2012 Kia Rio problems
NHTSA has received 75 complaints about the 2012 Kia Rio, and 33% of them involve engine. After that come air bags (16%) and fuel system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 75 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 33% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 5 and 12
- Injuries and deaths
- 7 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 60,000 miles 51 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 | 15 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 8 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 3 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 5 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 8 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 7 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 2 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Among the 51 complaints that report mileage, the typical (median) problem appeared at about 60,000 miles. For engine specifically, the median reported mileage is about 97,000 miles (15 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 5 complaints mention a crash; 12 complaints mention a fire; 7 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 91% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2012 ranks 10th most-complained-about out of 20 model years of the Kia Rio with enough data (37 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.
We ran into a telephone poll at about 25 miles an hour and the air bags did not deploy and seat belts did not look, passenger hit the windshield with head and driver hit his chest into the steering wheel and hurt chest.
I was driving in the rain, going about 55-60 MPH, when all of a sudden the car in front of me slammed on its brakes and attempted to make a left turn (like they almost missed the street and tried to compensate last minute) I slammed on the breaks but could not stop in time and hit the car in front of me. The seatbelt didn't catch, nor did the airbag deploy, and my head hit the steering wheel, chin first.
Driving car at about 60 MPH and car began to smoke. Got out on side of highway lifted hood and everything was on fire. People assing by along with hero and fire dept made sure flames were put out . I never made any modification to vehicle and we keep it serviced. Feel like problems are with manufacture wiring. I have done insurance claim and contacted manufacture. The miles are aprox 102k
Brief loss of throttle control along with engine overspeed possibly due to dirty electrical contacts in connector at electronic throttle body -- restored proper operation via flushing of electrical contacts in connector with 100% isopropyl alcohol aerosol spray -- vehicle was being driven into a crowded parking lot at the time -- brakes were effective in keeping the speed under control -- had to shut engine off while in drive in order to keep it from overspeeding -- engine had been running and car had been in…