Most drivers (not me) of the Kia Soul are pretty light duty drivers. A few like to drag race, hill climb or Ralley race, but they are in the minority.
So we don't hear much (if anything at all) about AT fluid scorching, stinking and just plain Failing.
But over on the Suzuki SX4 forum, where the car, the engine and the AT are of about the same size, etc, the discussions went on for weeks about AT fluid overheating, scorching, turning brown and stinking. They contrived all sorts of elaborate means to change the AT fluid. But even after they did change the fluid, when they continued to drive aggressively, the new fluid would turn brown and stink, just like the original fluid did. It didn't seem like there was any real solution.
But very few SX4 drivers were as hard on their cars as I was. So before I had any problems with my own AT fluid, I introduced a few ounces of "Prolong Transmission treatment" into my AT. The power steering fluid, which was the same as the AT fluid, got a couple of ounces of "Prolong" too. That was another source, of overheating, scorching and stinking.
At 40K+ miles, when I traded off the SX4, both the AT fluid and the PS fluid were both still nice and pink, just like new.
In the case of the SX4, Brown did mean it was failing and that it had been overheated.
Since the 2013 AT has no dipstick and the filler plug is somewhere under the battery, checking on the fluid is more or less a Dealer Option.
But with only 25 K on the meter, I'm not going to worry too much about it.....yet.
Happy 4th, Y'all
TM