2019 Kia Niro problems
NHTSA has received 87 complaints about the 2019 Kia Niro, and 25% of them involve drivetrain & axles. Next are engine (16%) and electrical system (15%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 87 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Drivetrain & axles 25% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 6 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 5 and 2
- Typical mileage
- 45,000 miles 26 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 | 7 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 6 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 1 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 3 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 3 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 3 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 1 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 26 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 45,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 6 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 5 injuries reported; 2 deaths reported.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2019 ranks 2nd most-complained-about out of 7 model years of the Kia Niro with enough data (64 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 1 safety recall campaign.
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.
On December 17, 2022, we were stopped at a traffic light with an Accurate behind us. A Chevy Silverado Truck, driven by a drunk driver, at a high rate of speed, rear ended the car behind us and sent that car into our rear end. The impact was so forceful it blew out all our windows and tires. the truck went airborne, landed on its side and then spun into the drivers side front end. We the spun and hit the Accra on our front passenger side.The man in the car behind us died before paramedics arrived.
I was in a car accident (I t-boned a guy that ran a red light in front of me) at about 20 mph but no airbags deployed. My car is a total loss and I have a concussion from hitting my head on the window plus contusions along the path of the seatbelt. I suspect something could be wrong with the airbags considering they failed to deploy despite a collision that totaled the car. I wonder if I might not have got a concussion had they deployed.
I bought my 2019 car on december 2020. When the car is stopped, and I start forward, the car jerks and make a loud noise. This happens to me randomly, but once very 15 stops in average, about once every 2 days. I went to an online forum of kia owners and it seems that the problem comes from the wrong transmission fluid being put into the car during production.
When we are stopped at a traffic light the forward collision avoidance alarm beeps/chirps a warning. Our vehicle is stopped, not moving at all. The car in front of us, or next to us is also stopped, not moving. Out of nowhere, the collision avoidance light beeps causing us to be concerned that we might get into a collision. It typically happens when the car in front of us is a tesla, mercedes or other high end car, but also occurs when the car in front of us is not a typical high end brand.