2021 Kia Telluride — Known Issues & Recalls

Your engine failed suddenly at under 90,000 miles with no warning lights or gauges alerting you to a problem. When you took it to the dealership, they found the engine was missing 3.5 quarts of oil—nearly half its 7-quart capacity—yet your low oil warning light never came on. The engine's push rod bearing had failed, requiring a complete engine replacement at a cost of $9,000 that Kia denied covering under goodwill warranty. Addressing this may require diagnosing why the low oil warning system failed to alert you and investigating the cause of the bearing failure.

While driving on the highway, all your dashboard warning lights illuminated and you heard a loud sound from the engine. When you pulled over, you saw flames coming from the front of the car. Emergency services were called and the fire was extinguished quickly. Your car was towed to the dealership for inspection and repair.

The 3.8L Lambda II GDI V6 engine suffered catastrophic failure at approximately 102,000 miles. The root cause is excessive oil consumption documented by an independent repair shop well before the 100,000-mile powertrain warranty expired. At 81,207 miles, during a routine oil change, the mechanic checked oil level before draining and found nothing on the dipstick.

2021 Kia Telluride experienced sudden engine failure at approximately 120,000 miles. The failure occurred without any prior warning. There were no oil warning lights, dashboard alerts, or other indicators of low oil or engine malfunction before the engine failed.

No oil in engine can cause fire. Meineke in walkertown inspects the vehicle. No lights or warnings.

This car keeps burning excessive oil. I am on my 3rd oil consumption test each time it burns 0.75q in 1000 miles. The dealer states that that is not enough oil.

The checked engine light came on with Code: P219C00. Vehicle was taken to the Kia Perris dealership for maintenance inspection. This happened after the vehicle had to be taken back to dealership for an oil leak post oil change service.

After owning this Telluride for a year the engine started stalling. I took it into the nearest Oil change company, and they informed me that the oil was completely out and dry. I always stay up to date with my oil changes, so this was a huge shock.

Cooling fans running continuously after the car is turned off, which drains the battery. The dealership has identified that this is due to a faulty fan relay that will need to be completely replaced. The battery has been replaced once and the issue continued indicating that it was not a battery issue.

Your sunroof opened but a part broke in the process. This could affect the sunroof's ability to open and close properly going forward. You'll likely need to have the sunroof assembly inspected and the broken part replaced or repaired.

Sunroof bracket broke off when opening

The seat belt buckle in the driver position is failing to latch. It has to be pushed in multiple times in a row and very hard to get the seat belt buckle firmly latched. There has also been more than 1 occasion that I have been driving and all of a sudden the seat belt unbuckles and my seat belt not buckled light and dinging goes off.

Component/System Failure: The engine and lubrication system appear to be malfunctioning. The vehicle has repeatedly experienced sudden engine shutdown while stopped at traffic lights and during low-speed operation. The dealership has identified oil leakage involving the oil pan and oil filter housing and has indicated there may be an internal oil leak within the engine.

The vehicle decelerated in the highway, from about 70mph to 40mhp with no warning, no check engine light, and no previous symptoms, sounds or other indicators. The vehicle was brought to the dealer who advised the high pressure fuel pump went bad as well as the solenoid and OCV harness, causing oil to be forced through the harness.

Your sunroof came off its track in May 2025, leaving your roof exposed to weather, and you had to pay for repairs at a Kia dealership. The same sunroof mechanism failed again in March 2026, even though you haven't used it since the first repair due to fear it might get stuck open. The fix will likely involve realigning or replacing the sunroof track and mechanism components.

Your car's parking brake automatically engages when you turn off the engine due to a safety recall software update. However, in wet, salty, and snowy conditions common in northern states, this causes the brake pads and rotors to rust together and freeze, which locks up your brakes and can damage the braking system when you try to drive away. This premature wear may eventually lead to brake failure.

There rear parking sensors have come up with an error message. After I looked into this it looks like a wide spread problem. The Kia Dealership said it was the rear bumper harness was faulty.

I attempted to use my sunroof today 2/18/26 and I heard a popping sound and it sounded like something broke. I rolled the sunroof back closed and now the back of the sunroof (moonroof) is now propped open and won't close. I have tried the manual overide for 10 to 15 seconds and it just makes a clicking sound.

Windshield developed a multipronged crack that does not resemble a normal road hazard crack. After having tried a mobile windshield repair, the results are not successful as the cracks seem segmented and will not accept normal repair. Files include a photo of outside and inside vehicle pic of windshield.

On 12/24/25 the vehicle experienced the very same issue, on the highway, with my family in the car, coming from Christmas Eve festivities. The car decelerated and NO cel (check engine light) ever came on. when transporting to dealer, the car began rough idling like it wanted to die, but still no CEL.