% of its model-year peers. See the full 2019 ranking.

What actually fails

EngineEngine: 86 complaints (64.7%)86 65%Unknown Or OtherUnknown Or Other: 19 complaints (14.3%)19 14%Air BagsAir Bags: 14 complaints (10.5%)14 11%Electrical SystemElectrical System: 13 complaints (9.8%)13 10%Fuel/Propulsion SystemFuel/Propulsion System: 12 complaints (9.0%)12 9%Service BrakesService Brakes: 8 complaints (6.0%)8 6%Seat BeltsSeat Belts: 6 complaints (4.5%)6 5%Engine And Engine Cooli…Engine And Engine Cooling: 5 complaints (3.8%)5 4%
Systems named in complaints. One complaint can name several, so shares overlap.
ComponentComplaintsShare of complaints citing it
ENGINE8664.7%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER1914.3%
AIR BAGS1410.5%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM139.8%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM129.0%
SERVICE BRAKES86.0%
SEAT BELTS64.5%
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING53.8%

Complaints filed per year

023462019: 112020: 62021: 62022: 112023: 172024: 212025: 462026: 15 (partial year)192021222324254626
Complaints filed per calendar year, not model year. The hatched bar is the current year and is still incomplete.
YearComplaints
201911
20206
20216
202211
202317
202421
202546
2026 (year to date)15
Complaint volume is rising - the last three years carry 3.7x the filings of the three before them, which usually signals a wear-related defect surfacing with age.

Recall campaigns

CampaignReportedComponentSummary
22V03100025/01/2022AIR BAGSKia Motors America (Kia) is recalling certain 2017-2019 Sedona, Soul, Soul EV, 2017-2018 Forte, and 2017 Forte Koup vehicles. The Air Bag Control Unit (ACU) cover may contact a memory chip on the printed circuit board and damage the electrical circuit. Circuit damage may result
Source. US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration public complaint and recall APIs (api.nhtsa.gov), retrieved 2026-07-25. Complaints are unverified consumer reports; volume is influenced by how many units were sold and how long the vehicle has been on the road. Not affiliated with NHTSA or any manufacturer.