Home · 2012 Kia Rio · Complaints
What 52 owners told NHTSA about the 2012 Kia Rio
These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.
1 of 52 complaints match · Speed control · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters
Mar 8, 2017Speed controlCrash1 injury
CAR ACCELERATED ON ITS OWN, RPM'S REVVING WHILE DRIVING DOWN A MAJOR HIGHWAY. COULD NOT GET CAR TO SLOW DOWN SO HAD TO STEER CAR INTO A CONCRETE BARRIER. PROBLEM EXISTED BEFORE THE ACCIDENT DOING THE SAME THING(RPM'S REVVING) IN PARK OR REVERSE OR ACCELERATING ON ITS OWN WITHOUT PUSHING THE GAS PEDAL. TOOK IN FOR REPAIR AND 4 DAYS LATER WAS IN THE ACCIDENT. KIA DEALERSHIP TELLING ME THAT THE PROBLEM CANNOT BE DUPLICATED WHILE DRIVING IT OR PERFORMING INSPECTION. ACCORDING TO THEIR RESULTS, CAR IS SAFE TO DRIVE. THE ACCELERATION PROBLEM OCCURRED RANDOMLY BEFORE THE ACCIDENT. I DO NOT FEEL SAFE TO GET BACK IN THE CAR AND DRIVE AGAIN.
NHTSA ODI 10959673
Working with the data? Download all 52 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 14, 2026
How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your
pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the
full 2012 Kia Rio verdict →