2019 Kia Sportage
This year drew an ordinary 69 complaints for a Kia Sportage — the model's median is 111. What they were about is the unusual part: 17.4% of them mention put, against 6.7% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 3 of the Kia Sportage, which began in 2017 and ran to 2022. 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 | 69 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 111 |
| Involving a crash | 3 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- put — 17.4% of this year's complaints, against 6.7% across the other years of this generation (2.6×).
- too — 7.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.5% across the other years of this generation (2.9×).
- undisclosed — 7.2% of this year's complaints, against 2.5% across the other years of this generation (2.9×).
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
When you put the car in gear, the car rolls backward in drive. The engine light, oil light and battery light are on the dashboard.
The tire suddenly exploded and the curtain air bag on the drivers side exploded too for some reason. I have a huge black eye and a concussion.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V137000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 22V703000 TRAILER HITCHES 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 2019 Kia Sportage? What happened to yours?
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