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What 22 owners told NHTSA about the 2026 Kia Sportage Plug-in Hybrid

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.

All (22)Crash / fire / injury (4)Brakes (6)Electrical system (5)Body & structure (4)Driver assistance (4)Fuel system (3)Lane Departure (2)Steering (1)Visibility & wipers (1)

1 of 22 complaints match · Fuel system · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

Mar 16, 2026BrakesFuel systemDriver assistanceCrash

I was stopped in the left hand turn lane, then accelerated to cross 2 lanes of traffic. I then let off the accelerator, and applied the brakes to stop, and the brakes did not function. I then rear ended a vehicle in front of me due to the intermittent loss of brakes. It may have also been the propulsion system kept going. Either way the vehicle maintained the same speed of about 15mph until I collided with the vehicle in front of me which stopped me. The brakes worked fine again after the collision. There also was no Forward Collision Avoidance system that was triggered in any way. This vehicle is a Rental Car.

NHTSA ODI 11724621

Working with the data? Download all 22 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 19, 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 2026 Kia Sportage Plug-in Hybrid verdict →