Kia Forte — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 7,210 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Engine2,336 (32.4%)Official recall records for this system: 13, covering model years 2010–2021.
• Electrical system644 (8.9%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 2010–2014.
• Air bags (restraint system)588 (8.2%)Official recall records for this system: 7, covering model years 2010–2021.
• Brakes438 (6.1%)Official recall records for this system: 7, covering model years 2010–2017.
• Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)430 (6.0%)Official recall records for this system: 4, covering model years 2011–2019.
• Lights356 (4.9%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 2010–2019.

Other / uncategorized: 642 classifications (8.9%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (5,056 records, model years 2010–2024) are most frequently classified under: engine, electrical system and air bags (restraint system).
• Transport Canada recalls (67 records, model years 2010–2023) are most frequently classified under: engine, brakes and air bags (restraint system).
• Manufacturer communications (1,834 records, model years 2010–2024) are most frequently classified under: electrical system, engine and equipment & accessories.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 2,662reports included a mileage
• 71,762average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 2010 315 records for 2010 315
2. 2011 243 records for 2011 243
3. 2012 374 records for 2012 374
4. 2013 283 records for 2013 283
5. 2014 620 records for 2014 620
6. 2015 410 records for 2015 410
7. 2016 262 records for 2016 262
8. 2017 449 records for 2017 449
9. 2018 243 records for 2018 243
10. 2019 253 records for 2019 253
11. 2020 174 records for 2020 174
12. 2021 142 records for 2021 142
13. 2022 66 records for 2022 66
14. 2023 110 records for 2023 110
15. 2024 45 records for 2024 45

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 466mention a crash
• 272mention a fire
• 380mention an injury
• 24mention a fatality

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 52
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 1,834
• Investigations NHTSA 23
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 67
• Owner complaints NHTSA 5,056

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• P0300 in 15 records · 2017–2020
• P0741 in 15 records · 2011–2015
• P0301 in 12 records · 2017–2019
• P0302 in 12 records · 2017–2019
• P0303 in 12 records · 2017–2019
• P0304 in 10 records · 2010–2019
• P0743 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0748 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0753 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0758 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0763 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0768 in 10 records · 2011–2015

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.