2022 Kia K5
Complaints about this year name well far more often than the model's other years — 12% of them, about 30× the usual rate of 0.4%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 123 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 49 |
| Involving a crash | 14 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 29.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- despite — 16.3% of this year's complaints, against 6.3% across the model's other years (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: despite, active, directly, continued.
- properly — 9.8% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the model's other years (4.8×). Owners wrote it as: properly, power train, totaled, exiting.
- fuse — 12.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.1% across the model's other years (3×). Owners wrote it as: fuse, blower, melted, box.
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.
Also unusual this year
- fuel tank — 15% of complaints, 4× usual
- resolved — 8% of complaints, 20× usual
- started — 19% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
I had a single vehicle collision and ran into a ditch, none of my airbags deployed and I had a sternal fracture from hitting my chest so hard on the steering wheel. My vehicle was totaled as well.
Driving this morning 5/7/2025 at 9:09am and smoke started emitting from the center consol accompanied by a burning smell. My husband noticed the smoke coming from the car charging area, it made a popping/poof sound accompanied with even more smoke. We immediat…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V519000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 21V447000 LANE DEPARTURE Fixed free of charge.
- 22V760000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 23V149000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 25V794000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia K5 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 2022 Kia K5? What happened to yours?
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