2021 KIA SOUL — Complaint #1898569
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:CRANK/CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR filed May 31, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1898569 (ODI reference 11524589) concerns a 2021 KIA SOUL and was filed on May 31, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on March 20, 2023. The vehicle had 20,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Kentucky based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as engine and engine cooling:engine:crank/camshaft position sensor, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same KIA SOUL cohort independently describe similar engine and engine cooling:engine:crank/camshaft position sensor failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2021 KIA SOUL shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2021 Kia Soul. The contact stated that after he purchased the vehicle, while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was inspected by an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that the crank sensor was faulty. The contact was advised to take the vehicle to the dealer for assistance. The vehicle was then taken to the dealer where it was inspected and diagnosed that the drain plug gasket needed to be replaced and that every 1,000 miles a quart of oil needed to be added. The vehicle was repaired; however, the contact stated that he was concerned that he had to add a quart of oil every 1,000 miles. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1898569 |
| ODI Number | 11524589 |
| Date Filed | May 31, 2023 |
| Failure Date | March 20, 2023 |
| VIN | KNDJ23AU6M7 |
Similar ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:CRANK/CAMSHAFT POSITION SENSOR Complaints for 2021 KIA SOUL
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.