Kia Motors America: Latches/Locks/Linkages › Trunk Lid › Latch
Kia Motors America reported this defect to federal regulators on Aug 9, 2021 and put the number of vehicles at risk at 253,074. The repair is free for as long as the recall stands.
The defect
Kia Motors America (Kia) is recalling certain 2016-2018 Forte 4-door, Forte Koup 2-door, and 2018-2019 Rio 4-door vehicles. The trunk latch may become damaged, preventing the opening of the trunk from the inside. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 401, "Internal Trunk Release."
The risk
A person inside the trunk compartment may become trapped, increasing their risk of injury.
The remedy
Dealers will replace the trunk latch assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on February 10, 2022. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC216.
5 model years covered
Newest first| Vehicle | Complaints | Recalls | Fires | Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Kia Rio | 22 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 2018 Kia Forte | 136 | 3 | 3 | 13 |
| 2018 Kia Rio | 28 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 2017 Kia Forte | 305 | 3 | 10 | 23 |
| 2016 Kia Forte | 136 | 1 | 6 | 16 |
What this page is, and what to do next
A recall is not an opinion. It is a Part 573 report a manufacturer is required by federal law to file once it decides a defect poses an unreasonable risk to safety, and it commits them to repairing the vehicle at no cost to the owner. The three passages above are the manufacturer’s own wording as published by NHTSA.
This page describes the campaign. It cannot tell you whether one particular car has already been through the shop — that is tracked by VIN, and only the manufacturer knows it. Check yours at nhtsa.gov/recalls or with a franchised dealer, quoting campaign number 21V622000.
Full record for the 2019 Kia Rio → · Recalls carrying a do-not-drive advisory → · Where this data comes from →