10.0

really awful
Crashes / Fires:
3 / 5
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
15,306 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.

So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.

2013 Kia Rio miscellaneous problems

miscellaneous problem

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2013 Kia Rio Owner Comments

problem #17

Feb 152024

Rio

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

My 2013 KIA Rio began dying while I was driving it in mid January 2024. Approximately three weeks after this began occurring, my oil pressure sensor light started flickering when I would turn the corner. As soon as I got home, I checked the oil and it was empty. I had not previously experienced this and always kept up with the manufacturer-??s recommended maintenance schedule. The incidences of my car dying while driving have increased while I waited to get into the dealership to have it checked (it was a one week wait and there were no earlier appointments available. I took my car to Suntrup KIA South. Service Advisor Brian Richter texted me to ask if he could call me. During our phone conversation, he stated that this is a known issue with KIA vehicles excessively burning oil, which then causes the catalytic converter to clog and the engine to die. It is a fatal flaw and there is no fix other than to replace the engine, which I would have to pay for. He said KIA extended certain warranties, but mine was not one of them. The last time I drove my car before taking it to the dealership, I barely missed getting hit when my car stopped while turning a corner and there was a car behind me. I found information indicating that a class action lawsuit had previously been filed, but was dropped by the class with no details given as to the reason. I now have to buy a car because it will cost more to replace the engine than the car is worth. It only has 107,000 miles on it. I would appreciate any help or advice that you can offer. Thank you.

- St. Louis, MO, USA

problem #16

Jan 272024

Rio

  • miles
driver door lock has stopped responding to the key fob and the door no longer unlocks with the key. the key works, but only unlocks the other doors, even when used on the driver side. The driver side lock also does not respond to the inside buttons for unlocking the door. all three other doors work, but not the driver side. dealer was unable to fix.

- Dallas, TX, USA

problem #15

Jan 032021

Rio

  • miles
I received a letter from KIA corporation that they would voluntarily replace a part (the clockspring assembly) in the steering wheel shaft as the malfunction would impair the proper functioning of the air bags, in the letter they stated specifically that this would not cost me any money out pocket including the diagnostic, I took the car to one of their dealers and they refused to service my vehicle if I did not pay upfront. I called another of their dealers but they also said I would have to pay for the diagnostic. I then called corporate and also corresponded with them via email but they did not solve the problem. Ever since I have been involved in two separate collisions and the air bags did not deploy, also the horn stop functioning and after doing some online research I found out it also depends on the part that was supposed to be replaced to function, the steering wheel control such as cruise control etc. also stopped working. Corporate has not gotten back to me and I feel they are just going to let it die out and not do anything about it. Meanwhile I am driving the vehicle without air bags, horn and steering wheel controls. I have no choice because my family only owns this vehicle. Please let me know what I need to do to get help to get a solution for this issue/s. thank you. Note: At this moment I only have information related to one of the collisions but I could provide for the other if need be. Also, the car belongs to my wife (Maria De La Luz Alvarez) but I was the driver at both collisions as I am the primary driver in my family household.

- Fullerton, CA, USA

problem #14

Jul 282023

Rio

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Question answers in order: INCIDENT DATE/LOCATION: July 28, 2023 Glastonbury, CT 1. UNKNOWN which component or system failed/malfunctioned. Fire began under hood of vehicle. Vehicle is a total loss. Vehicle has been released to Copart in New Britain, CT. 2. The car caught on fire while I was inside. Escaped without injury. Burned in close proximity to other vehicles before they were moved. Glastonbury, CT 3. UNKNOWN if this problem was reproducible 4. The vehicle was inspected by the fire marshal, police, and insurance company. UNKNOWN if Kia assessed the damage. Police Case #2300020315 Glastonbury Police Department Glastonbury, CT 5. No check engine lights or warning indicators. Only symptom was a burning smell/smoke within a couple minutes before visible flames.

