There are 10 stored owner reports matching the engine leading-label group for the 2015 Kia Cadenza in our NHTSA-sourced dataset. These are unverified consumer reports and may not reflect confirmed defects.
This group counts stored reports whose component label starts with one of this site's matching prefixes, ignoring case. Each matching report counts once within the group. Components mentioned later in the label or only in the narrative are not searched. How component counts work
Loaded 10 of 10 matching reports.
Open the full vehicle complaint log (all categories)There are thousands of vejicles with a variant of the 3.3L V6 Lambda II GDI Hyundai/KIA class of engines on the road. There are hundreds if not thousands of complaints regarding different variants of this engine throught Hyundai/KIAs line up. All of them with seized engines. There are class action lawsuits in other countries regarding this engine. They have known since before 2015 that these engines were defective! Just like with the Theta class of engines these engines also have bad engine components. The metal that is used is subpar. These engines need to be recalled. Every owner needs a replacement engine. The little people need justice. Every day someone is affected by a Hyundai/KIA product in a major way. $11,000 dollar engine. Every service completed every repair completed every recall completed thousands of dollars invested into this vehicle only to have it fail me. Now I am stuck like many others with a car that I am forced to surrender to my lender because of the negligence of a huge corporation.
PLEASE OPEN AN INVESTIGATION INTO HYUNDAI/KIA LAMBDA II CLASS OF ENGINES! THEY ARE LEAVING HUNDREDS OF FAMILIES STRANDED! NHTSA NEEDS TO DO BETTER! STAND UP TO KIA MAKE THEM FIX THESE ENGINES! ITS UNFAIR TO THE LITTLE PEOPLE AKA THE CONSUMER! STOP PROTECTING THE GIANT COMPANIES!
Engine seized. 3.3L Lambda II GDI. This is the 2nd Hyundai/KIA product that the engine has seized on me. Both with bearing failure. Neither on the list of recalled engines. You need to do a more thorough investigation into Hyundai/KIAs engines. The brands share the same power trains across the entire line up for a number of years. This class of engines has been produced for YEARS along with the Theta class of engines that you already forced Hyundai/KIA to recall. This seizure has cost me THOUSANDS and additional THOUSANDS that I am unable to pay. I was forced to do a voluntary surrender of the vehicle due to this repairs! BEFORE completing the suggested maintenance totaling over 5 thousand dollars the service tech should have warned me that the engine wasn't going to last much longer instead of telling me that the repairs were necessary and could be dangerous. The dealer and this company took advantage of me and who knows how many others! NHTSA needs to do something about Hyundai/KIA!
Engine seized without warning while driving at approx 50mph. This occurred within 6,000 miles of a KIA dealership performing a 6,000 dollar maintenance to the vehicle.
At startup I experienced a knock in the engine which seemed to have gone away. I notified the KIA dealership of the issue. The service advisor told me to drive the vehicle in for service. While attempting to drive the vehicle in for service the vehicle TURNED OFF while going 55MPH without any warning at all. KIA diagnosed the vehicle with a failed crank bearing and that it can happen to high mileage vehicles despite imbecile maintenance records. I have read hundreds of complaints regarding the HYUNDAI/KIA 3.3L Lambda II class engines and faliures at various mileage. Prior to this vehicle i owned a 2012 Buick Regal CXL Turbo. When I decided I no longer wanted to invest any money into it it had over 280,000 miles on it. The engine and transmission were still running strong. I believe that the quality of the materials used and the workmanship is below what the standard should be. Also considering all of the problems that this corporation has had with other engines who is to say that these engines are not also defective?
Soft engine block issues causing headboats to pull out and head gasket to fail. Slight movement in temperature gauge and check engine light begin to flash. Sometimes sometime later after stopping at light check engine light came on flashing, Turn car off and restart engine., Car would not move, Turn vehicle off and then back on again. Finally able to get it removed off the highway. Service manager at dealership indicated that this was beginning to be a known issue with this V6 engine and. Occurring with engines over a hundred and fifty thousand miles. This is a documented and known issue with minute of Kia engines. Also consulted with an independent mechanic who acknowledged that this is a known issue with kia engines and recommended, as did the dealer that the engine be replaced.
