all vehicles · every Forte year · method

Kia Forte 2012

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

0.30 per 1,000

0.9 times this nameplate’s own median · from 23 complaints filed in the first three years, of 306 ever. 95% lower bound 0.18.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2010	0.34	23
2011	0.25	18
2012	0.30	23
2013	0.30	21
2014	0.84	57
2015	0.30	22
2016	0.35	32
2017	0.62	68
2018	0.31	34
2019	0.72	71
2020	0.21	19
2021	0.35	35
2022	0.12	14
2023	0.41	48

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Engine 174 complaints

knocking	43	25%
knock	27	16%
rod	27	16%
ticking	20	12%
theta	16	9%
knocking sound	13	8%

Service Brakes 52 complaints

repair yet	14	27%
yet exceeded	12	24%
confirms parts	11	22%
tool confirms	11	22%
confirms	11	22%
tool	11	22%

When it breaks

17% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 82,000 miles, from 193 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

4 investigations covering this model year, 2 of which list a recall campaign.

Hyundai and Kia ABS Module Fires

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

10455641 · 10480912 · 10489463 · 10490755 · 10490832 · 10504478

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.