2006 Kia Sportage
This year drew an ordinary 111 complaints for a Kia Sportage — the model's median is 98. What they were about is the unusual part: 20.7% of them mention why, against 8.3% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Kia Sportage, which began in 2005 and ran to 2010. 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 | 111 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 98 |
| Involving a crash | 8 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- why — 20.7% of this year's complaints, against 8.3% across the other years of this generation (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: why, complaints, worked, avoid.
- accidents — 6.3% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the other years of this generation (31.5×). Owners wrote it as: accidents, clear.
- wiring — 12.6% of this year's complaints, against 4.2% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: wiring, harness, melted, replacing.
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
The fan for my car worked intermittently. I took the car to the dealership and they said it was the fan. I replaced the fan myself. While replacing the fan, I noticed that one of the connectors was melted. After changing the fan, nothing changed. After that, I…
THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER ON JULY 18, 2009 AND REPAIRED ACCORDING TO RECALL# 09V130000 (EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BRAKE LIGHTS:SWITCH). AFTER THE REPAIR SHE NOTICED THAT THE VEHICLE WOULD ONLY SHIFT IN THE REVERSE GEAR. AFTER REMOVING THE KEY FROM THE IGNITI…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 09V130000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Sportage 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 2006 Kia Sportage? What happened to yours?
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