2013 Kia Sportage
Complaints about this year name noise far more often than the other years of this generation — 22% of them, about 3× the usual rate of 8.3%.
Generation 2 of the Kia Sportage, which began in 2011 and ran to 2016. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 380 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 98 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 22 |
| Recalls | 3 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 4/5 |
| EPA combined | 23 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- engine engine — 12.1% of this year's complaints, against 3.3% across the other years of this generation (3.7×). Owners wrote it as: engine engine, vin included.
- engines — 8.7% of this year's complaints, against 1.6% across the other years of this generation (5.3×). Owners wrote it as: engines, same exact, recall list.
- recalled — 7.6% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the other years of this generation (5×).
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
- engine engine — 10% of complaints, 12× usual
- engine cooling — 7% of complaints, 18× usual
- seized — 16% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
ENGINE SEIZED! VEHICLE WAS BEING DRIVEN ON A HIGHWAY AND OIL, ENGINE AND BATTERY LIGHT CAME ON SIMULTANEOUSLY. OIL WAS FINE, CAR STOPPED, MADE NOISES AND WOULD NOT WORK THEREAFTER.
MY KIA SPORTAGE HAS 57102 MILES, I KNOW THE SPORTAGE 2011-2013 HAS A RECALL FOR ENGINE RECALL NUMBER: 17V224000 RECALL DATE: 03/31/2017. COMPONENT ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE. MY CAR HAS STRONG NOISE IN THE ENGINE WHEN YOU START AND DRIVING BUT THE KIA SA…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V907000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 17V224000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 23V652000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Sportage 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 2013 Kia Sportage? What happened to yours?
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