2003 Kia Sephia

Routine

Owners filed 2 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the engine and engine cooling › engine. No safety recall has been issued.

What fails
ComponentReportsCrashesFiresInjuries
Engine and Engine Cooling › Engine1
000
Air Bags › Frontal › Sensor/Control Module1
000

What owners reported

Newest filings
Air Bags › Frontal › Sensor/Control Module
Filed Dec 16, 200418,000 milesCA

WHILE DRIVING AT ANY SPEED THE ADVANCED AIR BAG WARNING LIGHT WILL INADVERTENTLY ILLUMINATE. THIS COULD CAUSE THE AIR BAGS TO BE INOPERATIVE. DEALERSHIP WA SAWARE OF THE PROBLEM, BUT DID NOT RESOLVE IT.

Engine and Engine Cooling › Engine
Filed Oct 30, 2002GA

CONSUMER STATED THAT WHILE DRIVING AT ANY SPEED AND WITHOUT WARNING THE VEHICLE WOULD PULL TO THE LEFT CAUSING IT TO BE HARD TO CONTROL THE VEHICLE. DEALER NOTIFIED TS

2 of 2 complaints, reproduced as filed.

Across model years

Worst on record: 1998
YearComplaintsRecallsFiresDeathsAssessment
2003 — this page2000Routine
20026000Routine
2001107021Fatalities reported
2000266130Above average
19994285420High concern
19984916160Above average
1997205152Fatalities reported
1996118141Fatalities reported
199564110Routine
199416100Routine

Compare every Sephia year →

Reading this record

No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.

Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.

Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.