Recall · 20V459000
Kia Motors America recalled the KIA Forte over power train
834
Vehicles covered
1
Model
1
Model years
August 5, 2020
Filed with NHTSA
POWER TRAIN:AXLE ASSEMBLY:AXLE SHAFT
- The defect
- Kia Motors America (Kia) is recalling certain 2019 Forte vehicles. The left front axle driveshaft may not have been heat-treated, which can cause it to break.
- What it can cause
- A broken driveshaft can result in a sudden loss of drive power, increasing the risk of a crash.
- What the dealer does
- Kia will notify owners, and dealers will inspect the left front axle driveshaft for a heat treatment verification code, and replace it if the code is missing, free of charge. The recall began September 2, 2020. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC195.
- NHTSA's note
- Owners may also contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.
The repair is free, whatever the age or mileage of the vehicle, and whether or not you are the original owner.
Which vehicles
A recall reaches a range of VINs inside these model years, not every car built in them. Yours may not be covered even if it is listed here, and the only way to find out is NHTSA's own VIN lookup .
| Vehicle | Model years | Safety record |
|---|---|---|
| KiaForte | 2019 | 2019 |
How this campaign compares
At 834 vehicles this is a bigger campaign than 56% of the 19,818 vehicle recalls filed since 1995 whose size NHTSA published. The middle campaign on file covers 472. It covers one model year, 2019, so the oldest vehicles on it were one model year old when the defect was reported to NHTSA.
Kia vehicles have been recalled over the power train 7 times before this, most recently in July 2020 as 20V389000. That is not evidence the earlier repair failed.
This site holds the complaint record for all 1 model year the campaign names. Their owners have filed 147 complaints with NHTSA, 40 of them before this campaign was filed. 47 of those name the power train, the system this recall is about — a count of complaints, not of this defect. The earliest of them reached NHTSA in November 2018, 1 year before this filing.
Check your own car
A VIN check is the only answer for a specific vehicle, and it also shows every other open recall on it, which is usually the reason it is worth doing rather than reading one campaign.
Filed by Kia Motors America with NHTSA on August 5, 2020 as campaign 20V459000. Every word of the defect, consequence and remedy above is NHTSA's published record of that filing, not a summary of it.
Compiled and maintained by guarledes . Data last checked 2020-08-05.
Independent developer and analyst