Recall · 21V622000
Kia Motors America recalled 2 models over latches/locks/linkages
253,074
Vehicles covered
2
Models
5
Model years
August 9, 2021
Filed with NHTSA
LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES:TRUNK LID:LATCH
- The defect
- Kia Motors America (Kia) is recalling certain 2016-2018 Forte 4-door, Forte Koup 2-door, and 2018-2019 Rio 4-door vehicles. The trunk latch may become damaged, preventing the opening of the trunk from the inside. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 401, "Internal Trunk Release."
- What it can cause
- A person inside the trunk compartment may become trapped, increasing their risk of injury.
- What the dealer does
- Dealers will replace the trunk latch assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on February 10, 2022. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC216.
- 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.nhtsa.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 .
How this campaign compares
At 253,074 vehicles this is a bigger campaign than 96% of the 19,818 vehicle recalls filed since 1995 whose size NHTSA published. The middle campaign on file covers 472. It covers model years 2016 to 2019, so the oldest vehicles on it were 5 model years old when the defect was reported to NHTSA.
Kia vehicles have been recalled over the latches/locks/linkages 2 times before this, most recently in June 2016 as 16V389000. That is not evidence the earlier repair failed.
This site holds the complaint record for all 5 model years the campaign names. Their owners have filed 618 complaints with NHTSA, 233 of them before this campaign was filed. 12 of those name the latches/locks/linkages, the system this recall is about — a count of complaints, not of this defect. The earliest of them reached NHTSA in June 2016, 5 years before this filing.
The vehicles on this campaign carry 2 other recalls published here: 22V031000 (air bags), 21V260000 (engine and engine cooling).
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 9, 2021 as campaign 21V622000. 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 2021-08-09.
Independent developer and analyst