Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Kia Rio

What it says about you

Opinion

Small, cheap, warranted for a decade. Nothing here is a mistake.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

19 model years on record, 842 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2013 (service brakes). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • bag 2006, 2008 peak 40.8% of that year's complaints
  • air bag 2006, 2008 peak 40.8% of that year's complaints
  • seat 2006, 2008, 2009 peak 30.6% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2023 0 recalls 12 complaints
  2. 2022 1 recall 10 complaints
  3. 2021 2 recalls 30 complaints
  4. 2020 1 recall 26 complaints
  5. 2019 1 recall 21 complaints
  6. 2018 1 recall 28 complaints
  7. 2017 2 recalls 31 complaints
  8. 2016 2 recalls 77 complaints
  9. 2015 1 recall 52 complaints
  10. 2014 1 recall 52 complaints
  11. 2013 service brakes 153 complaints
  12. 2012 1 recall 54 complaints
  13. 2011 0 recalls 24 complaints
  14. 2010 0 recalls 26 complaints
  15. 2009 0 recalls 41 complaints
  16. 2008 1 recall 49 complaints
  17. 2007 1 recall 46 complaints
  18. 2006 1 recall 74 complaints
  19. 2005 1 recall 36 complaints

What does a Kia Rio say about you?

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Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.