Im in ft.lauderdale florida..When I took it to kia last monday,I left at 6:45 a.m. and it was 55 degrees due to a cold front and it wasnt bad that morning..I just went to the grocery on a short trip and its now 83 degrees warm and it wasnt to bad..Im just going to have to man up I guess..I will NEVER find a 2 year old car with 17000 miles and a 3 year warranty for $11,500 again,lol...Thanks much..Wear a mask and STAY SAFE !!
Kia Soul Base jerks when slowing down
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I also have a 2019 Soul with the 6 speed automatic transmission at 40,000 miles with hard downshift at 25-20 coasting.
Were you able to get a resolution for the hard downshift when coasting to a stop?
Same exact situation, no hard upshifts at all, runs perfectly smooth upshifting. BUT when coasting and letting it slow down to a stop sign or stoplight, as the speed drops to around 25-20 mph, there is a very hard downshift, enough to lurch the vehicle.
It originally happened a little over a year ago and the Kia dealer did computer ECU updates and "re-calibrated" the shift points. It disappeared for about a year and now it came back.
Question for 2014-2019 Soul with 6 speed Automatic Transmission owners:
Even when brand new, the Soul's 6 speed always felt "draggy" when coasting. All my other vehicles when coasting to a stop etc with the foot off the gas pedal, the transmission does not drag the engine and one must actually use the brakes to stop. My 2019 Soul always downshifted through the gear range with all 3 drive modes: ECO / Standard / Sport.
Does anyone else's 2014 - 2019 Kia Soul with 6 speed automatic do this gear downshifting too when coasting to a stop?
Were you able to get a resolution for the hard downshift when coasting to a stop?
Same exact situation, no hard upshifts at all, runs perfectly smooth upshifting. BUT when coasting and letting it slow down to a stop sign or stoplight, as the speed drops to around 25-20 mph, there is a very hard downshift, enough to lurch the vehicle.
It originally happened a little over a year ago and the Kia dealer did computer ECU updates and "re-calibrated" the shift points. It disappeared for about a year and now it came back.
Question for 2014-2019 Soul with 6 speed Automatic Transmission owners:
Even when brand new, the Soul's 6 speed always felt "draggy" when coasting. All my other vehicles when coasting to a stop etc with the foot off the gas pedal, the transmission does not drag the engine and one must actually use the brakes to stop. My 2019 Soul always downshifted through the gear range with all 3 drive modes: ECO / Standard / Sport.
Does anyone else's 2014 - 2019 Kia Soul with 6 speed automatic do this gear downshifting too when coasting to a stop?
Latest update on gear jerk when coasting to a stop:
Took it to the Kia dealer that “fixed it” the first time a year and half ago when it had 20k miles. They drove it and easily duplicated it. Then they tried all the normal procedures to reset shift points and everything at the ECU computer level. Still the same, they proceeded to escalate to corporate Kia and uploaded all the data for review.
After a few hours, the Kia technical experts signed off on a complete transmission replacement under warranty instead of trying to keep diagnosing solenoids and repair/rebuild it.
The very nice service advisor kept me up to date on everything and said a new transmission has been ordered and he will contact me to bring it back in to do the replacement.
It has been over 6 months since this same exact issue was reported by the OP and they have same exact year 2019 model. Hope it wasn’t a bad batch of 2019 transmissions!
If yours is still doing it, I suggest taking it to another Kia dealer or go back to the same one and offer to take a service advisor on a ride so that they can witness it since they “could not duplicate it” on the previous visit and sent you away.
This harsh downshift jerk is not normal. You should not have to clench your teeth in order to “anticipate” it every time you coast to a stop!
The transmission is obviously bad and it needs to get fixed or replaced before your warranty expires or gets worse. It is not worth it to “live with it” until gets worse or break and not get into gear leaving you stranded far away from home.
I hope you have been following this thread that you started and get notified.
Will come back next week to provide updates after the replacement.
Good Luck on yours !
Took it to the Kia dealer that “fixed it” the first time a year and half ago when it had 20k miles. They drove it and easily duplicated it. Then they tried all the normal procedures to reset shift points and everything at the ECU computer level. Still the same, they proceeded to escalate to corporate Kia and uploaded all the data for review.
After a few hours, the Kia technical experts signed off on a complete transmission replacement under warranty instead of trying to keep diagnosing solenoids and repair/rebuild it.
The very nice service advisor kept me up to date on everything and said a new transmission has been ordered and he will contact me to bring it back in to do the replacement.
It has been over 6 months since this same exact issue was reported by the OP and they have same exact year 2019 model. Hope it wasn’t a bad batch of 2019 transmissions!
If yours is still doing it, I suggest taking it to another Kia dealer or go back to the same one and offer to take a service advisor on a ride so that they can witness it since they “could not duplicate it” on the previous visit and sent you away.
This harsh downshift jerk is not normal. You should not have to clench your teeth in order to “anticipate” it every time you coast to a stop!
The transmission is obviously bad and it needs to get fixed or replaced before your warranty expires or gets worse. It is not worth it to “live with it” until gets worse or break and not get into gear leaving you stranded far away from home.
I hope you have been following this thread that you started and get notified.
