2009 Kia Spectra
This year drew an ordinary 114 complaints for a Kia Spectra — the model's median is 136. What they were about is the unusual part: 18.4% of them mention make, against 5.8% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 114 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 136 |
| Involving a crash | 16 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 26.5 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- make — 18.4% of this year's complaints, against 5.8% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: make, mom, about 000, xxx information.
- company — 13.2% of this year's complaints, against 4.3% across the model's other years (3.1×). Owners wrote it as: company, handle, need replace, claim.
- turn off — 8.8% of this year's complaints, against 2.7% across the model's other years (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: turn off, put car, brake car, off cruise.
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
I HAD MY CRUISE CONTROL ON WHILE I WAS DRIVING 70 MPH ON INTERSTATE 64 WEST. I PRESSED MY BRAKES TO TURN OFF THE CRUISE CONTROL, AND IT DIDN'T WORK. I TRIED AGAIN, AND I STILL COULDN'T GET THE CRUISE CONTROL TO STOP. I HAD TO SLAM ON THE BRAKES VERY HARD AND T…
THE AIRBAG LIGHT IS ON. I WENT TO A KIA DEALERSHIP AND THEY SAID THEY NEED TO REPLACE THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT AND GAVE ME AN ESTIMATE COST OF +2000 USD. AFTER DOING MY SEARCH I FOUND THAT THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE OUT THERE WITH THE SAME PROBLEM. THE PROBLEM S…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Spectra 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 2009 Kia Spectra? What happened to yours?
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