2008 Kia Rio
This year drew an ordinary 49 complaints for a Kia Rio — the model's median is 36. What they were about is the unusual part: 40.8% of them mention bag, against 8.8% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 49 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 36 |
| Involving a crash | 13 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 29 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- bag — 40.8% of this year's complaints, against 8.8% across the model's other years (4.7×).
- air bag — 40.8% of this year's complaints, against 8.8% across the model's other years (4.7×).
- seat — 30.6% of this year's complaints, against 6.6% across the model's other years (4.6×).
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.
What owners wrote
FOLLOWING A TIRE BLOWOUT THE VEHICLE WENT INTO THEN OUT OF A DITCH. THE VEHICLE WAS TRAVELING AT APPROXIMATELY 45-50MPH. THERE WAS SIGNIFICANT FRONT END DAMAGE. THE DRIVER WAS WEARING A SEAT BELT. THE AIR BAG DID NOT DEPLOY NOR DID THE SEAT BELT RESTRAINT OPER…
THE CONTACT OWNED A 2008 KIA RIO5. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 35 MPH, THE CONTACT'S HUSBAND CRASHED THE VEHICLE INTO TWENTY BALES OF HAY. THERE WAS A DELAY IN THE AIR BAG DEPLOYMENT AND THE SEAT BELTS FAILED TO PROVIDE RESTRAINT. THE CONTACT WAS AIRLIFTED AND…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 12V244000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Rio 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 2008 Kia Rio? What happened to yours?
Loading comments…