- Granby, CT, USA

problem #13

Mar 112023

Rio

  • miles
Engine caught fire, oil consumption, miss firing, knocking brought to dealer they found nothing wrong with it back in December 2022. Car stopped working on March 11,2023 had fire underneath police had vehicle towed to the house. Insurance company will be here Monday. Will also be contacting Kia dealer in alliance Ohio on Monday. The engine light was on and checked missing firing cylinder one

- Alliance, OH, USA

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problem #12

Jul 222022

Rio

  • miles
I was sitting behind a S.U.V. when it started to move i doubt if we were going 5 miles I slightly moved my steering wheel not even a half a turn to move straight behind the S.U.V. My car shot to the right jumped a curb, hit a pole, thru two trees down a hill and into a fence. when it was all said and done my car wouldn't stop, my airbag never deployed and my car was totaled. i kept asking if there was a way this car could be examined.the insurance company took the car.i had started having problems prior to this incident that started around the end of May. but before that the car ran pretty good and only had 52,000 miles.1st it wouldn't start after driving it for a while. you would have to wait a few minutes and it would restart. So my husband took it to our mechanic. he couldn't find anything wrong and it even passed inspection. About a week and a half later i am driving and the car just stopped while I am driving no power.I finally get it to start again.get it to a safer place and called AAA towing. they towed it to Kia. they replaced some type of sensor i believe it was a crank.it ran smooth but it still didn't feel right.it had a hard time pulling hills and the acceleration wasn't right. it kept losing acceleration like it was going to stop on me again then it would seem to kick back in. I had planned that Weekend to take it up to pep boys for diagnostics and take it back to Kia to see what was wrong with it. but I had the incident that friday. i uploaded a police report. and i do have repair, inspection & and tow bill if needed

- Penn Hills, PA, USA

problem #11

Jul 012022

Rio

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The door locks stop working. There are a ton of complaints on the internet of the same issue, the door locks will not work with the fob or with the key.

- Dallas, TX, USA

problem #10

Feb 012022

Rio

  • miles
I drove to a local store while my friend went shopping I remained in the vehicle and let it idle I proceeded to drive away to head home and the car started having idle and throttle malfunction to where there was no gas peddle response and eventually car died I barely got to a parking lot nearby restarted car and same symptoms occurred I was able to give it enough throttle to creep down the road i Had to keep restarting motor to get it to move at to which it finally wouldn-€™t move at all, prior it was leaking oil severely out the bottom what looked like near the oil filter, it now starts and dies immediately with no gas peddle response won-€™t even rev up to a idle

- St. Cloud , MN, USA

problem #9

Feb 132022

Rio

  • miles
My car started burning while I was driving. Luckily, I stoped and we (me and my wife) ran away from it.

- Madison, WI, USA

problem #8

Sep 072021

Rio

  • miles
We purchased a very low miles (42K) Kia from the dealer as a 2nd owner. In less than 6 months the car has serious safety issues. The vehicle shuts off and stalls while idling at stop lights, stop signs or slow traffic with no warning. All other powered components like radio, lights etc remain on and functioning. The car is hard to start after the vehicle shuts off and has stalled and takes multiple tries to turn over. When accelerating the vehicle will randomly not respond at all to the gas pedal, will not increase speed, RPM will not move and the car will not respond. When the car does accelerate, it will sputter and rpm will increase dramatically. This is very dangerous to those driving and those on the road. If the vehicle does not respond to acceleration the risk to the driver and occupants is serious. There could be an accident from oncoming traffic both rear and from behind. There is great life threatening risk. Local mechanic stated the car throws no codes when diagnosed, and there is no check engine light on. Kia knows their vehicles have this issue and has recalled many other models in the same years. There are multiple identical NHTSA.GOV complaints noting identical vehicle problems. The problem is not able to be found with diagnostic. The KIA RIO should be recalled and repaired immediately. The car was sold with serious safety issues. There was a class action even that did not proceed that alleges the gamma engines cause sudden stalling, excessive oil consumption, engine failures and fires in the vehicles.

- Garfield, NJ, USA

problem #7

Jul 062021

Rio

  • miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

Car was stolen due to defective alarm system. I feel every one should know that Kia doesn-€™t care enough to protect its customers with a full alarm system on the car. Thieves stole my and others cars by breaking the passenger window and climbing in and starting the car with a usb stick. What in the world is that ? Like how does your alarm not sound when a window is broken if the alarm is working

- Mail , WI, USA

problem #6

Jun 202020

Rio 4-cyl

  • 11 miles
The clock spring light came on the car is now having issues with the steering. I was told by Kia dealership that this is a known problem for my car and that it needs to be replaced due to safety of driving since it effects the airbag. If it get stopped I can get a ticket for the light being on.

