2023 Kia Rio Problems & Owner Complaints
Age-normalised, this year draws ~3.0 complaints per year on the road — ranking 8 of 14 Kia Rio years we track (1 = most complaints per year).
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What owners report
Engine is the most-reported problem area on the 2023 Kia Rio, cited in 3 of 12 filed complaints (25%).
Steering is next (3 complaints, 25%), followed by Electrical System (2), Power Train (2), Suspension (2).
No complaint for this vehicle reports a crash, fire, injury or death.
Complaints by vehicle system
Owner complaints filed with the U.S. NHTSA for the 2023 Kia Rio, grouped by the vehicle system each cites. A single complaint can name more than one system, so the group totals can add up to more than 12.
Unknown Or Other 5
“Paint peeling. Took a month to have the dealer /warranty repair the roof in July 2025. Then in Sept 2025 have 2 more areas doing the same thing. Reached back out to dealer end of Sept then mid Oct following up find out service person is gone, start over with new service person, follow up early Nov, again mid Nov and find out that service person is gone. Contact manager and he wants us to start over again with him. Need to send car out for quotes to give to warranty even though this has already been repaired once and we were told this is a known issue. Now trying to go through a Kia dealer that…”
NHTSA complaint #11699195, 2025
“I’ve been hearing this rattle noise mostly when I crank the vehicle. I took it to go get checked out and they heard it when I first brought it in for them to check. But when they got it to the back for mechanic to listen for it, of course it didn’t do it. They kept my car a whole day to try n find the issue/hear the noise and was unsuccessful. I’ve been told that it could possibly have something to do with the car timing or something with the engine. My car only has 34000 miles on it and it’s making this noise. They won’t approve me to trade it in or anything to help fix the problem or get me…”
NHTSA complaint #11679724, 2025
“Hi [XXX] My Kia Rio 2023 S vin number is [XXX] . Bought a couple months back new at Summit Place Kia Auburn Hills michigan. Once I drive off I realised the steering wheel alignment is off. The car does not drive straight when steering wheel is straight. I called my salesman and he asked me to bring it in for servicing at Summit Place. They did a wheel alignment there and found misalignment at factory condition. A few months later the same issue got worse and was noticeable again when driving. I called my salesman and he told me bringing it into service will incur a service charge as this i…”
NHTSA complaint #11563553, 2023
Engine 3
“I’ve been hearing this rattle noise mostly when I crank the vehicle. I took it to go get checked out and they heard it when I first brought it in for them to check. But when they got it to the back for mechanic to listen for it, of course it didn’t do it. They kept my car a whole day to try n find the issue/hear the noise and was unsuccessful. I’ve been told that it could possibly have something to do with the car timing or something with the engine. My car only has 34000 miles on it and it’s making this noise. They won’t approve me to trade it in or anything to help fix the problem or get me…”
NHTSA complaint #11679724, 2025
“The contact owns a 2023 Kia Rio. The contact stated that while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle lost motive power. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact pulled over to the side of the road and restarted the vehicle; however, the failure persisted. The vehicle restarted; however, the transmission failed to shift into gear. The vehicle was towed to the residence. The following day the contact was able to start the vehicle and the vehicle was taken to the dealer to be diagnosed. The dealer found no failure with the vehicle. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified…”
NHTSA complaint #11626919, 2024
“When I started my car, during the warm-up process, it dropped revs and turned off. After several tries, it turned on. While driving, when the vehicle was stopped, it began to jerk slightly. The safety risk is that the car, while I am driving, could turn off and cause an accident, in which people could be at risk, including me. I wouldn't want this to escalate because the dealer doesn't take action on the matter. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to evaluate the condition, they say that the technicians did not find anything, that the car did not emit any codes. And therefore they couldn't do…”
NHTSA complaint #11584683, 2024
Steering 3
“The vehicle has difficulty following a center line, higher than normal steering wheel input is required. Feels like the vehicle is being driven in strong crosswinds at any speed above 55 MPH. The vehicle is very, very difficult to keep centered when crosswinds are present. The steering wheel input feels sticky and not smooth at any speed above 40 MPH. A 4-wheel alignment revealed a 0.3 degree of toe mis-adjustment on the RR wheel, no adjustment settings are present. Remaining wheels were within specs. No adjustment for the electronic steering assist. Additionally, the vehicle is equipp…”
NHTSA complaint #11652873, 2025
“Hi [XXX] I just collected my Kia Rio from service at LaFontaine. On driving in the freeway I noticed I had to make frequent adjustments to the steering when going straight and there was oversteering (minor tilt of the steering wheel result in exaggerated larger turn of the car). This does not happen when driving at lower speed outside of the freeway. I will monitor this as I am not sure if this was because I was switching between cars and/or that particular stretch of road is slippery. According to the technicians the alignment is back to spec so I will let you know if this issue persists…”
NHTSA complaint #11566798, 2024
“Hi [XXX] My Kia Rio 2023 S vin number is [XXX] . Bought a couple months back new at Summit Place Kia Auburn Hills michigan. Once I drive off I realised the steering wheel alignment is off. The car does not drive straight when steering wheel is straight. I called my salesman and he asked me to bring it in for servicing at Summit Place. They did a wheel alignment there and found misalignment at factory condition. A few months later the same issue got worse and was noticeable again when driving. I called my salesman and he told me bringing it into service will incur a service charge as this i…”
