2023 KIA NIRO Complaints

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Niro. The contact stated that while making a left turn a second vehicle crashed into the front driver's side of the vehicle. The contact stated that during the crash the front driver side air bag, the driver's side curtain airbag and driver's side lower leg air bags all deployed as intended but the she sustained severe flesh wounds to both lower legs due to the airbags deploying. The contact was transported to the local trauma center and required multiple surgeries and skin grafts due to the injuries sustained from the airbag deployment. A police report was taken at the scene. During the crash the vehicle was destroyed and was later towed away. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer was notified of the failure but the manufacturer was not yet contacted. The contact was concern that the injuries were caused by metal fragments from the air bags deploying. The failure mileage was 200.

I was in a very light two-car collision on 08-09-2023. Both cars had little to no damages, just very minute scratches that are very hard to see. But two of the airbags on my KIA Niro (front and knee) deployed suddenly, causing me to black out for a couple of minutes and later have a concussion, and the bottom airbag caused a bruise and consistent knee pain to this day. My car is at a Kia Service facility and has been for the past 3 weeks and we haven’t gotten any information from them as to what the problem was. I visited this facility to get some answers and I stated that I think this car has a problem with the airbags, a Kia employee responded with “do not tell that to your insurance”. I have called and called to get answers and they say they don’t know are are trying to figure out why the airbags deployed. Everyone I have spoken to (police officer and paramedics at time of collision, claim adjustor, third-party mechanic etc) all think it’s very strange that the airbags deployed. I have read that KIA currently has airbag recalls on some models and I’m suspecting that my car could also be affected by this. The car is at a Kia facility where it CAN be inspected.

The car continues to not be able to charge at home. My other electric car (different manufacturer polestar) with the same cord charges without issues. The cord only allows 27amps and the car abruptly stops charging over and over. I have to reset it constantly. This continues to be an issue and the car shows no problems with the battery and there is no fix from Kia.

Forward Collision System: When stopped or at low speeds, the vehicle’s forward collision warning will activate for short intervals (roughly 1-2 seconds) randomly. Hybrid Battery: The vehicle won’t go below 50% battery on the hybrid battery and the engine unnecessarily turns on to charge back to 90% when hitting 50% rather the exercising a wider range on the battery such as 20-80%

Charge Interruptions session. The Kia Niro EV interrupt charging on a Level 2 50amp ChargePoint Home Flex charge. I contact the Charger company ChargePoint and reduce the power to 40 amps. The car charging improve slightly but continue interruption. The on board CSS J1772 port of the car overheat and stop charging. Same issue that the Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6, Kia EV6, and Genesis EV.

1st noticed when parking car, beeping from control panel as if touchscreen buttons were being pressed when they were not. Day or 2 later, AC and/or heat started coming on randomly, would not turn off, all touchscreen buttons illuminating as if pressed. Dealership found crack in screen. No knowledge or memory of any impact to cause damage. Dealership refused warranty coverage. Controls unusable and screen is glass, so there is now broken glass all around controls. Crack spread and expanded during normal driving conditions over next week. Control panel affects multiple other screens that should display information needed while driving. Problem mostly stopped after crack expanded more after I hit a pothole. Started again recently. Glass is badly cracked and has gotten worse with temperature changes that should be expected when a car is parked in the sun, and due to vibrations while driving. Control panel now entirely unresponsive. This panel is far too fragile to be in a car. There was no accident or incident prior to the initial problem. It seemed to happen spontaneously.

I was driving when I heard a very loud pop noise from above me. I looked up and noticed that the sunroof glass was broken with a hole on one side. I checked behind me and in the car but nothing had hit the glass. The sunroof had broken on its own for no reason. I have contacted the dealership but they told me to file a claim with insurance. I have put a claim in with my insurance company and am still waiting for their response. I took pictures of the sunroof and there were no warning lights or any indication that the glass was going to break.

The components and systems failing are the brakes, adaptive cruise control, smart stop n go cruise control and electrical. Yes it is available for inspection upon request. The auto cruise control doesn’t give a safe distance to stop at (u r close enough to not see there tires) from the car in front of u in case someone hits u from behind. It also doesn’t stop at the same distance it’s set at for the speed distance option. The car also doesn’t emergency brake itself when getting super close to the car in front of u. It only gives u warning sounds n shows that on the dash. I’ve already learned that with my young daughter in the backseat. No not reproduced by dealership Yes looked at by dealership Yes warning sounds n an alert on the dash but no action from the car. My car is brand new!!! Auto cruise control works great when the car is moving, but when utilizing “stop and go”, the car stops way less than 1/2 a car length from the car in front. A dangerous distance anywhere in my opinion. Changing the following distance does not change this stopping distance behavior. The dealership/s have been no help with most of the techs describing the stop and go feature as not stopping (Its the older models that have had this type of ACC, where the driver has to stop the car) So if they can’t understand the issue, there is no way to get them to correct the issue. I have found other drivers with similar issues so I know I’m not the only one. But I am the only one taking to time to say and do something about this huge safety problem for a brand new car.

While approaching an intersection light, that was turning red, I suddenly heard the car beeping rapidly and all the red warning lights on the dashboard behind the wheel went off and the vehicle stalled. Luckily the intersection light was red, so everyone was coming to a halt. I do remember the dash board becoming blank, like there was no power. I had to turn the car's power ON button several times before I could shift into Drive. In the meantime, the traffic light turned green and I was still trying to switch the car to Drive mode. Finally it did and we drove the next 4 hours without issues. When the car stalled we were already running in hybrid mode as we had driven 250 miles prior to that and there wasn't much charge in the battery other than what the car maintains when it switches from EV to Hybrid mode. If this would have happened where we were at higher speeds, like on a highway, then we were at very high risk of being in an accident and someone could have gotten hurt for sure. We were very lucky that the car in front of us and behind us were all slowing down, because we were approaching an intersection where the light was turning red. So fortunately the car stalling didn't cause an accident even though it was in the middle of the road. We did take the car in to KIA service and they scanned all systems and found a history code MFC (C183186) which I was told, means the car lost communication with navigation. They recorded the code and cleared it since then. They could not repeat the incident and have no idea why it happened.

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Niro. The contact stated that while attempting to shift into drive (D), the transmission failed to shift to the intended gear. The contact stated that the failure was intermittent. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, the dealer was unable to duplicate the failure. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 1,300.