Problems owners report
Complaints filed with NHTSA about the 2021 Kia Forte, by the system named in each complaint. One complaint can name several.
- Engine22
- Unknown or other18
- Steering9
- Electrical system8
- Power train7
- Air bags7
- Seat belts4
- Structure3
- Fuel/propulsion system3
- Tires3
NHTSA ODI complaints (public domain) · updated 23 Oct 2026 · 7 injuries and 0 deaths reported
Compared with other years
NHTSA ODI complaints by model year
Fatal crashes in the US
From 2020 to 2023, 85 2021 Forte vehicles were involved in crashes on US public roads in which someone died; 77 people died inside them, and 11 of the vehicles rolled over. This is a count, not a crash rate: it grows with the number of cars on the road.
NHTSA Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), crash years 2020–2023 (public domain)
New York safety inspections
At its first New York inspection the 2021 Kia Forte failed the safety check 1.60% of the time — 69% more often than the average 2021 passenger car (0.95%). Median odometer at inspection: 22,563 miles.
20,932first inspections
1.60%failed on safety
22,563 mimedian odometer
NY DMV Vehicle Inspections (vezn-fmmk), initial inspections since Aug 2021 · how we count
Crash-test ratings
NHTSA 5-star results for 1 variant; 0 of 1 rated variants score five stars overall. Rollover risk is the estimated chance of rolling over in a single-vehicle crash.
| Variant | Overall | Rollover risk |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 Kia Forte 4 DR FWD | ★★★★☆ | 10.7 % |
- Electronic stability control
- Standard
- Forward collision warning
- Optional
- Lane departure warning
- Standard
- Best overall rating
- 4 / 5
NHTSA New Car Assessment Program (5-Star Safety Ratings), api.nhtsa.gov · US federal work, public domain
Fuel consumption
Official Canadian test results for 6 variants: combined 6.9–8.8 L/100 km (about 27–34 mpg US), CO₂ 164–209 g/km.
| Variant | City | Highway | Combined |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forte · Mid-size · Regular gasoline | 7.8 | 5.9 | 6.9 |
| Forte 5 · Full-size · Regular gasoline | 8.0 | 6.0 | 7.1 |
| Forte · Mid-size · Regular gasoline | 8.6 | 6.4 | 7.6 |
| Forte · Mid-size · Regular gasoline | 8.7 | 6.6 | 7.8 |
| Forte 5 · Full-size · Regular gasoline | 8.9 | 6.9 | 8.0 |
| Forte 5 · Full-size · Regular gasoline | 9.9 | 7.6 | 8.8 |
Litres per 100 km. Natural Resources Canada, Fuel consumption ratings (open.canada.ca) · Open Government Licence – Canada
Recalls in Canada
2 Transport Canada recalls for the 2021 Kia Forte.
| 2025083 18 Feb 2025 | Engine Issue: On certain vehicles, the piston oil rings may not have been manufactured properly and could damage the cylinder walls. As a result, the engine could ma… |
| 2022238 6 May 2022 | Steering Issue: On a small number of vehicles, the bolt connecting the lower steering column universal joint may not have been properly tightened. If the bolt loosens,… |
Transport Canada Vehicle Recalls Database · Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada
Recalls
22V304000 · Steering5 May 2022 · 30 vehicles
Kia Motors America (Kia) is recalling certain 2021-2022 Rio and Forte vehicles. A bolt in the steering column may not be secured properly, which can cause the steering column to detach from the steering rack and result in a loss of steering control.
21V164000 · Air bags11 Mar 2021 · 142 vehicles
Kia Motors America (Kia) is recalling certain 2021 Telluride, K5, and Forte vehicles. The Occupant Classification and Detection System (OCS/ODS) unit may not detect the presence of a child restraint system in the front passenger seat. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) number 208, "Occupant Crash Protection."
Whether a recall was fixed on a particular car is known only to the manufacturer: check the VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
NHTSA recalls · summaries in NHTSA's own words
Service bulletins
What Kia told its dealers about the 2021 Kia Forte: known faults, fixes and updates.
