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Kia · NHTSA safety record

2025 Kia K4

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

Owners have filed 45 safety complaints about the 2025 Kia K4 with the US government. Of those, 10 describe a crash, 8 people were injured and no death is recorded. 2 recall campaigns are open against it, covering the electrical system and the engine and its cooling.

The most complained-about system is the electrical system, named in 12 complaints, 27% of the total. The typical failure was reported at 1,300 miles, the median across the 5 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

Compiled from NHTSA's complaint, recall and investigation files · Covers March 2025 to August 2026 · How this is counted

What is on file

45 complaints on file

45

Complaints

10

Describe a crash

0

Mention fire

8

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
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 12 · 27%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 12 · 27%
ENGINE 7 · 16%
LANE DEPARTURE 7 · 16%
POWER TRAIN 7 · 16%
AIR BAGS 6 · 13%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 6 · 13%
STEERING 5 · 11%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 4 · 9%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 3 · 7%
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 2 · 4%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 · 4%
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 45.

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 2026 at 26.

28 21 14 7
25 26

This is the year the complaint was filed, not the year the failure happened. The range runs from 2025 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 2025 Kia K4, and it is a separate question from what owners report going wrong later.

Test 4 DR FWD
Overall
Frontal crash
Frontal, driver
Frontal, passenger
Side crash
Side barrier
Side pole
Rollover
Chance of rollover 9.9%
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

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: INSTRUMENT CLUSTER/PANEL

26V046000 · January 27, 2026

The defect
Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2025 Kia K4, 2025-2026 Sorento, Sorento Hybrid, Sorento Plug-In Hybrid Electric (PHEV), 2026 Sportage, Sportage Hybrid, Sportage PHEV, K5, EV9, Carnival, and Carnival Hybrid vehicles. Due to a software error, the instrument panel display may fail. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) numbers 101, "Controls and Displays" and 138, "Tire Pressure Monitoring System."
The risk
An instrument panel display that fails to show critical safety information, such as the speedometer, tire pressure, or warning lights, increases the risk of a crash.
The remedy
The instrument panel display software will be updated over-the-air (OTA) or by a dealer, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed March 26, 2026. Owners may contact Kia Customer Service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC361. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will become searchable on NHTSA.gov on February 9, 2026.

Kia America, Inc. · up to 42,677 vehicles across all model years covered

ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:CRITICAL FASTENERS

25V548000 · August 25, 2025

The defect
Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2025 K4 and Sorento vehicles. The connecting rod bolts in the engine may have been improperly tightened, which can cause a loss of drive power.
The risk
A loss of drive power increases the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will replace the sub engine assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed September 12, 2025. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC349.

Kia America, Inc. · up to 30 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.

AIR BAGS

2 injured · crash · towed

I was hit on the driver side of the car infront of the driver door side of the hood and it took out my wheel and the car is totaled with how hard the hit was made my car bounce but the air bags never deployed and the fireman and the police officer said with as hard as I was hit it should have deployed

NHTSA complaint 11733814. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST

2 injured · crash · towed

I am submitting this complaint regarding a suspected safety defect involving a 2025 Kia K4. On XXX, the vehicle was involved in a single-vehicle crash in the Town of [XXX]. According to the driver, the vehicle unexpectedly steered off the roadway when the Lane Keeping Assist/Lane Centering steering system appeared to intervene. The driver attempted to maintain control but was unable to keep the vehicle on the roadway. The vehicle entered a ditch and struck a utility pole, causing significant damage to the passenger side. The front and rear passenger-side airbags deployed. The front passenger window shattered, sending broken glass onto the front and rear passengers. My daughter was seated in

NHTSA complaint 11753551, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS

1 injured · crash · towed · 1,300 miles

The contact owned a 2025 Kia K4. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was pulling to the left unintendedly. The contact stated that upon disengaging the Lane Keep Assist, the failure recurred while driving. The vehicle was taken to Discount Tire, where the tire pressure was adjusted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where an alignment was performed; however, the failure persisted. The contact stated while exiting the expressway and driving approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle veered to the left unintendedly, causing the contact to lose control of the vehicle. The vehicle veered off the road and crashed into a ditch, and the vehicle faced oncoming traffic. Several

NHTSA complaint 11645914, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed

Vehicle's forward collision warnings did not sound. Airbags did not deploy. Vehicle in front end collision at 40mph

NHTSA complaint 11738950. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

WHEELS
The tpms system will stop working and display a message saying check tire pressure monitoring system. While this message is displayed i cannot see any tire pressures and presumably will not receive any warnings about tires losing pressure. It starts working again on its own at seemingly random intervals. The dealership has been asked to look at it and found no issues. They asked to bring it back when the message was displayed but it is difficult to get the message to pop up and get to the dealership without it going away again.

NHTSA complaint 11758856. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS
Air bag did not deploy, yes High Risk Yes Yes No Hit a street sign. Went through radiator, bent frame in front on passenger side, busted windshield, punctured roof. Car is totaled

NHTSA complaint 11753002. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The primary Dashboard of the vehicle stopped working (while driving the car) and i lost access to all important information such as speed, RPM, current cruise setting, milage, visual alerts for any driver assistance warnings. The entire screen went black and showed “NO SIGNAL” in red text in the middle. It later came back after a few minutes. This issue has occurred 5 times so far and 4 of them being while driving the car within 1 week. The dealer is confirmed this is an issue and recommended an entire dashboard replacement for the vehicle. This is very unsafe because i cannot determine my speed or any other important warnings the vehicle may give me during my drive. There were no warnings

NHTSA complaint 11751322, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
I'm not sure what's going on. It's telling me to start stop the car when it's running and then it will turn off and go into accessory mode even when I'm driving that's dangerous. I took it to Kia a month ago for the same thing but they said they couldn't find anything, but it has to be something if I'm not the only one saying this is happening to their car. my car doesn't even have 8000 miles on my car.

NHTSA complaint 11750872. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

towed · 69,085 miles

The contact owns a 2025 Kia K4. The contact stated while driving at 40 MPH on several occasions, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was able to restart but would immediately stall again, requiring the driver to wait approximately 10 minutes before the vehicle could be successfully restarted and driven. The vehicle was towed on one occasion and taken to the same dealer twice, but the dealer was unable to replicate the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 69,085.

NHTSA complaint 11748745. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other years of the Kia K4

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2026 12 1 —

Other 2025 Kia models

Carnival 124 Telluride 115 Sorento 74 Carnival Hybrid 64 EV6 53 Sportage 52 K5 51 Sorento Hybrid 43

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