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Kia · NHTSA safety record

2023 Kia Niro

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

Owners have filed 44 safety complaints about the 2023 Kia Niro with the US government. Of those, 8 describe a crash, 6 people were injured and no death is recorded. 2 recall campaigns are open against it, covering the seats and the electrical system.

The most complained-about system is the electrical system, named in 14 complaints, 32% of the total. The typical failure was reported at 600 miles, the median across the 5 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers March 2023 to September 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

44 complaints on file

44

Complaints

8

Describe a crash

0

Mention fire

6

People injured

0

Deaths

A complaint is an unverified account by the person who filed it, not a finding of fault. One complaint is one ODI number, which is how NHTSA counts them.

A recall is the manufacturer conceding a defect, and the repair is free. Whether one covers your particular car is a question only its VIN can answer, because a campaign covers a production range rather than a model year.

Which system owners named

Complaints naming each system
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 15 · 34%
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 14 · 32%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 7 · 16%
AIR BAGS 6 · 14%
POWER TRAIN 6 · 14%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 5 · 11%
ENGINE 4 · 9%
SERVICE BRAKES 4 · 9%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 3 · 7%
STEERING 2 · 5%
WHEELS 2 · 5%
Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness 1 · 2%
0 8 15

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 44.

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2023 at 12.

16 12 8 4
23 24 25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2023 to 2026, the last of them a part year, which is why its column is drawn faint.

Crash test ratings

NHTSA New Car Assessment Program

NHTSA crashes a car into a barrier and a pole and measures what happens to the dummies inside. This is what it awarded the 2023 Kia NIRO, and it is a separate question from what owners report going wrong later.

Test SUV FWD
Overall
Frontal crash
Frontal, driver
Frontal, passenger
Side crash
Side barrier
Side pole
Rollover
Chance of rollover 11.8%
Stability control standard Forward collision warning standard Lane departure warning standard

A dash means NHTSA did not rate that test for this vehicle.

Recall campaigns

2 on file

SEATS

25V024000 · January 17, 2025

The defect
Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2023-2025 Niro EV, Plug-in Hybrid (PHEV), and Hybrid vehicles. The floor wiring assembly beneath the front passenger seat may become damaged, which can prevent the front air bags and seat belts from deploying properly or cause an unintended side curtain air bag deployment.
The risk
Air bags and seat belts that deploy improperly or an air bag deploying unintentionally can increase the risk of injury in a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will inspect, replace and reroute the floor wiring assembly, as necessary, free of charge. In addition, dealers will install wiring covers. Owner notification letters were mailed February 27, 2025. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC332.

Kia America, Inc. · up to 80,255 vehicles across all model years covered

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: INSTRUMENT CLUSTER/PANEL

23V298000 · April 26, 2023

The defect
Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2023 Sportage, Sportage Hybrid, Sportage Plug-in Hybrid, Niro Hybrid, Niro Plug-in Hybrid, Soul, and Telluride vehicles equipped with a digital instrument cluster containing a 4.2" LCD screen.  The instrument cluster may fail to display any information when the vehicle is started.  As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard numbers 101, "Control and Displays," and 138, "Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems."
The risk
A blank instrument cluster display will not show critical information, such as tire pressure, warning messages, and warning lights, increasing the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will update the instrument cluster software, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed May 26, 2023. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC270.

Kia America, Inc. · up to 108,936 vehicles across all model years covered

In owners’ own words

Quoted from the complaint file

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

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

2 injured · crash · towed

I was driving when another vehicle hit my driver side tire area. Car was totaled but no airbags deployed. It is not available since it has been towed to the salvage yard. I have back pain, however we were fortunate not to have more injuries. It was inspected but not sure if they found anything wrong with the airbags.

NHTSA complaint 11577403. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed

I was in a very light two-car collision on 08-09-2023. Both cars had little to no damages, just very minute scratches that are very hard to see. But two of the airbags on my KIA Niro (front and knee) deployed suddenly, causing me to black out for a couple of minutes and later have a concussion, and the bottom airbag caused a bruise and consistent knee pain to this day. My car is at a Kia Service facility and has been for the past 3 weeks and we haven’t gotten any information from them as to what the problem was. I visited this facility to get some answers and I stated that I think this car has a problem with the airbags, a Kia employee responded with “do not tell that to your insurance”. I

NHTSA complaint 11543321, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed · 200 miles

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Niro. The contact stated that while making a left turn a second vehicle crashed into the front driver's side of the vehicle. The contact stated that during the crash the front driver side air bag, the driver's side curtain airbag and driver's side lower leg air bags all deployed as intended but the she sustained severe flesh wounds to both lower legs due to the airbags deploying. The contact was transported to the local trauma center and required multiple surgeries and skin grafts due to the injuries sustained from the airbag deployment. A police report was taken at the scene. During the crash the vehicle was destroyed and was later towed away. The cause of the

