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Kia · NHTSA safety record

2020 Kia Niro

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

37

Complaints

2

Crashes

3

Fires

2

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2020 Kia Niro have filed 37 safety complaints with NHTSA between August 2020 and August 2026. The most complained-about system is the engine, named in 9 of them (24%). The typical failure was reported at 53,000 miles, the median across the 8 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 1 recall covering this vehicle.

Recalls (1)

POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:INTERNAL:CLUTCHES/BANDS:ACTUATORS/SOLENOIDS

23V534000 · July 31, 2023

The defect
Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2017-2022 Niro and 2018-2022 Niro Plug-in Hybrid vehicles. Fluid may leak into the printed circuit board inside the hydraulic clutch actuator, which can result in an engine compartment fire.
The risk
A fire increases the risk of injury.
The remedy
Dealers will inspect and replace the hydraulic clutch actuator as necessary and install a new fuse, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed December 29, 2023. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC276.

Kia America, Inc. · up to 121,411 vehicles across all model years covered

Defect investigations (1)

An investigation means NHTSA has decided a pattern is worth examining. A preliminary evaluation is often closed with no action; an engineering analysis is the stage that usually precedes a recall.

Pedestrian alert sounds

DP22005

Closed defect petition · opened January 27, 2023 · closed August 7, 2023 · led to recall 22V063000

the electrical system

NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for pedestrian alert sounds for motor vehicles. The standard applies to hybrid and electric vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight rating of 4,536 KG or less or are defined as low-speed vehicles. The standard became fully applicable to all such vehicles manufactured on or after March 1, 2021.On January 27, 2023, NHTSA opened Defect Petition (DP) 22-005 to evaluate the subject matter described in the petition. On June 24, 2023 and as supplemented on June 25, 2023, the petitioner notified NHTSA he was withdrawing his petition. The petitioner indicated that, based on his review of data, there is no justification for asserting potential benefits that could be derived from actions sought by my petition. Based on the petitioner's withdrawal, DP22-005 is closed. Closure of this DP does not represent a determination by NHTSA regarding the subject matter of the petition.

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 37.

ENGINE 9 24%
POWER TRAIN 8 22%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 8 22%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 7 19%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 4 11%
SERVICE BRAKES 4 11%
AIR BAGS 2 5%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 2 5%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 5%
VISIBILITY/WIPER 2 5%
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 1 3%
HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 3%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2026 at 11.

2020 2026
2020 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed

I was involved in a collision 11/2021. I had just left a stop sign and was starting to go when a semi hit my front end and spun my vehicle around. I do not understand why my air bags did not deploy and I feel like emergency braking did not work. I have had it work when someone get close to my bumper in the past.

NHTSA complaint 11450471. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

fire

I first bought the car brand new from the car dealership and the first problem was a check engine light came on when I bought it. I took it to the car dealership and could not find the problem. I bought the car in December 2020. And off and on the check engine light comes and goes. And they could not find the error. Lastly about two weeks before the car caught on fire. It was service for oil change and a catalytic converter replacement. After that while I was driving on the parkway in New Jersey I heard a loud bang in the engine and I pulled over and I saw a fire starting underneath the engine. The whole car is consumed in fire. The fire department came and put it out.

NHTSA complaint 11492683. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE

fire

2020 Kia Niro was driving fine until one day while driving down the highway at highway speeds (65-70 mph), the car began to lose power and as we switched lanes to get to the side of the highway, the car began to smoke and caught on fire. Our safety was at risk due to the car catching on fire. The problem is unable to be reproduced as the car is a total loss. Vehicle was inspected by police at the scene. There were no warning lights, and the vehicle had been in working condition prior to the incident. The vehicle had a recall that was fixed at our local Kia dealership as soon as a solution was indicated, and the part was located.

NHTSA complaint 11640082. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN

towed · 27,500 miles

The contact owns a 2020 Kia Niro. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V534000 (Power Train) however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The contact stated that the check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed, and the dealer determined that the failure was related to the recall. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and confirmed that the part was not yet available. The failure mileage was approximately 27,500. Parts distribution disconnect.

