1997 Kia Sportage problems
The 1997 Kia Sportage has 299 complaints on file with NHTSA. The largest share (19%) concerns engine. Next are air bags (13%) and cruise control (8%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 299 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Engine 19% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 50 and 6
- Injuries and deaths
- 46 and 1
- Typical mileage
- 97,000 miles 31 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 | 0 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 2 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 5 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 6 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 3 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 11 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 1 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 0 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 3 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 0 |
| 200k+ miles | 0 |
What the data shows
Of the 31 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 97,000 miles.
Safety-related details: 50 complaints mention a crash; 6 complaints mention a fire; 46 injuries reported; 1 death reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 90% 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 1997 ranks 7th most-complained-about out of 30 model years of the Kia Sportage with enough data (206 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.
While driving about 45 MPH vehicle was involved in a collision. The airbag did not deploy , and the restraints failed to lock up upon impact. The manufacturer has been notified.
While driving at 10-15 MPH, front of the vehicle was hit and none of the air bags deployed. Contacted dealer. Consumer adds the brakes failed. The transmission failed. Experiencing problems with the accelerator.
Dt: driver's side air bag deployed while consumer was driving in reverse backing from a driveway at low speed. There was no crash or impact. This happened without any warning. No lights illuminated or warning signals. The car had been parked in a shaded area for about an hour when this occurred. Consumer's husband drove vehicle home after the incident. Have not taken this to a dealer for this issue, vehicle was parked afterwards and has not been driven since. No explanation or clue as to why this happened.
The design of the protective shield for the fuel tank allowed sand and pebbles to accumulate to the extent that I started noticing fuel vapors. The vehicle is housed in a garage, so I raised a window to help dissipate the vapors. In a few days, fuel was dripping from the leaks in the tank. I applied a putty product in june, 2006, which helped for several months. Then it started again. I re-applied putty in august, 2007. Then again in july, 2008, with two different (permanent?) products that have not worked, yet.