2011 Kia Forte — reported problems
CarFaultIQ holds 243 evidence records for the 2011 Kia Forte, drawn from official sources and owner complaints.
What owners report: issue areas
Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 214 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.
- Engine47 (22.0%)Official recall records for this system: 13, covering model years 2010–2021.
- Air bags (restraint system)35 (16.4%)Official recall records for this system: 7, covering model years 2010–2021.
- Brakes28 (13.1%)Official recall records for this system: 7, covering model years 2010–2017.
- Powertrain (transmission & drivetrain)18 (8.4%)Official recall records for this system: 4, covering model years 2011–2019.
- Electrical system16 (7.5%)Official recall records for this system: 3, covering model years 2010–2014.
- Speed control & accelerator10 (4.7%)
Other / uncategorized: 13 classifications (6.1%) 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
- 99reports included a mileage
- 78,342average 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.
- 2010 315 records for 2010
- 2011 243 records for 2011
- 2012 374 records for 2012
- 2013 283 records for 2013
- 2014 620 records for 2014
- 2015 410 records for 2015
- 2016 262 records for 2016
- 2017 449 records for 2017
- 2018 243 records for 2018
- 2019 253 records for 2019
- 2020 174 records for 2020
- 2021 142 records for 2021
- 2022 66 records for 2022
- 2023 110 records for 2023
- 2024 45 records for 2024
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
- 28mention a crash
- 12mention a fire
- 35mention an injury
- 1mention 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 3
- Manufacturer communications NHTSA 80
- Investigations NHTSA 3
- Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 4
- Owner complaints NHTSA 153
Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle
These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.
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.
Where to go next
- Kia Forte coverage hub Published problems, year windows and buyer guidance for this model.
- Evidence Explorer — the underlying records Read the individual recalls, investigations, manufacturer communications and complaints these counts come from.
- All model years of the Kia Forte Compare how much evidence is held for each year before narrowing to one.
- Browse all vehicle coverage Every make and model CarFaultIQ has published coverage for.