2010 Kia Forte problems
Owners have filed 317 complaints with NHTSA about the 2010 Kia Forte. Engine is the most reported problem area, at 26% of complaints. Next are air bags (13%) and tires (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 317 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 26% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 35 and 4
- Injuries and deaths
- 21 and 3
- Typical mileage
- 70,000 miles 218 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 31 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 33 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 28 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 30 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 34 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 21 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 15 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 8 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 4 |
| 200k+ miles | 6 |
What the data shows
Of the 218 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 70,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 95,000 miles (51 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 35 complaints mention a crash; 4 complaints mention a fire; 21 injuries reported; 3 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2010 ranks 5th most-complained-about out of 15 model years of the Kia Forte with enough data (130 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
The 2010 kia was traveling on a rural state highway with at a speed that has not been determined yet. When coming over a hill the car leaves the right side of road way, the driver over corrects spinning the car, it travels 180-200'feet backwards, leaves the road way snd side impact a tree. My 14'year old was wearing a safety device at the time she was on the right passenger side which is where the impact occurred she was found . She was pronouned at the scene .
The tire deflate rapidly when driving at 70MPH on freeway. When in the tire shop technician reveled there was no puncture but the stem was missing. After removing the tire the stem was found inside the tire with visible corrosion signs. By inspecting the rest of the stem, was found that all three stem supporting nuts have traces of corrosion but one of them on the passenger front wheel the nut was cracked. We concluded as cause of the problem was the crack in the nut that secure the stem in position.
I was driving through a reduced speed zone of 35 MPH and went to set my cruise control, about 3-5 seconds later I felt the car go dead. I lost power steering and all electrical systems. My indicator lights were on and flickering and I had no control over the vehicle other than waning off to the side of the road to get out of the way of traffic. Once my car came to a stop I proceeded to turn off the ignition. I tried starting it and the engine turned a couple of times but went dead so I turned it off.