Kia Niro Complaints (2022)

75 consumer complaints on file.

#11475843July 26, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER
The dash chrome trim running across the dashboard reflects the sun and blinds the driver. It is so reflective it makes driving almost impossible. This needs to be addressed by Kia as it blinds the driver bad enough that it's only a matter of time till this will cause an accident that will cause harm or death of the cars occupants.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11474865July 20, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The car is equipped with an excessively loud and obnoxious backup alert that deploys whenever the car is shifted into reverse gear, whether or not the vehicle is moving. The dealer tells me this is a "safety" feature and that therefore the alert cannot be disconnected and the volume cannot be adjusted. My complaint is that this feature is not only not necessary, especially for a PHEV, but also in fact is itself a safety hazard. It is so loud and distracting it prevents the driver and those around the car from paying full attention to other circumstances. Is NHTSA requiring this or is this Kia's invention? I don't hear it from other EVs, let alone PHEVs.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11472871July 8, 2022
POWER TRAIN
On four separate occasion I shifted it the car into park and a car computer did not register it in the correct mode. Video of lst event upload to Google photos https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ty4AYfnUiF9EX6oE6
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11469609June 16, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
EV was at 50%/130 miles to go, was driving on the expressway at 70 mph and it just quit. No warning, just all the lights started going on and off and i lost power and was able to coast to the side of the expressway. Was unable to restart, or get into gear for the hauler. Vehicle was hauled to dealership and is still there. The car has 1,100 miles on it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11468588June 10, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
This vehicle was involved in an accident caused by unintended acceleration. The vehicle is not available for inspection as we sold it back to the dealer. I was going very slow with my foot on the brake when the car jumped a curb where I was trying to park, then ran over some shrubbery, and then crashed into a condominium.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11467170June 2, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The silver accent bar on the center console below the air vents creates a major glare when the sunlight hits it. It reduces visibility by causing a distraction and feels as if you're staring into the sun. The photo doesn't do it justice but this has happened multiple times and I have to hold up my arm to block the glare. Additionally when the sunlight hits the screens on the dashboard and center console they become unreadable.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11465455May 20, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I was driving extremely slowly pulling into a parking spot. I applied my brakes but the car experienced Unintended Acceleration. The vehicle felt like it went into another gear, and It jumped the curb on its own, ran over some shrubbery, and crashed into the porch of a condominium which stopped the car. The air bags did not deploy as I was only going approximately 3 m.p.h. The sensors that should have prevented me from jumping the curb, running over shrubbery, and crashing into a building failed. Kia Consumer Affairs performed a forensic inspection and found nothing, yet I am positive that this vehicle is unsafe to drive. There were no warnings prior to the incident. I could have been killed or hurt or killed others.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11464534May 13, 2022
AIR BAGS
We discovered the passenger airbag "OFF" indicator was illuminated during while driving. My wife needs an orthotic cushion in the seat for anything other than a 10 minute trip. When the orthopedic cushion is placed in the seat the air bag does not activate. I went to the dealership and we tested a my and another 2022 Niro, a 2022 Sportage and a Telluride. The air bag in the Telluride was the only one that activated. The owners guidance was to contact KIA Consumer Assistance. A call to Kia Consumer Assistance (800-333-4542) options 2,5 & 2 yeilded a 30 minute wait with no indication of the remaining wait time and jazz music. Additionally, the external backup horn is so loud you cannot hear the collision alert alarm if the driver window is down.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11462521April 27, 2022
SERVICE BRAKES
Just over 2 weeks after purchase of new Kia Niro the brakes failed completely. The regenerative brake light appeared in red along with the ABS light and several others. I was driving in a major highway and had no pressure in the brake pedal, leaving me completely unable to brake. I dropped the car to “manual” second gear” and rode (very fortunately on a straightaway) until I was able to apply the emergency brake. The Niro was towed to the dealership who has had the vehicle ever since. They are uncertain of the cause, have opened a tech case with Kia, and reportedly order parts. I have initiated a buyback with Kia as I am not willing to out my family’s life at risk.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11457201March 17, 2022
SEAT BELTS
When installing a car seat in the center position of the back seat using the seat belt, we found that the latch for the lower seat belt came undone. (It is the latch for the fixed corner of the lap belt. This is the black latch with the small slot to release the belt that is to remain hooked except to fold the rear seat flat rather than the latch with the red button.) We unbuckled the other side of the seat belt, removed the car seat, and found that the latch itself was defective. When the buckle is placed into the latch it can be pulled free with little effort. Upon further inspection, we found that if you place the buckle into the latch, wiggle it from side to side, and then pull it will remain latched. However, if you push the buckle down into the latch again it will release and can be pulled free without using the slot to release it. We took our vehicle to our local dealership, and they determined that the latch was indeed defective and a new latch was ordered to replace it. The part is not yet in, so it is not fixed yet. We will ask the dealership to track where the part is once replaced if it needs to be inspected. If we had not noticed that the latch was defective, we would have installed a car seat in that position with the possibility of the latch coming loose during an accident. There was no known warning signals that alerted us to this problem other than our own inspection of the problem. We have a video recording available that shows the problem much better than the pictures, but the form will not allow us to upload it here. Feel free to reach out to us to get a copy of it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11456146March 10, 2022
