2021 Kia Forte
This year drew an ordinary 67 complaints for a Kia Forte — the model's median is 146. What they were about is the unusual part: 9% of them mention motor, against 0% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 3 of the Kia Forte, which began in 2019. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 67 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 146 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 31 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- motor — 9% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the other years of this generation (44.8×). Owners wrote it as: motor, electric.
- pay — 11.9% of this year's complaints, against 3.4% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: pay, asked, feel something.
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
There is no kill switch. this is a new car but doesn't have the push start. So, I have gotten it stolen twice. It's still at body shop. I had to pay 500 twice for detectible and I asked while they have car if Kia could put a safety feature, so it doesn't happe…
While driving on the interstate, multiple dash lights came on, the engine started knocking and shutting down. The vehicle was towed to the dealership and was found that the oil plug had fallen out, causing the oil to drain out and ruin the motor.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V164000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 22V304000 STEERING 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 2021 Kia Forte? What happened to yours?
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