Mileage when the problem started
Owner reports
Selected complaints filed with NHTSA by 2012 Kia Soul owners, lightly cleaned up (personal details are redacted by NHTSA).
The contact owned a 2012 Kia Soul. The contact stated while stopped at an intersection, the vehicle independently accelerated while depressing the brake pedal. The contact steered the vehicle to the left in an attempt to stop the acceleration and repeatedly depressed the brake pedal. Due to the failure, the contact hit a curb, a sidewalk post, and finally, a retaining wall which stopped the vehicle. The sidewalk post was damaged due to the crash. The contact was unaware if any warning lights appeared on the instrument panel. The air bags did not deploy at any time during the failure. A woman was knocked over by the vehicle as a result of the failure. The woman sustained a cut to her right hand and suffered pain to the right side of her body. The woman was taken to the hospital by ambulance for treatment, her whereabouts remain unknown. …
"play" and clicking noises in steering wheel have increasingly gotten much worse and noisier, clicking and clunking on turns. I feel like any moment my steering is going to go out and I am going to put everyone in my car and around me at risk. Called dealership and they said it is a common problem which I researched and found that the coupler in steering wheel fails. Kia used the same part in presvious years same model and even years afterward and those years were recalled but not my year. Makes no sense. The next issue was I was driving on the highway at 70 and all of a sudden lost power and car would not accelerate beyond a speed of 45 mph. Black smoke came out of my tail pipe and I limped home at 20 mph. Mo engine warning lights but I could smell something was hit like melted plastic. …
My 2012 Kia soul base, had this SC176 recall which I took it into the dealer, at that time I really didn't know exactly what the recall consisted of, until months later after researching the performance of my car, my engine lights comes on and stays on for two weeks ,then go off a day and it's back on, my car drives sluggish and it's acceleration power is bad , where it won't get up to necessary speed, and it making a loud noises when I accelerate ,which the mechanic said it's my Cadillac converter which was under recall and most likely damaged , from high exhaust gas temperatures,I do believe it's all under the last recall, my engine was damaged and should of been replaced along with the catalytic converter, I believe the KIA dealership knew of the damages but didn't replace my catalytic converter or my engine, my cars performance has gone down tremendously , month by month because of …
My car stalls and the engine light frequently stays on, my car is driving sluggish every since I got the recall adjustment my car has declined in performance and the engine light started coming on more frequently up until now, it's loud at and experiencing a great lost of power ,the computer is giving the code PO420 reading as bank 1 oxygen sensor , I had intended changing out both sensors, but wasn't sure if it's a damaged engine effecting the Cadillac converter from the 2019 recall, # 19V120000 giving a false reading.
In March 2023 I reported my keys stolen by a tow truck driver and in March 2025 I discovered my auto registration documents was forged by the auto dealer. The time In August 2024 my ID was stolen and because of slander HPD refused to investigate. All of this was followed by more violence against me and I decided to move to another state. I believe my car has been tampered with as the reasons for the theft of the keys which have been replaced three times. Now I am having problems with the gear shifting. I believe someone is trying to slander me as a person with dementia to stop me from driving disrupting my life. No pictures of the harassment I have received but I have tried to take notes of certain events. My previous vehicle was Kia Soul also, a newer model but it was totaled by a Nigerian attorney's son when the whole family was in the car. …
Tl* the contact owns a 2012 Kia Soul. The vehicle was included in the NHTSA campaign number: 19V120000 (engine, engine and engine cooling). The contact stated that the vehicle would not accelerate over 35 MPH. The vehicle stalled and the contact was able to coast to the side of the road, however there was black smoke detected coming from under the hood which LED inside the vehicle. The manufacturer towed the vehicle to casa Kia 1374 george dieter dr, el paso, tx 79936 [phone] where the contact was not made aware of the results from the diagnostic test. The contact was also informed that the results was sent directly to the manufacturer and the repairs were denied. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 178,000.
I stopped my car at top of my steep driveway,pulled up emergency brake,put car in park but left car running to listen to song on radio. I saw a problem in my yard,opene the door, took care of problem then got partiallu back in the car to cut off engine. As soon as I switched off the engine the car started rolling backwards, still in park with the emergncy brake up and my left leg dragging the ground as it rolled across the street and into my neighbors bedroom. It is a very costly accident. All was fine until I cut off the engine so I think that cutting off the engine cause a glitch in the electronic transmission to cause it to go into neutral while still showing in park.
My Kia Soul 2012 has a noise at cold start that last 15 to 20 second, it feel like some thing loose. Dealer at sahara, las vegas nevada had it for three times and 4 days each time and the first time they said was the timing tensioner and they replaced, but noise still there so they have two times more and at the end the said the noise is the oil pump, os if it was the oil pump why they replace the timing tensioner ? The noise still every day in the morning, plus smelling gas by the motor and infest the whole garage, so I took it to dealer at henderson ,nevada cause I found oil leaking by ocv ( oil control valve, so they replace two ocv and still leak oil, so I realized looking deeply that first two injectors are leaking gas, mixing with oil. They asked if oil got on the garage floor and when I said : no yet, so they said can not do any thing. …
Bought wife brand new 2012 Kia Soul in 2012. Got standard transmission. At around 20K I noticed a squeal coming from the vehicle when the clutch was completely disengaged, by that I mean vehicle running foot completely off clutch. I presumed it was a throw out bearing. Took it to local mechanic and he agreed. So I took it to local Kia dealer. Bought vehicle in denton texas, but had moved 7 hours south to corpus christi area. When I took it to Kia in corpus I got the run around. Yes of course they could hear it but everything was working mechanically. So I was basically told too bad. Wife really wanted the Soul. And now I have to tell her Kia doesn't care if it makes embarrassing noises while she's driving, just as long as I'm making the payments. Throw out bearings are not supposed to squeak or squeal. …
The gear shift selector (manual transmission) wouldn't find any gear. The traffic signal turned green, I placed the gear in 1st. It drove about 200 feet and I heard a faint "pop". The transmission gear selector did not have any feeling in it, and I couldn't go into any gear. The engine remained running, I still had a clutch peddle, just no gears. I had it towed to a Kia dealer where they informed me that the transmission cable linkage had failed and it was going to be difficult to find a new one. Apparently the 2012 Soul 6 speed transmission is a one year only? When asked how long would it be the dealers response was, "we have a lot of recalls in here, and your part is on back order".
Transmission complaints in other Soul years
Frequently asked questions
How common are transmission problems on the 2012 Kia Soul?
NHTSA has 21 complaints about the transmission & drivetrain of the 2012 Kia Soul, 4% of the model year's 514 complaints.
Is there a recall for 2012 Kia Soul transmission problems?
No. NHTSA lists no transmission & drivetrain recall for the 2012 Kia Soul, though it has 3 recalls for other components. If the problem is widespread, a repair may still be covered by an extended warranty or a manufacturer service bulletin — ask a dealer.
At what mileage do 2012 Kia Soul transmission problems start?
Half of the complaints with a recorded mileage happened before about 63,000 miles, and 35% before 25,000 miles.
Is it dangerous?
Owners linked 3 crashes, 1 fire and 3 injuries to transmission & drivetrain problems on this model year. If you notice symptoms, have the car checked before driving further.
Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) — owner complaints through October 20, 2026, recalls and defect investigations; fuel economy from the EPA. Complaints are unverified reports and are not proof of a defect. How we rate model years.