- Norcross, GA, USA

problem #5

Jan 102020

Rio

  • 120,996 miles
On the morning of January 10th around 8am I had to take my pet to the veterinarian. I pulled into the entrance and was going to park my car in front of the building which has parking spaces right in front of the office. As I was pulling into a parking space with my foot on the brake almost at a complete stop when the car suddenly accelerated at a high rate of speed causing me to crash into a building. It happened in a split second and no time to respond. I never have experienced such power in this car as when this happened. For whatever reason, the vehicle just shot out like a bullet. No police report was filed due to no one was hurt or involved in the accident.

- Riverside, CA, USA

problem #4

Jun 242018

Rio

  • 61,000 miles
Rattling can be heard from under the hood inside the cabin

- Redding, CA, USA

problem #3

May 202017

Rio

  • 50,000 miles
I was driving on the highway at 70mph with one other person in the vehicle, when there was a combination of whirring, clicking, and banging sounds from the engine. As we pulled off on the exit it sounded as if parts were falling out from under the car, but when we looked in the rear view mirror there was no debris on the road. When we pulled into the rest area and parked the car to check it out and begin the process of getting a tow truck before the car had us stranded and broke down, smoke began omitting from the hood and it got thicker and flames began coming out from under the hood mainly on the left side of the car until it had spread to both sides and began traveling into the cabin of the car. Car was in good shape, with only a need for an oil change when the problem and fire began. Fire crews arrived and put out the fire. Engine light did turn on and and start blinking as we got on the exit ramp. Car was turned off at the time the smoke and fire began. Most of the damage sustained was on the drives side of the cabin and all of the front of the car and engine area. While we understand this could be something unrelated to a manufacturer default, we want to be sure that we take the correct steps since a car that was only 3 years old did burst into flames.

- Columbia, SC, USA

problem #2

Sep 162016

Rio

  • 28,200 miles
Just bought a 2013 Rio with 28,000 miles on it on 9/2/16. The car sat in our driveway all last week because we were on vacation, so we maybe put 100 miles on it and drove it 4 times. Drove 20 minutes round trip to the post office yesterday, parked in driveway and went back into house to work. Wife came home from work about 10 minutes later and came running in the house saying the new car is on fire. Called 911 and before fire department was able to get there, the flames were as high as our second floor windows. Car was parked about 10-15 feet away from house, but the heat damaged part of our house as well. I have contacted insurance, but I really feel this is a Kia issue / problem, and we really should not have to use insurance to replace the car. This car is still under manufacture warranty, and they need to be held accountable. Then last night after the tow company came, we started researching this and have found many, many 2012-2014 Kia's doing this. I logged a complaint on your Kia's website, but have not got a response back yet, and yes, I feel I should get a response over the weekend. Our car burst into flames, damaged part of our house from the heat, and it could of been much worse, especially if I parked the car in the garage yesterday. Would really like to hear from Kia, or other owners that have had this problem. It seems that with all of the google hits about Kia's catching fire, there should have been a recall on any of the models that have had this problem, and get them either fixed, or off of the road, at Kia's expense.

- Hermitage, TN, USA

problem #1

Mar 182014

Rio

  • miles
I have a couple issues with my 2013 Kia Rio. The first issue is acceleration. Around the 30,000 mi mark, I took my car to have the recommended service which included an induction svc. Since then my car has not had the same good acceleration ability it had when I purchased the car. I've taken the car to two dealerships and have been told that this is just normal wear on the car. The second is something with the starter, battery, alternator, etc. I use the word "something" because no one has been able to pinpoint what is the problem. I bought a new battery on May 18, 2015. Post that battery purchase, the car did not start on June 27, 2015 (I had to get a jump). This no crank was post a battery, starter and alternator check by the dealership on May 23, 2015. By the way, the tests all came back finding no fault. I had two more no crank situations on July 19 and August 2, 2015. I've taken it back to the dealership after July 19 and have been told by Kia that this will happen when it's hot. I don't believe them because I bought the car in the hell of St. Louis, mo summer at 55 miles in 2012 and did not have this recurrent problem until recently.

- Saint Louis, MO, USA

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