2009 Kia Rio
This year drew an ordinary 41 complaints for a Kia Rio — the model's median is 36. What they were about is the unusual part: 26.8% of them mention seat, against 6.6% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 41 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 36 |
| Involving a crash | 6 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| EPA combined | 30 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- seat — 26.8% of this year's complaints, against 6.6% across the model's other years (4.1×).
- intermittently — 19.5% of this year's complaints, against 5.8% across the model's other years (3.4×). Owners wrote it as: intermittently, dealer several, brakes applied, belt.
- better — 7.3% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (36.6×).
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
WHEN THE BRAKES WERE APPLIED, THE BRAKES FAILED TO ENGAGE IN A TIMELY MANNER. THE BRAKE FAILURE WAS EXPERIENCED INTERMITTENTLY. THE VEHICLE ALSO STALLED WHILE ACCELERATING AND WOULD NOT SHIFT OUT OF FOURTH GEAR. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN AUTHORIZED DEALER SE…
THE VEHICLE FAILED TO START INTERMITTENTLY. FOLLOWING THE INITIAL FAILURE, THE SEAT BELT AND AIR BAG INDICATORS ILLUMINATED ON THE INSTRUMENT PANEL. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS. THE DEALER STATED THAT THE BATTERY NEEDED TO BE REPLA…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
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 2009 Kia Rio? What happened to yours?
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