2020 KIA NIRO Complaints

I first bought the car brand new from the car dealership and the first problem was a check engine light came on when I bought it. I took it to the car dealership and could not find the problem. I bought the car in December 2020. And off and on the check engine light comes and goes. And they could not find the error. Lastly about two weeks before the car caught on fire. It was service for oil change and a catalytic converter replacement. After that while I was driving on the parkway in New Jersey I heard a loud bang in the engine and I pulled over and I saw a fire starting underneath the engine. The whole car is consumed in fire. The fire department came and put it out.

The bearings in the steering wheel is going bad. The car is a 2020 and should not have this issue. They’re claiming it’s not covered under basic warranty since my mileage is 77,637, over the 60,000 mileage. Even with this many mileage, a steering wheel bearing should not go bad this quickly.

My Niro has been having issues with sputtering, jerking, chugging, and feeling like it’s about to stall. Sometimes it happens right when I start the car and sometimes it happens while I am driving. The check engine light just started coming on yesterday. I believe the transmission is faulty and have spoken to or taken it to the dealer with this same issue multiple times as it is covered under warranty. They keep telling me that’s just how the car drives but in the 8 cars I’ve owned in my life, I have never had a car that behaves this way before. An internet search of “Kia niro transmission problems” proves that this is a common and known issue with this car that Kia is doing nothing to resolve. I have a daily 20 mile commute to work and feel incredibly unsafe driving my car and letting my teenage daughter drive it.

The contact’s wife owns a 2020 Kia Niro. The contact stated that while his wife was driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle inadvertently decelerated. The contact stated that during the failure the regenerative brake warning light illuminated. The contact stated that his wife was able to coast into a parking lot. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where the failure could not be duplicated. The manufacture was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the vehicle was covered under warranty. The failure mileage was approximately 46,000.

I've had my Kia Niro EV approximately 1yr. I'm the only owner so far was brand new but it had set for a year or so. (Purchase Date: March 2021). I noticed about 6 mo./8k miles that listening the same thing that my 2012 Kia Sorento that was involved in the class action lawsuit was having. When I pressed the gas pedal my RPMs go up to five to seven but the car doesn't really go it's like it's barely even going 10 miles an hour. This to me is a huge safety concern considering what if you were trying to get out of the way of a semi and you have the gas pressed all the way to the floor in your car is not going fast enough this really worries me considering how much I spent on the car I bought it new and traded in my old one that was having the crankshaft issue that would stall out no matter what speed you were going numerous times a day so that way I would be safe. Now here I am with a 20/20 vehicle and experiencing the same issues. Then the other day we are now March of 2022 and I start up my car and it says service vehicle immediately take it to your nearest dealership try to take a picture then this message disappears so then I turn off the car turn it back on to see if the message would reappear and it says service car in 20 something days but yeah I'm still having the same problem so then I'd use my new my UVO diagnostic thing button and it tells me there's no issues with the vehicle. I drove the vehicle every day and it doesn't do it all the time but this is exactly how my Sorrento started out too I would sit there and tell my husband that I couldn't get enough power and the vehicle wasn't going shifting gears it's something with the gears I can feel it underneath the vehicle it's almost like something's blocking it or something's not connecting this could be a very serious issue and I feel like that you guys really do need to investigate this to prevent casualties 1 report of the issue should open an investigation. Not once innocent ppl get injured/die

I was involved in a collision 11/2021. I had just left a stop sign and was starting to go when a semi hit my front end and spun my vehicle around. I do not understand why my air bags did not deploy and I feel like emergency braking did not work. I have had it work when someone get close to my bumper in the past.

Driving in my 2020 Kia Niro EV EX in the right lane of a 2-lane northbound highway at 3PM on a weekday, clear-weather, I changed lanes into the left lane when all of the sudden the Lane Keeping Assist malfunctioned and startlingly and abruptly jerked me across the double yellow lines into oncoming southbound traffic. I tried to steer the car back into the northbound lanes but the steering wheel was frozen. The malfunctioning Lane Keeping Assist seemed to have completely taken control of the steering wheel. An oncoming southbound car hit me colliding with my front passenger hood, panel and front passenger wheel. Upon impact, my dashboard lit up with warning messages, as the collision sent my car sailing back into the northbound side of the highway crashing perpendicularly into the highway perimeter chainlink fence and parking post. My airbags did NOT deploy! That is 100% airbag failure in a front wheel collision in a front-wheel drive vehicle. Police report taken at site of the incident. My insurance was notified. Insurance advised me to report these mechanical malfunctions to the Kia dealership. I reported to Kia Van Nuys dealership who set up service diagnostics in the dealership Service center. However, Kia Van Nuys Service refused to diagnose the car telling me to "take the car to a body shop" because they could not diagnose the mechanical/technical issue before body damage was repaired.

My husband and I have both experienced an abrupt jolt when the Lane Keeping Assist is activated. It's not the "normal" tug that alerts you when drifting. And sometimes this startling jolt is activated when not changing lanes. Also, for a split second when the Lane Keeping Assist has this unexpected abrupt jolting that tries to force you into the lane, the steering wheel locks for a split second which is more frightening because for a split second you lose control of the car. In my other Kia Niro EV, I reported this to Kia Van Nuys dealership and went on a "test" drive with a mechanic. At that time my other vehicle (also reported here due to a collision) did not exhibit this "jolting, jerking" experience. I have asked other people I know who own or lease this Kia Niro EV if they experienced anything unusual with the Lane Keeping Assist. All reported this same "abrupt jolting" experience which was so concerning, they were "forced to disable the Lane Keeping Assist" for fear it might cause an accident.

The Adaptive Cruise Control System is not working. It is available for inspection upon request. The cruise control system does not reset, but rather retains the last set point. When I start the car and touch the accelerator, the car assumes the last set speed setting. In my case that is 60mph. It does not matter what I do, the car accelerates to 60mph. I can "cancel" the setting", tap on the brakes, or try to reset the system to a different speed. I am trying to get an appointment with the dealer for his evaluation. There have been no accidents on my part, but it is very scary that the car just takes off. there were no warnings, lamps, or messages on any of the car consoles. This is a a significant failure, potentially life threatening.

VOLUME ON VESS AND BACKUP ALERT SYSTEM GREATLY EXCEEDS RECOMMENDED LEVELS, TO THE POINT WHERE BACKING UP OUT OF GARAGE CAN ANNOY NEIGHBORS IN THEIR HOMES. WHEN BACKING OUT OF A PARKING SPOT AT A LOCAL STRIP MALL, THE VOLUME OF THE BACKUP ALERT FROM THE VESS WAS SO SHOCKING THAT IT STARTLED A PEDESTRIAN, CAUSING THEM TO TRIP AND ALMOST FALL ON THEIR FACE. KIA DOES NOT PROVIDE A WAY TO REDUCE VESS VOLUME TO CLOSER TO NHTSA RECOMMENDED LEVELS. ALSO, VESS STAYS ENGAGED UP TO AROUND 23 MPH, MAKING IT AN ANNOYANCE TO PEOPLE WE SHARE THE ROAD WITH UNDER LOWER SPEED CONDITIONS SUCH AS NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS.