2022 KIA NIRO Complaints

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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"