VISIBILITY/WIPER, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I have tried to contact several dealerships to have it inspected, but they have as of yet (4 days later) not contacted me to get anything set up. We have collectively called 15 times, and they continue to tell us that a "service advisor" will call us back. Because of this, it has not been inspected yet, though we have tried. We plan to just show up and demand it be inspected, without appointment. The concern is that the crack continues to grow, and we are worried if there is a collision that it would cause our safety to be in jeopardy. According to the dealership, this issue has not been seen elsewhere, although several different models in different years have reportedly had a TSB put out for this issue (according to customer service at Corporate Kia on the first day of the issue). There were no other issues indicating that this would happen prior to my seeing the crack. Two weeks after the purchase of the vehicle, the windshield developed a crack coming from the drive side corner. When it was first noticed, it was only 3 inches long. It wasn't noticed at first because it began below the black portion of the windshield near the base. It wasn't until it extended up into the visible portion that I noticed it. But it has continued to grow over time just sitting in garage. Four days later, it is 15+ inches long. There was no collision to cause it (no rock, bug, hail, etc). A small chip has also begun to form at an area where the crack took a turn, I suspect because that's a focal point for the pressure.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11453587February 23, 2022
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Vehicle is equipped with a back up alarm that exceeds 75 decibels and is measured at 90 decibels inside of garage. This Poses a public safety risk and violation of local noise ordinances
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11451321February 10, 2022
POWER TRAIN, UNKNOWN OR OTHER
After putting the car in park on a moderate slope, I exited the car and about 2 seconds later, as I was connecting the charger, the car rolled backward 4 feet before coming to a stop. I immediately confirmed that the car was in park. The parking brake was *not* on. (Or at least, I did not manually set it- I don't know if this car activates the brake automatically when in park.) The right front wheel was on ice. All other wheels on bare gravel. The temperature was 36 deg F. This is an EV, so it may have some sort of event recorder built in. If so, look at roughly 9:10 EST on 2/10/22. This is a short-term rental from Enterprise, so I'll set the parking brake manually for the remainder of the rental and report it to them on return. Contact them if you want to inspect it. The registration lists the owner as "EAN Holdings LLC"
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11450489February 4, 2022
POWER TRAIN
When the KIA is shifted into "park", it will sometimes roll forward or backwards until the brakes are applied by the driver. This doesn't happen all the time and we have not figured out a way to predictably reproduce the results, but it happens a lot. My wife is the primary driver and I have only driven the car about 10 times. It has happened to just me twice in that time frame. It's such a common problem that we have started trying to routinely activate the emergency brake, as the transmission is not reliable in shifting the vehicle into park. During one incident, my wife forgot to use the emergency brake after shifting the car into park. She got out, the vehicle began rolling in park and her leg almost got ran over in an attempt to stop the vehicle. We have taken the car to Mike Miller KIA in Peoria, IL, but they were unable to reproduce the results, so did not take action to fix the vehicle. We have also reached out to KIA on this issue and are awaiting a response. A quick Google search indicated that KIA is not exactly reliable safety-related issues, so I wanted to be proactive in exposing this potential vehicle hazard.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11434645September 28, 2021
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
This complaint is about a vehicle design and implementation issue rather than a malfunction. The implementation of the low speed warning alert for this vehicle is dangerous to pedestrians. Several times, as I was backing out of a parking spot pedestrians have stopped directly behind the moving vehicle and could have been hit. When put into reverse this vehicle emits beeping tone from a speaker mounted in the FRONT bumper of the vehicle. Because the backup alert tone is emitted from the front bumper of the vehicle, the sound is reflected off other cars and structures and is perceived as completely non-directional to anyone standing behind the car. When people hear the beeping, they tend to stop and look around for the source of the sound, which is some cases seems to be coming from 1 or 2 aisles over in the parking lot, or from another direction altogether. The tone that the car emits is also inconsistent with the usual and expected 1000Hz tone that most people associate with backup beepers, causing further confusion to pedestrians. As implemented, the backup alert system on this vehicle does more harm than good and has the potential to cause a pedestrian accident because of the confusing, non standard and non-directionality of the sound. A blind or vision impaired person would have a very hard time discerning the direction that the sound is coming from and could get hit by this vehicle as it is backing up. To be effective, the backup beeper should be mounted in the rear of the car and emit the standard tone that people generally associate with backup alarms.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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