2008 Kia Sportage
This year drew an ordinary 98 complaints for a Kia Sportage — the model's median is 111. What they were about is the unusual part: 7.1% of them mention test, against 2% 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 | 98 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 111 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 24 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| EPA combined | 21 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- test — 7.1% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the other years of this generation (3.6×). Owners wrote it as: test, car running, blown.
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 CONTACT OWNED A 2008 KIA SPORTAGE. WHILE THE VEHICLE WAS PARKED, IT CAUGHT FIRE. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT EXTINGUISHED THE FIRE. THE VEHICLE WAS TOWED TO AN INSURANCE TOW LOT. THE VEHICLE WAS NOT TAKEN TO A DEALER OR AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC FOR DIAGNOSTIC TESTI…
THE BRAKES WERE NOT RESPONDING WHEN THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS DEPRESSED. THE VEHICLE WAS INCLUDED IN NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 13V114000 (EXTERIOR LIGHTING, SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC). THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC FOR INSPECTION AND DIAGNOSTIC TESTI…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 16V815000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM Fixed free of charge.
- 13V114000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 22V800000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 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 2008 Kia Sportage? What happened to yours?
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