| Bulletin | Summary |
|---|---|
| 11007859 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: FRONT STRUT BEARING & SPRING PAD REPLACEMENT - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides information to replace the front strut bearing and upper spring pad on both front (LH and RH) strut assemblies on certain 2019-2024MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced from July 09, 2018 through present, 2020-2024MY Soul (SK3) vehicles produced from November 15, 2018 through present, and 2021-2024 Seltos (SP2) vehicles produced from November 20, 2019 |
| 11005364 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: FRONT STRUT BEARING & SPRING PAD REPLACEMENT - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides information to replace the front strut bearing and upper spring pad on both front (LH and RH) strut assemblies on certain 2019-2024MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced from July 09, 2018 through present, 2020-2024MY Soul (SK3) vehicles produced from November 15, 2018 through present, and 2021-2024 Seltos (SP2) vehicles produced from November 20, 2019 |
| 11004930 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: IVT OIL PRESSURE SENSOR REPLACEMENT: This bulletin provides information to replace the Intelligent Variable Transmission (IVT) Oil Pressure Sensor (OPS) on some 2018-2024MY vehicles listed on page 3 equipped with IVT. The affected vehicles may exhibit a malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) illuminated on the instrument cluster with DTCs P084500, P084600, and/or P0867XX present with no drivability concerns due to a failed IVT oil pressure sensor. |
| 11001596 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: ANTI-THEFT S/W LOGIC UPGRADE & DECAL INSTALLATION (CS2305) - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides the procedure to upgrade the software logic of the Integrated Body Control Unit (IBU) or Body Control Module (BCM) system on certain 2014-2018MY Forte (YD), 2017-2018MY Forte (YDm), and 2019-2021MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced within the dates outlined in page 13, which may not be equipped with an immobilizer. |
| 11000787 | This bulletin provides information relating to the correct transmission fluid type and fill quantity requirement for each Kia model. A flush is required ONLY when a transmission is replaced. |
| 10250517 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: AVN 5.0 WIDE NON-RESPONSIVE RADIO ICON (AM, FM, SXM) - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides information to update the software on 5th Generation AVN wide on certain 2020-2024MY Kia vehicles (refer to model list on page 3) to remedy a 'non-responsive' or 'inoperative' radio (FM, AM, SXM, etc. ) concern. The affected AVN unit on the vehicles may not respond when pressing the 'RADIO' hard key/button on the AVN unit or when selecti |
| 10248691 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: FRONT STRUT BEARING & SPRING PAD REPLACEMENT - This bulletin provides information to replace the front strut bearing and upper spring pad on both front (LH and RH) strut assemblies on certain 2019-2024MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced from July 09, 2018 through present, 2020-2024MY Soul (SK3) vehicles produced from November 15, 2018 through present, and 2021-2024 Seltos (SP2) vehicles produced from November 20, 2019 through present. The affected vehicles may exhibit an intermittent noise when turning the steering wheel both when driving and when the vehicle is not in |
| 10245168 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: PARTIAL SEAT TRACK REPLACEMENT FOR INOPERATIVE FRONT SEAT - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides information to inspect and repair an inoperative front seat mechanism on some 2019-2024MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced from June 18, 2018 through Present and some 2018-2023MY Rio (SC) vehicles produced from January 2, 2017 through August 16, 2023. Symptoms of an inoperative front seat include the inability of the seat to move forwar |
| 10245167 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: ANTI-THEFT S/W LOGIC UPGRADE & DECAL INSTALLATION (CS2305) - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides the procedure to upgrade the software logic of the Integrated Body Control Unit (IBU) or Body Control Module (BCM) system on certain 2014-2018MY Forte (YD), 2017-2018MY Forte (YDm), and 2019-2021MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced within the dates outlined in page 13, which may not be equipped with an immobilizer. |
| 10244289 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: HVAC BLOWER MOTOR CONNECTOR REPLACEMENT - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides information to replace the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) blower motor connector on some 2019-2023MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced from July 09, 2018 through present, which may experience the air conditioning function inoperative. The blower motor connector pins may have poor pin tension. Poor pin tension occurs when the female pin |
| 10241848 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: AVN 5.0 WIDE NON-RESPONSIVE RADIO ICON (AM, FM, SXM) - This bulletin provides information to update the software on 5th Generation AVN wide on certain 2020-2023MY Kia vehicles to remedy a 'non-responsive' or 'inoperative' radio (FM, AM, SXM, etc.) concern. The affected AVN unit on the vehicles may not respond when pressing the 'RADIO' hard key/button on the AVN unit or when selecting the 'RADIO' icon on the AVN menu screen. Follow the procedure outlined in this publication to update the software on 5th Generation AVN wide units using |
| 10240758 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: SERVICE REMINDER SETTING RESET PROCEDURE - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides information regarding the service reminder setting, which may have been auto-set by the Kia Vehicle Inspection and Delivery application (KVID) at time of Pre-Delivery Inspection (PDI). Beginning with the 2023MY, Oil Life Monitoring (OLM) has been applied to all models, except Forte (BDm), Stinger (CK), Telluride (ON) and Soul (SK3). Refer to TSB ENG24 |
| 10240757 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: HVAC BLOWER MOTOR CONNECTOR REPLACEMENT - This bulletin provides information to replace the Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) blower motor connector on some 2019-2023MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced from July 09, 2018 through present, which may experience the air conditioning function inoperative. The blower motor connector pins may have poor pin tension. Poor pin tension occurs when the female pin is slightly open which will not allow for a proper electrical connection. While driving, the road conditions can cause the connector pin to slightly move |
