Kia is recalling more than 74,000 Sorentos due to a software issue affecting exterior lights.
Brand-new Kia Sorento SUVs are already under recall per documents the company filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which the safety agency published this week. The problem affects 74,469 vehicles and specifically concerns a software malfunction within the cars’ Body Domain Control Unit (BDC) under certain conditions. Kia did not elaborate on what circumstances may trigger the issue, but concluded that a software glitch can cause the headlights and taillights to go out, at least for a few moments.
Naturally, drivers may face greater risk of an accident depending on when the exterior and interior lighting goes out, and it creates a noncompliance issue for the automaker. Specifically, a headlight/taillight failure puts the affected cars out of compliance with federal motor vehicle safety standards concerning illumination. Kia originally made the decision to recall Korean-market vehicles before informing its North American safety office. While it hasn’t received reports of “potenitally related momentary loss of exterior/interior lighting while driving”, it made the decision to instigate the recall anyway.
This recall (NHTSA number 25V-006) concerns the following 2024-2025 Sorento and Sorento Hybrid models:
- Kia Sorento (gas models) built between December 7, 2023 and September 18, 2024: 63,782 units
- Sorento Hybrid models built between March 4, 2024 and July 18, 2024: 8,937 units
- Sorento PHEV (plug-in hybrid) models built between April 2, 2024 and June 19, 2024: 1,750 units
Gas versions of affected Kia Sorento SUVs were built at the automaker’s West Point, Georgia manufacturing plant. Hybrid and PHEV models were manufactured in South Korea, at the Kia Autoland Hwaseong.
What’s the fix?
Kia says it will notify Sorento owners of the problem by mail on February 21. The automaker updated the BDC software so it won’t trigger the loss of headlight or taillight illumination, but you still have to take your car into the dealer to get the update. If you have a Sorento built after any of the dates listed above, your car already shipped with the updated software, so you are not impacted by this recall campaign.
Dealers were made aware of the issue on January 13.