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Kia · NHTSA safety record

2025 Kia Sportage PHEV

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

Owners have filed 6 safety complaints about the 2025 Kia Sportage PHEV with the US government. Of those, 1 describes a crash and no death is recorded. One recall campaign is open against it, covering the trailer hitch.

The most complained-about system is forward collision avoidance, named in 2 complaints, 33% of the total.

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

What is on file

6 complaints on file

6

Complaints

1

Describe a crash

0

Mention fire

0

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
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 2 · 33%
LANE DEPARTURE 2 · 33%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 1 · 17%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 1 · 17%
POWER TRAIN 1 · 17%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 1 · 17%
WHEELS 1 · 17%
0 4 8

Red marks a system with a recall campaign against it. One complaint can name several systems, so these add up to more than 6.

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 2025 at 3.

4 3 2 1
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 has not crash tested the 2025 Kia Sportage PHEV. Its New Car Assessment Program tests a selection of each year's vehicles and does not reach motorcycles, heavy trucks, motorhomes or most low-volume models, so an absence here says nothing about how the vehicle would perform. It is not a low score.

What owners have reported about this vehicle is below, and it is a different question: a crash test measures what happens to the people inside in a controlled impact, while a complaint records what broke during ordinary use.

Recall campaigns

1 on file

TRAILER HITCHES

25V874000 · December 17, 2025

The defect
Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2023-2025 Sportage Plug-In Hybrid Electric (PHEV) and 2024-2025 Sportage vehicles equipped with a 4.2" screen and a Genuine Kia tow hitch harness accessory. Due to a software error, the instrument panel screen may fail. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 101, "Controls and Displays."
The risk
An instrument panel screen that fails to display critical safety information, such as the speedometer or warning lights, can increase the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will replace the tow hitch harness control module, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed February 13, 2026. Owners may contact Kia Customer Service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC359. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov beginning December 31, 2025.

Kia America, Inc. · up to 5,046 vehicles across all model years covered

Compare

Other years of the Kia Sportage PHEV

Model year Complaints Recalls Deaths
2024 12 1 —
2023 15 2 —

Other 2025 Kia models

Carnival 122 Telluride 102 Sorento 73 Carnival Hybrid 58 EV6 53 K5 49 Sportage 49 K4 45

Complaints on file, same model year.

Every Kia on this site — 179 vehicles, 209 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. 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