2010 Kia Forte
This year drew an ordinary 232 complaints for a Kia Forte — the model's median is 134. What they were about is the unusual part: 18.5% of them mention tire, against 6.9% across the other years of this generation.
First year of a new generation. The Kia Forte was redesigned for 2010. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 232 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 134 |
| Involving a crash | 21 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 28 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- tire — 18.5% of this year's complaints, against 6.9% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: tire, tires, stem, valve.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
What owners wrote
TL * THE CONTACT OWNS A 2010 KIA FORTE. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE LOW TIRE PRESSURE SENSOR WARNING LAMP ILLUMINATED AND WHEN SHE ATTEMPTED TO PUT AIR IN THE REAR PASSENGER SIDE TIRE, THE VALVE STEM FRACTURED. THE CONTACT MENTIONED THAT IN A DIFFERENT OCCASIO…
WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 45 MPH, THE TRANSMISSION SUDDENLY SHIFTED. THE CONTACT STATED THE GEAR WOULD SWITCH FROM ONE GEAR TO ANOTHER AND THE TIRES WOULD SKID. THE CONTACT STATED AFTER FIVE MINUTES OF DRIVING, HE COULD SMELL RUBBER BURNING. ALSO, THE SPEEDO…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V363000 AIR BAGS
- 13V114000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 23V652000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Forte was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2010 Kia Forte? What happened to yours?
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