Kia Niro

Owners filed 350 complaints across 10 model years of the Kia Niro. The 2017 drew the most (82).

Model years10
Complaints350
Recalls15
Fires10
Deaths1

Which Kia Niro years should you avoid?

No Kia Niro year stands out. Across the 6 model years old enough to judge, none drew twice the complaints of a typical year (about 50), and none shows an unusual share of fires, crashes or deaths for its age.

Better bets: among years old enough for a low count to mean something, the 2022 drew the fewest complaints without an unusual share of serious ones.

Too new to judge: 2025 and 2026. Complaints take a few years to arrive, so a new model year looks better than it is.

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 →

Every Kia Niro model year compared

Complaints per year
YearComplaintsRelative volumeRecallsFiresCrashesMost reportedStatus
2026Too new2
0—1Air BagsRoutine
2025Too new17
1—2Unknown or OtherRoutine
202410
1—3Electrical SystemRoutine
202344
2—8Unknown or OtherRoutine
202231
1—5Service BrakesRoutine
20219
1—1Power TrainRoutine
202039
132EngineRoutine
201956
124Power TrainFatalities reported
201860
3—5Power TrainRoutine
201782
454EngineRoutine

Data: NHTSA complaint and recall files, October 2026. Complaints are unverified owner reports.