I know Im a bad car owner but...

Look, I've got a bad engine valve cover that I haven't replaced yet..(im gonna now) and therefore a decent oil leak. However this mofo wouldn't start to a crank today, I noticed the oil was low and poured a quart and 1/2 to get it to a reasonable read, and then boom, starts just fine. I asked my local mechanic about it, and he said theres often a mechanism where the oil sensor in new(ish) cars will stop the engine from cranking if it detects a low oil read. Is that something anyone here has heard of, and could confirm is common? Because I thought the only way the engine would actually refuse to start as far as low oil is because its seizing. Which would be far less than a quart or so missing? And is that all it would take to trigger the sensor to do this? Anyway its a 2011 Kia Soul if that's any help. Thanks y'all 👍