2016 Kia Rio
This year drew an ordinary 77 complaints for a Kia Rio — the model's median is 36. What they were about is the unusual part: 14.3% of them mention shut, against 3% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 77 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 36 |
| Involving a crash | 7 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 31 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- shut — 14.3% of this year's complaints, against 3% across the model's other years (4.7×). Owners wrote it as: shut, asked, feel like, wait.
- determine — 6.5% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (32.5×).
- every — 14.3% of this year's complaints, against 4.9% across the model's other years (2.9×). Owners wrote it as: every, similar, added, resolved.
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
My trunk latch wasn't working. I couldn't close my trunk. I contact Kia service and since I still have a platinum warranty with them, asked them if they could repair it free of charge. They said no. So I had to use tape to keep the trunk shut which kept gettin…
Excessive oil consumption. Over 1 quart every 800 miles. Does not meet similar standards of same vehicle class.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 23V594000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
- 23V652000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Rio 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 2016 Kia Rio? What happened to yours?
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