| 10240737 | CUSTOMER SATISFACTION CAMPAIGN: OWNER RE-NOTIFICATION - This document is the owner re-notification advising that Kia has developed a software upgrade that can be installed on the vehicle to restrict the operation of the vehicle's ignition system should a locked vehicle be the subject of a break-in and theft attempt without the key. This software upgrade will be available to the customer free of charge for eighteen (18) months from the date of the original letter. When the software upgrade is complete, Kia will also provide the customer with window stickers that can be applied to the vehicle to |
| 10240563 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: KIA GENUINE REMOTE START CONTROL MODULE UPGRADE FOR ANTI-THEFT LOGIC COMPATIBILITY (CS2310) - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides information to update the software logic in the Kia Genuine Remote Start Control Module on certain 2012-2022MY model vehicles listed on page 7. Vehicles equipped with a Kia Genuine Remote Start feature and have had the Anti-Theft software logic (CS230*) applied to the Integrated |
| 10239715 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: ANTI-THEFT S/W LOGIC UPGRADE & DECAL INSTALLATION (CS2305) - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides the procedure to upgrade the software logic of the Integrated Body Control Unit (IBU) or Body Control Module (BCM) system on certain 2014-2018MY Forte (YD), 2017-2018MY Forte (YDm), and 2019-2021MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced within the dates outlined in page 13, which may not be equipped with an immobilizer |
| 10239108 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: KIA GENUINE REMOTE START CONTROL MODULE UPGRADE FOR ANTI-THEFT LOGIC COMPATIBILITY (CS2310) - This bulletin provides information to update the software logic in the Kia Genuine Remote Start Control Module on certain 2012-2022MY model vehicles listed on page 6. Vehicles equipped with a Kia Genuine Remote Start feature and have had the Anti-Theft software logic (CS230*) applied to the Integrated Body Control Unit (IBU) or Body Control Module (BCM) may experience five (5) inadvertent honks after starting the vehicle with the remote start feature. |
| 10238485 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: IVT SOFTWARE LOGIC IMPROVEMENT AND/OR IVT REPLACEMENT - This bulletin provides the procedure to update the Transmission Control Module (TCM) software logic and, if necessary, replace the Intelligent Variable Transmission (IVT) assembly on certain 2019-2021MY model vehicles listed in the chart below, which may exhibit an MIL ON with the DTC(s) listed below and a lack/delay in acceleration due to transmission slippage. |
| 10238483 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: LOOSE CRANKSHAFT PULLEY PARTIAL REPAIR - This bulletin provides information regarding a loose crankshaft pulley condition on certain 2020-2023MY Forte (BDm) vehicles equipped with a 1.6L T-GDI and 6-speed manual transmission, produced from May 15, 2019 through present, where excessive engine loads may cause the crankshaft pulley bolt to back out, causing the crankshaft pulley to come loose. If this condition occurs, a loose crankshaft pulley may cause the alignment dowel pin to shear and the crankshaft pulley to separate from the crankshaft. |
| 10237139 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: OVERHEAD CONSOLE SUNGLASS DOOR-LATCH REPAIR - This bulletin provides information to repair the overhead console lamp assembly and sunglass door latch on some 2012-2023MY model vehicles listed in the table below, which may encounter the sunglass case of the overhead console lamp not closing properly. |
| 10236651 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION ANTI-THEFT S/W LOGIC UPGRADE & DECAL INSTALLATION (CS2305) - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides the procedure to upgrade the software logic of the Integrated Body Control Unit (IBU) or Body Control Module (BCM) system on certain 2014-2018MY Forte (YD), 2017-2018MY Forte (YDm), and 2019-2021MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced within the dates outlined in page 13, which may not be equipped with an immobilizer. |
| 10235406 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: ANTI-THEFT S/W LOGIC UPGRADE & DECAL INSTALLATION (CS2305) - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This bulletin provides the procedure to upgrade the software logic of the Integrated Body Control Unit (IBU) or Body Control Module (BCM) system on certain 2014-2018MY Forte (YD), 2017-2018MY Forte (YDm), and 2019-2021MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced within the dates outlined in page 10, which may not be equipped with an immobilizer. |
| 10235104 | PIT STOP: LOG FILE COLLECTION FOR AVN 5.0/W AND DISPLAY AUDIO 2.0 - This bulletin has been revised to include additional information. New/revised sections of this bulletin are indicated by a black bar in the margin area. This Pitstop contains information regarding the log file collection procedure for 2020MY~ models equipped with AVN 5.0/W or Display Audio 2.0 head units. |
| 10235094 | CUSTOMER SATISFACTION CAMPAIGN: OWNER NOTIFICATION - This document is the owner notification advising that Kia has developed a software upgrade that can be installed on the vehicle to restrict the operation of the vehicle's ignition system should a locked vehicle be the subject of a break-in and theft attempt without the key. This software upgrade will be available to the customer free of charge for eighteen (18) months from the date of this letter. When the software upgrade is complete, Kia will also provide the customer with window stickers that can be applied to your vehicle to discourage a |
| 10234597 | TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: CUSTOMER SATISFACTION: ANTI-THEFT S/W LOGIC UPGRADE & DECAL INSTALLATION (CS2305) - This bulletin provides the procedure to upgrade the software logic of the Integrated Body Control Unit (IBU) or Body Control Module (BCM) system on certain 2014-2018MY Forte (YD), 2017-2018MY Forte (YDm), and 2019-2021MY Forte (BDm) vehicles produced within the dates outlined in page 10, which may not be equipped with an immobilizer. This logic upgrade will add anti-theft ignition start logic to the vehicle's system operation. |
NHTSA manufacturer communications (public domain)