Vehicle Data Hub

1998 Kia Sportage engine problems

89 complaints about engine have been filed for the 1998 Kia Sportage, which is 16% of all its NHTSA complaints. It is the most reported problem area for this model year.

At a glance

Complaints
89 16% of this year's complaints
Crashes and fires
2 and 0
Injuries and deaths
4 and 0

Source: NHTSA owner complaints

What the data shows

These complaints mention 2 crashes, 4 injuries.

What owners wrote

Driver and passenger scalded with boiling radiator fluid with foot on pedal, had to keep foot on petal to get off road on may 30, 2013, at approx. 4:30 pm edt, I was driving my 1998 kia sportage on the garden state parkway north, just after entering the highway at exit 98 in wall, nj. The air conditioner had not been working well. The local temperature was in the high 90s, near 100 degrees. I had a passenger in the front passenger seat.

Reported at 60,000 miles, May 2013 Injury

First time I brought the car back was because the engine light went on and I had a oil leakage in the engine. Car started to shake even after it was hot and made a weird noise in the engine. The motor rr window was not working and the brakes were making some weird noise. Brought to the dealer to fix and he sent it to kia for repair, the kia crew found the front caliper frozen, but the customer denied to fix it. So I brought it to a specialist to check double check the car.

Reported at 51,000 miles, February 2002

Other problems reported for the 1998 Kia Sportage

Engine problems in other years

Engine problems across all Kia models