2014 Kia Forte
Complaints about this year name steering far more often than the other years of this generation — 15% of them, about 5× the usual rate of 3.2%.
First year of a new generation. The Kia Forte was redesigned for 2014. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 439 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 134 |
| Involving a crash | 32 |
| Involving a fire | 36 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 28 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- coupler — 7.3% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the other years of this generation (36.4×). Owners wrote it as: coupler, steering coupler, optima, mdps.
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.
Also unusual this year
- steering wheel — 10% of complaints, 5× usual
- fire — 10% of complaints, 4× usual
- smoke — 7% of complaints, 4× usual
What owners wrote
Steering wheel is clicking or catching when initiating a turn. Problem is with the steering coupler.
WHILE DRIVING DOWN THE STREET, HEARD A RASPING NOISE COMING FROM THE STEERING WHEEL AND THEN NOTICED THE AIR BAG LIGHT CAME ON AND STAYED ON.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 20V750000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
- 17V773000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
- 15V015000 ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Forte 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 2014 Kia Forte? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…