NHTSA complaint 11579317. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
AC not working, recall SA512 is needed, Kia wont cover the cost of replacing electrical components. Thermal Runaway / Fire Risk: The broken compressor prevents the battery thermal management system from cooling the main high-voltage lithium-ion battery package, creating an overheating hazard during driving or DC fast-charging. Sudden Loss of Power (Motive Power): Battery overheating can trigger a sudden "safe mode" or turtle mode, dropping your speed to zero unexpectedly on the highway.Impaired Driver Visibility: The lack of functional cabin heating prevents windshield defrosting, severely impairing the driver's ability to see the road safely.

NHTSA complaint 11755319. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
This submission is supplemental information for my prior NHTSA complaint (Complaint #XXX). After filing the original report, I learned additional details from the Kia dealership that serviced my vehicle. The service department stated that they have seen the same electronic parking brake controller and actuator failure on multiple Kia Niro vehicles from model years 2018–2021. They reported that these failures were not covered under warranty for those years, even when the symptoms began during the warranty period. The dealer also explained that Kia made design improvements to the electronic parking brake system in later model years and expanded warranty coverage for the updated EPB assembly

NHTSA complaint 11749340, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
What's malfunctioning: coolant monitoring system shows low coolant warning when coolant level is observably fine. Problem has been ongoing for over a year. Available for inspection: yes. Safety problem: coolant monitoring is inaccurate, causing alarm when coolant levels are fine and possibly causing no alarm when coolant levels are too low. Problem reproduced: yes, by both dealer and independent service center. Vehicle inspected by manufacturer: yes. They attempted service but their repair only lasted a few months. Symptoms prior to failure: no. The problem is that the warning lights are turning on when they should not be. This matches the symptoms of Kia Technical Service Bulletin SA512,

NHTSA complaint 11746979, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

SERVICE BRAKES
The electronic parking brake controller failed after intermittent warnings that began while the vehicle was still under warranty. The parking brake actuator also failed and had to be replaced. The electronic parking brake system is part of the vehicle’s safety system, and the failure caused the parking brake to malfunction unpredictably. The issue did not store persistent diagnostic codes, making it difficult to diagnose earlier. This is a safety concern because it affects the vehicle’s ability to hold position when parked and can interfere with braking and stability control. Because I am not the original owner, Kia refused to perform this as a warranty repair even though the intermittent

NHTSA complaint 11744598, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The AC compressor failed due to an isolation resistance failure at the high voltage inverter. Freon leaked from the AC system into the battery chiller coolant loop, causing crystallization and blockages in the inverter coolant circuit. This is a battery thermal management system failure. The failure was confirmed and diagnosed by an authorized Kia dealer. Warning lights appeared on the dashboard including an inverter coolant warning. The vehicle was driven in ambient temperatures exceeding 108 degrees Fahrenheit in Arizona with no cabin cooling and a compromised battery thermal management system, creating a safety risk to the driver. The dealer quoted repair including AC compressor

NHTSA complaint 11741696, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
10.25" audio head unit. UVO no longer connects so that 911 and roadside assistance can not be reached. This is a known problem with 2019 and early 2020 Kia Niro's part# 96160-Q4210. I spoke to the Kia UVO Call Center and they confirmed that my unit is not communicating and has not since Dec. 2021. As I usually drive just around town I have not used UVO, but now that I'm on the road I need to be able to use this feature. I'm attaching a quote for a replacement unit

NHTSA complaint 11734752. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Kia Niro

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2025 16 1 —
2024 9 1 —
2023 41 2 —
2022 29 1 —
2021 9 1 —
2019 54 1 1
2018 56 3 —
2017 78 4 —

Other 2020 Kia models

Telluride 744 Soul 370 Sportage 159 Optima 138 Sorento 131 Forte 71 RIO 26 Sedona 20

Every Kia on this site — 176 vehicles, 208 recall campaigns and 1 open investigation .

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

Compiled and maintained by
Independent developer and analyst