After hearing a ticking sound in my engine, I had it diagnosed by a Kia service department. They said bad lifters and cam shafts had been installed at the factory, and that sometime soon my engine was going to fail and they could say if it would seize or blow up or what, or how this would play out if this happened when I was driving. My car only has 76k miles, and the ticking sound is fairly quiet. Kia refuses to take the safe route and replace my engine. I do not feel safe driving this car.
Kept up on all regular maintenance and needs a new Engine.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2015 KIA CADENZA. WHILE DRIVING 30 MPH, THE VEHICLE SEIZED WITHOUT WARNING. THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT IMMEDIATELY RESTART. THE CONTACT WAITED APPROXIMATELY TWO MINUTES AND THE VEHICLE RESTARTED AND RESUMED NORMAL OPERATION. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO RICK CASE KIA (14500 W SUNRISE BLVD, SUNRISE, FL 33323, (954) 715-7580) TO BE DIAGNOSED, BUT THE FAILURE COULD NOT BE DUPLICATED. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT REPAIRED AND THE FAILURE RECURRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOT MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS APPROXIMATELY 39,000.
UPON PRESSING ENGINE PUSH BUTTON START A STRONG ODOR OF GASOLINE FILLED THE CABIN COMPARTMENT DURING IDLING WHILE THE CAR WAS IN PARK. THE ENGINE STARTED AS NORMAL WITH NO INDICATION OF MALFUNCTION. AS CAR WAS PUT INTO DRIVE AND DRIVEN A SHORT DISTANCE LESS THAN 500 FEET FROM MY STARTING POINT THE GASOLINE ODOR WAS OVERPOWERING IN THE CABIN COMPARTMENT AND THE CAR WAS UNABLE TO CLIMB A SMALL INCLINE IN THE ROAD AND THE ENGINE WAS NOT ABLE TO PROVIDE SPEED OVER 5 MPH. I WAS ABLE TO TURN THE CAR AROUND AND RETURN HOME. THE CAR WAS THEN DRIPPING GASOLINE FROM UNDER THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT WHEN PARKED AT THE ORIGINAL STARTING POINT AND A PUDDLE OF FUEL WAS OBSERVED ON THE ROAD WHEN THE CAR WAS TOWED AWAY TO THE DEALERSHIP. THE CAR WAS PURCHASED TWO MONTHS AGO AND ONLY 1,322 MILES WERE ON THE ODOMETER. A SLIGHT ODOR OF GASOLINE FILLING THE ENGINE COMPARTMENT BEGAN A FEW DAYS PRIOR AND AN APPOINTMENT WAS SCHEDULED WITH THE DEALERSHIP TO HAVE THE CAR INSPECTED UNFORTUNATELY THE CAR MALFUNCTIONED BEFORE THE SERVICE INSPECTION DATE. NO INJURY OCCURRED TO ME ONLY ENVIRONMENTAL HAZARD WITH FUEL LEAKING THE ENTIRE TOW TO DEALERSHIP. WOULD LIKE FOR NO HARM TO COME TO OTHERS IF PROBLEM NOT AN ISOLATED ISSUE. NO WORD FROM DEALERSHIP ON DIAGNOSTIC ISSUE. WILL UPDATE WHEN DIAGNOSTICS ARE AVAILABLE. *JS
Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA. A high complaint count may reflect vehicle popularity, not defect severity. Data sourced from NHTSA public records.
NHTSA source checks for this vehicle year
Checks are recorded separately for each dataset, not for the whole page. Dates use UTC. A missing check date does not mean no records exist.
Vehicle import recorded: Apr 28, 2026. This is the stored import date, not confirmation that every source was successfully refreshed.