Buyer Research

2019 Kia Soul — Should You Buy One?

Typical asking price: $10,000–$14,500. There are 2 high-severity known issues you need to know before handing over a check.

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Kestrel Take

The last of the second-generation Soul, with a record that is smaller than the 2017's but tells the same story: 135 complaints, 68% of them the engine, and the engine complaint is oil — burned internally, clogging the catalytic converter, running low until a rod bearing lets go at 92,000 miles. Eight fires. Owners point out that Kia recalled 2021-and-newer Souls for piston oil rings and left the 2019 out, so there is no engine campaign to check here, only an oil level and a dealer's answer on extended coverage. The single recall is the airbag control unit that can quietly switch the airbags off, and nine of fifteen airbag complaints are crashes. This is a cheap, practical box with a real weakness under the hood: buy one whose dipstick is full, whose engine is quiet with the hood up, whose scan is clean, and whose airbag recall is closed, and change the oil every 3,000 miles for as long as you own it. Skip any car where the seller cannot tell you when the oil was last checked.

What we checked

Reconciled against public records, 2026-09-25

NHTSA holds 135 owner complaints for the 2019 Kia Soul, and 1 recall campaign.

A big number here usually means a lot of these were sold, not that it is a bad vehicle — popular models collect more complaints for the same rate of trouble. So the total on its own says little. What is worth reading is the shape of it. 68% of them are about one thing — the engine. That much concentration is a genuine pattern rather than background noise, and it is the first thing to check on any example you look at.

One recall campaign covers this model year. Recalls are repaired free, for any owner, with no time limit on most safety campaigns — but only if someone books it in. Ask the seller to show it was done, or have any dealer check the VIN; it takes them a couple of minutes and costs nothing.

Counts come from the NHTSA complaint and recall database — free, public, and worth checking yourself.

Known Issues for the 2019 Kia Soul

Ranked by wallet impact. These are documented, recurring problems — not freak accidents. How we decide that.

Oil consumption to rod-bearing failure — smoke, knock, a thrown rod at 90,000 miles, no recall on this yearHigh — wallet impact

92 of 135 complaints, seven of them fires. The 2.0 GDI and 1.6 engines burn oil with no external leak; owners see smoke and a burning smell from the exhaust, a catalytic converter clogged with it by 94,000 miles, then the level runs down and the rod bearings go — one teardown found connecting-rod bearing pieces in the pan, another owner's engine threw a rod and Kia corporate acknowledged a bearing recall on other years while checking whether this car was still covered. A car that lost power at 70 mph and would not go above 40 with the light on is the same failure in progress. Kia's later piston-ring recall covers 2021 and newer Souls, not this one, so ask a Kia dealer with the VIN what engine coverage it carries and whether the knock-sensor detection update is installed. At the car: dipstick before the drive, hood up at idle listening for a tick or rattle, and a scan for P0420 and P1326.

Repair cost (estimate): $4,000–$7,500 for a replacement engine; $1,200–$2,200 for a catalytic converter — around 61% of what this car is typically worth

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the engine (92), the fuel system (15).

Airbag control unit can be damaged by its cover — airbags off, warning light on and off (recall)High — wallet impact

Recall 22V031 covers the 2019 Soul: the airbag control unit's cover can contact a memory chip on the board and damage the circuit, so the airbags and pretensioners may not deploy. Dealers inspect the module and update the software or replace it, free. Owners describe exactly that — an airbag light that comes on, goes off, and comes back, then a crash with no deployment; one shop diagnosed the module as an internal fault needing replacement in 2026, four years after the campaign opened, on a car whose owner never got a letter. Nine of the fifteen airbag complaints on this year are crashes. Run the VIN, and treat an airbag warning light as the recall until proven otherwise.

Repair cost: $0 with the recall — verify it was performed

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under airbags (15); 1 NHTSA recall campaign on this model year.

Check-engine light that nobody can diagnose, warning lights before a stall, two firesMedium

Fourteen electrical complaints, two of them fires and one a crash. The readable ones are a check-engine light that stays on through repeated dealer visits with nothing found, and a full dashboard of warnings lighting up in the seconds before the engine dies on the highway — on this car that is the engine failure above announcing itself, not a separate electrical fault. What a buyer can check: a scan with the engine warm for stored and pending codes, a battery and alternator load test, and a look under the hood for any scorched wiring or melted plastic near the exhaust, which is where an oil-fed fire starts.

Repair cost (estimate): $150–$500 for a sensor, battery or alternator

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under electrics and electronics (14).

Brakes that skid instead of stop, and seat belts that did not hold in a crashMedium

Eight brake complaints and six seat belt complaints, four crashes between them. One owner braked hard at 40 mph to avoid a stopped car and skidded into it, which on a car with ABS should not happen and points at a wheel speed sensor or the ABS module. The seat belt reports are mostly post-crash and, on this year, may connect to the airbag control unit recall, which also fires the belt pretensioners. Neither cluster is big enough to call a defect, so test rather than assume: one hard stop from 40 mph on an empty road, feeling for the ABS pulse under your foot, and a firm tug on every belt to confirm it locks.

Repair cost (estimate): $150–$400 for a wheel speed sensor; $600–$1,200 for an ABS module

Source: NHTSA complaints filed under the brakes (8), seat belts (6).

Walk-Away Red Flags

✗Dipstick below the low mark, or oil so fresh it was clearly topped up for the viewing
✗Tick, rattle or knock at idle with the hood open
✗Smoke or a burning smell from the exhaust on a hard pull
✗Airbag warning light on, or recall 22V031 open on the VIN lookup
✗Check-engine light on, or P0420 or P1326 in the scan history

Good Signs

✓Receipt for a replacement engine or a documented oil-consumption test from a Kia dealer
✓Kia dealer confirming in writing what extended engine coverage this VIN carries
✓Airbag control unit recall 22V031 shown closed on the NHTSA VIN lookup
✓Oil at the full mark and clean, with dated change receipts every 3,000–5,000 miles
✓A clean scan with the engine warm and a steady, quiet idle after ten minutes in Drive