Kia Forte

Which Kia Forte years should you avoid?

Going by 2,563 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, the Kia Forte years to avoid are 2014 and 2017.

• 2014444 complaints, 3.0× a typical Forte year, most often about the engine.
• 2017305 complaints, 2.0× a typical Forte year, most often about the engine.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2021 and 2020 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

How this is worked out: each year is compared with a typical year of the same model, which takes most of the difference in sales out of it, and its share of serious failures is compared with every other car of the same model year, because older cars were complained about differently. A year needs 25 complaints to be judged at all. Complaints are unverified owner reports. Full method →