NHTSA complaint #11563553, 2023
Electrical System 2
“When I started my car, during the warm-up process, it dropped revs and turned off. After several tries, it turned on. While driving, when the vehicle was stopped, it began to jerk slightly. The safety risk is that the car, while I am driving, could turn off and cause an accident, in which people could be at risk, including me. I wouldn't want this to escalate because the dealer doesn't take action on the matter. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to evaluate the condition, they say that the technicians did not find anything, that the car did not emit any codes. And therefore they couldn't do…”
NHTSA complaint #11584683, 2024
“I bought a new 2023 Kia Rio on Mar. 13. Within 30 hours of getting it home it was entered by thieves who wrecked the ignition system trying to steal it. The dealer did not inform me of the great danger of theft of Kia models like mine. They did not urge me to get an anti-theft device. I didn't know of this rampant Kia theft problem or would not have bought the car. Not only that, they say they cannot fix it (for perhaps 2 months). All the area Kia dealers are "overwhelmed" with Kias that have suffered theft or theft-related destruction. They can't get parts. They won't allow the car to be towe…”
NHTSA complaint #11512102, 2023
Power Train 2
“When I started my car, during the warm-up process, it dropped revs and turned off. After several tries, it turned on. While driving, when the vehicle was stopped, it began to jerk slightly. The safety risk is that the car, while I am driving, could turn off and cause an accident, in which people could be at risk, including me. I wouldn't want this to escalate because the dealer doesn't take action on the matter. The vehicle was taken to the dealer to evaluate the condition, they say that the technicians did not find anything, that the car did not emit any codes. And therefore they couldn't do…”
NHTSA complaint #11584683, 2024
“I was driving around 10mph when I noticed that the transmission would not shift at all. The RPM would only increase but the car does not accelerate. Kia dealership confirmed that the transmission is dead.”
NHTSA complaint #11537433, 2023
Suspension 2
“Hi [XXX] I just collected my Kia Rio from service at LaFontaine. On driving in the freeway I noticed I had to make frequent adjustments to the steering when going straight and there was oversteering (minor tilt of the steering wheel result in exaggerated larger turn of the car). This does not happen when driving at lower speed outside of the freeway. I will monitor this as I am not sure if this was because I was switching between cars and/or that particular stretch of road is slippery. According to the technicians the alignment is back to spec so I will let you know if this issue persists…”
NHTSA complaint #11566798, 2024
“Hi [XXX] My Kia Rio 2023 S vin number is [XXX] . Bought a couple months back new at Summit Place Kia Auburn Hills michigan. Once I drive off I realised the steering wheel alignment is off. The car does not drive straight when steering wheel is straight. I called my salesman and he asked me to bring it in for servicing at Summit Place. They did a wheel alignment there and found misalignment at factory condition. A few months later the same issue got worse and was noticeable again when driving. I called my salesman and he told me bringing it into service will incur a service charge as this i…”
NHTSA complaint #11563553, 2023
Seat Belts 1
“The contact owns a 2023 Kia Rio. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, he became aware that the vehicle failed to sound a seat belt warning chime to indicate that the passenger’s side seat belt was not buckled. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer or an independent mechanic. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.”
NHTSA complaint #11559707, 2023
Structure 1
“While driving at 71 mph with cruise control and the doors locked, the drivers seat door unlocked and opened. The open door warning light came on on the dashboard. It is available for inspection. It has not been inspected yet at this time. My safety was put in danger as I had to close the door as wind was entering the vehicle. It has only happened once about two weeks ago.”
NHTSA complaint #11518382, 2023
Wheels 1
“Hi [XXX] I just collected my Kia Rio from service at LaFontaine. On driving in the freeway I noticed I had to make frequent adjustments to the steering when going straight and there was oversteering (minor tilt of the steering wheel result in exaggerated larger turn of the car). This does not happen when driving at lower speed outside of the freeway. I will monitor this as I am not sure if this was because I was switching between cars and/or that particular stretch of road is slippery. According to the technicians the alignment is back to spec so I will let you know if this issue persists…”
NHTSA complaint #11566798, 2024
How we read this (methodology)
How to read this: raw complaint totals are not a clean reliability score — a model year with more cars sold, or simply more years on the road, accumulates more complaints regardless of how good it is. So this page leans on two signals that are not distorted by sales volume: the share of complaints falling on each vehicle system (the breakdown above) and NHTSA's own crash / fire / injury / death flags. When we compare model years of the same model, we normalise by years on the road (complaints ÷ vehicle age) rather than comparing raw totals. Age-normalised, the 2023 Kia Rio draws about 3.0 complaints per year on the road, ranking 8 of 14 among the Kia Rio model years we have ingested (1 = most complaints per year on road).
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Related
Data source: U.S. NHTSA (nhtsa.gov). SaveVIN surfaces public recall data and is not affiliated with or endorsed by NHTSA.