Will come back next week to provide updates after the replacement.
Good Luck on yours !
Update on the coasting transmission jerk issue, 2019 Kia Soul 1.6L 6 speed auto 40k miles:
Kia dealer finally received remanufactured (re-“New”-ed LOL) 6 speed automatic transmission from Kia last week. Part # 45000-2F265RCA.
Service advisor called to setup appointment to swap it out and get a rental overnight. Dropped it off on Monday, received Soul back after 2 days yesterday. All is good so far. Drives “normal” again when coasting to a stop.
I asked them what was actually wrong with the old one, they answered they don’t know, only that Kia corporate advised to swap it with a “new” one that they will ship out. Service advisor said he hasn’t seen any others come in for this issue and this was his first one.
It still drags the gear like downshifting instead of the torque converter freewheeling and then spin up to engage when applying throttle like an old-school transmission. But at least it is not slamming the gears when it downshift like before and jerking the car around 21-23 miles per hour when coasting to a stop.
I guess this is how a “modern” automatic transmission works all in the effort to get you the best MPG. Not sure if long term wise this type of automatic transmission behavior causes more wear and tear. We shall see over time!
I am very glad Kia has factory 100,000 miles powertrain warranty AND my Kia dealer gives every Kia purchased from them a 20 year / 200,000 miles powertrain warranty ($100 deductible) to the original owner for peace of mind! Well worth it to buy it from this Kia dealer if you plan to keep the Kia for a long long time.
The paperwork also shows they put in 5 qts of ATF4 and flushed the transmission cooler.
Let’s see how long this “new” transmission lasts. I will come back and update if the same issue comes back at 60k miles. (It first happened at 20k miles, they fixed it by reprogramming it, but it came back at 40k)
I hope the OP was able to take hers back to her Kia dealer and get her’s replaced too despite her dealer saying they “can’t reproduce it”.
I’m case you are reading this, if your dealer still insists this harsh downshift is “normal” send me a private message and and I will send you copies of my work order.
Have a good one !
Kia dealer finally received remanufactured (re-“New”-ed LOL) 6 speed automatic transmission from Kia last week. Part # 45000-2F265RCA.
Service advisor called to setup appointment to swap it out and get a rental overnight. Dropped it off on Monday, received Soul back after 2 days yesterday. All is good so far. Drives “normal” again when coasting to a stop.
I asked them what was actually wrong with the old one, they answered they don’t know, only that Kia corporate advised to swap it with a “new” one that they will ship out. Service advisor said he hasn’t seen any others come in for this issue and this was his first one.
It still drags the gear like downshifting instead of the torque converter freewheeling and then spin up to engage when applying throttle like an old-school transmission. But at least it is not slamming the gears when it downshift like before and jerking the car around 21-23 miles per hour when coasting to a stop.
I guess this is how a “modern” automatic transmission works all in the effort to get you the best MPG. Not sure if long term wise this type of automatic transmission behavior causes more wear and tear. We shall see over time!
I am very glad Kia has factory 100,000 miles powertrain warranty AND my Kia dealer gives every Kia purchased from them a 20 year / 200,000 miles powertrain warranty ($100 deductible) to the original owner for peace of mind! Well worth it to buy it from this Kia dealer if you plan to keep the Kia for a long long time.
The paperwork also shows they put in 5 qts of ATF4 and flushed the transmission cooler.
Let’s see how long this “new” transmission lasts. I will come back and update if the same issue comes back at 60k miles. (It first happened at 20k miles, they fixed it by reprogramming it, but it came back at 40k)
I hope the OP was able to take hers back to her Kia dealer and get her’s replaced too despite her dealer saying they “can’t reproduce it”.
I’m case you are reading this, if your dealer still insists this harsh downshift is “normal” send me a private message and and I will send you copies of my work order.
Have a good one !
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Hello! I have a 2018 soul base (I've had it since November 2017) with about 78k miles. I also have the exact same issue! Everytime I'm braking and get to about 20mph it does a single solid jerk. I am in midst of oil consumption test as well because it eats the heck out oil so I hope to be in new engine land. I've been complaining about this for months and every time the mechanic doesn't feel it but I realized they did the test drive After the oil change. Before it wouldn't start the jerk for a while after the fresh oil change but last oil change it has not let up! When I take the car in for the next oil level check they will test drive with it and I swear it better do it 😂. Did you ever get any advice with this??
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Its impossible for them to adjust a transmission to your own driving style. All auto. transmissions have adaptive learn. After you drive it awhile it adjusts to your driving style. The only thing they could have done is reset the transmission control module to factory specs. And then it will adjust to you after a certain amount of miles. If they told you otherwise, they are blowing smoke.
I just got a 2018 Kia Soul base with about 89,000 kms (about 55,302 miles) and I am experiencing the same issue with a single light jerk when slowing down lightly. The only time this goes away is when I enable sport mode, then it never happens.
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Mine does too and I have a 2018 Kia soul base and I don’t mind if it does it I just want to make sure it doesn’t cause damage to the vehicle down the road
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Service the trans asap
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Does this happen after you cruised for a bit? Once it starts happening does it continue to happen?
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