NHTSA complaint 11543355, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER

1 injured · crash · towed

My wife was in an accident on [XXX] around [XXX] at the intersection of [XXX] . She had exchanged safety information with the person whose vehicle had stalled. She went to shut off the car upon exchanging the information and after pressing the ignition button the vehicle began to roll. She was outside of the vehicle when she had pressed the ignition button. She tried physically to stop the vehicle, trippped and was dragged until the vehicle came to a stop after running over her leg and hitting a tree. The vehicle had recall items addressed on October 2 or 3rd. She was trying to stop the vehicle from rolling as she knew that school was letting out and a school bus would be coming on the road

NHTSA complaint 11626489, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
My 2023 Kia Niro Hybrid has a recurring intermittent electrical defect. Warnings appear together: Check Hybrid System, Check Engine, Forward Collision, Rear Cross-Traffic, Lane Keeping, Driver Attention, ESC, Brake, Auto Hold. They appear and persist while driving, during which stability control, automatic emergency braking, lane keeping, and related safety assists are disabled. Once, the vehicle would not start and was temporarily disabled, recovering after several minutes. This creates risk from loss of all electronic safety assists in traffic and from the vehicle failing to start when needed. Stored codes show lost CAN communication among multiple modules: U0101, C1611, C1693, U0111,

NHTSA complaint 11762384, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
When stopping for a traffic sign or light, the car announces that it is shifting into park and does so. The car then will not shift into drive or reverse and is essentially disabled. Turning off the car completely and turning it back on will not return it to "Ready to Drive" mode. Jump starting the car, provided it is jump started twice, will clear the problem and move the car to "Ready to Drive" mode. The car has been towed to dealers on three occasions with the technicians reporting they cannot reproduce the problem and no codes are being logged. On the third occasion, the dealer replaced the 12-volt battery. The failure occurred on the dealer's lot when I arrived to retrieve my car, but

NHTSA complaint 11761922, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
After sitting 2 weeks at airport parking. 12 volt Battery dead . Unsafe to repeatedly have to take out emergency key and pull handle cover off and get in car hit 12v button to start. The dealer we took it to refuses to replace the 12 volt integrated battery. It has happened multiple times. They checked battery and said it was okay. Repeated having to push 12 volt button unacceptable and unsafe.

NHTSA complaint 11761723. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

POWER TRAIN
My 2023 Kia Niro Hybrid EX has experienced multiple warning messages and unresolved concerns after previous repairs. After the first recall repair, I began receiving intermittent warning messages while driving. The messages appeared briefly and disappeared before I could safely document them. After a second repair, the transmission was replaced. Shortly afterward, the vehicle displayed an overheating warning. I returned to the dealership, but they stated they could not find a problem. While traveling out of state, on July 6, 2026, the vehicle displayed warnings indicating that the 12V battery needed to be charged. On July 8, 2026, the vehicle would turn on, but the engine would not start or

NHTSA complaint 11752872, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER
There's a problem with the horn in my car. Either the high or low. The problem is intermittent and the horn will fail and it is not available in emergency situations. I brought this to the dealership and made them aware but they refuse to take this seriously and two adequately evaluate the car. They blew the horn and said it was working. It was not working and I said it was intermittent and they said well we could not find any problem. There were no warning lights. Nothing else. The horn is just intermittently failing.

NHTSA complaint 11749268. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

STEERING:LINKAGES:TIE ROD ASSEMBLY

towed · 71,000 miles

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Niro. The contact stated that while her husband was driving at 40 MPH, the vehicle hydroplaned and pulled to the left unexpectedly. The contact initially contacted the dealer and was informed of the headlamp replacement and general inspection. Additionally, while the contact's husband was driving, the driver-side front tire experienced a blowout near a service station; the technician advised that the tire exhibited steel tread. An independent mechanic attempted a wheel alignment but discovered a rusted, bent tie rod, preventing the service. Following dealer instructions, the vehicle was towed to the dealer, where the wheels, both hub bearings, tie rods, and brake

NHTSA complaint 11748554, quoted in part. 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 17 1 —
2024 10 1 —
2022 31 1 —
2021 9 1 —
2020 39 1 —
2019 56 1 1
2018 60 3 —
2017 82 4 —

Other 2023 Kia models

Telluride 207 Sportage 190 EV6 137 Sorento 120 K5 107 Sportage Hybrid 99 Forte 63 Soul 52

Complaints on file, same model year.

Every Kia on this site — 181 vehicles.

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. How many repair attempts it takes, and how long you have to file, is set by the state you bought in and by nothing on this page.

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