2001 Kia Sephia problems
NHTSA has received 158 complaints about the 2001 Kia Sephia, and 16% of them involve engine. Next are air bags (13%) and electrical system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 158 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 17% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 31 and 3
- Injuries and deaths
- 33 and 3
- Typical mileage
- 18,000 miles 37 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 | 21 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 4 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 3 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 3 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 3 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 1 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 2 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 0 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 37 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 18,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 31 complaints mention a crash; 3 complaints mention a fire; 33 injuries reported; 3 deaths reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 95% 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 2001 ranks 5th most-complained-about out of 8 model years of the Kia Sephia with enough data (140 complaints in that window).
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 march 28, 2009, my daughter was a passenger in a 2001 kia sephia that lost control in the rain doing about 50 MPH, went down an embankment & ravine on its side, started to overturn, when it slammed into a tree. The roof on this car then collapsed onto my daughters head causing such severe head trauma and swelling in her brain, along with many many other injuries that she did not survive the crash. Why did this happen? The airbags did not deploy! ! !
The vehicle brake and gas pedal are too close together. Consumer applied brakes, but their foot hit the gas pedal also, which caused an accident. Please provide more details. Ph
Vehicle repeatedly stalls. Taken to the dealtership several times ,and told that the problem did not occur when they had the vehicle; therefore, they are unable to fix. Dealership acted as if they never heard of this problem when I see now that this is a common problem. Vehicle is only used to drive in area - mostly taking 2 of my 3 young children to school.