2023 Kia Seltos
This year drew an ordinary 44 complaints for a Kia Seltos — the model's median is 42. What they were about is the unusual part: 15.9% of them mention foot, against 2.8% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 44 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 42 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- foot — 15.9% of this year's complaints, against 2.8% across the model's other years (5.6×). Owners wrote it as: foot, weather, backwards, independently.
- console — 6.8% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (34.1×).
- coming — 13.6% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the model's other years (2.7×).
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
while at a complete stop with her foot on the brake pedal, the vehicle independently lunged forward without warning. The contact also stated that while the vehicle was parked, the engine revved uncontrollably without warning. The contact had taken the vehicle…
Car has stalled 3 times after driving short or long distances in hot weather (near Great Lakes, not even southern heat). Twice in 2024 and once in 2025. It is 2023 Kia Seltos with only 10,000 miles. Dealer inspected it 2024 (possibly not knowing of other recal…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 23V531000 POWER TRAIN Fixed free of charge.
- 25V099000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Seltos 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 2023 Kia Seltos? What happened to yours?
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