2021 Kia Seltos Electrical System
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
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Odometer Fraud. The contact stated that the used car dealer had provided a 2021 Kia Seltos loaner vehicle to the contact while the contact's vehicle was being serviced. The contact stated that the loaner vehicle was returned to the used car dealer for service with an odometer reading of 111,000 miles; however, after the loaner vehicle was returned to the contact, the odometer reading was 69,014. The VIN was not available.
3 Teenagers were able to break a window, enter the car, Start the car without use of a key, and drive the vehicle. Rear Windows breaking do not trigger anti-theft alarm. Car is able to be started with out use of the key. Car is able to be driven with out use of a key. Was able to catch the incident of film and it took only 5 minutes for it to be stolen.
My car was stolen 4 times due to KIA not installing an immobilizer into my car. My Window was broken all 4 times to get to the car and never did my car alarm sound during this time.
1. October 2022 started noticing when stopped for 15+ sec. electrical dash/and screen completely restart when transmission would come back on from being in off position. Happened also while releasing seat belt. 2. Horn would malfunction and go to voice command when pressed or not work at all. Very intermittent. 3. Gears not shifting smoothly, car is jolty, not accelerating well, and getting a slight grinding feeling, running rough, missing shifts or not shifting until it revs high. *no warning indicators have illuminated. My dealer suggested doing an "software update" which did not correct the problem and they are unresponsive otherwise. I have had vehicle in 3 times and each time they just weren't prepared or had no plan to remedy. The problem has been confirmed by the dealer and I have also take a video of the issue. It is available for inspection. Safety is a concern considering the electrical issue plus the seat belt and horn. Unsure if the electrical system is reliable during a crash and if my safety belt and airbags are effected.
2021 Kia Seltos ~50,000 miles. My horn doesn't work. I live in Tampa, so definitely need a horn. Also my infotainment center is trash. It works perfect about 30% of the time. The other 70%. Oh well where do I start? It will completely freeze, the screen turns black, when I get a call in, oh boy that's a showdown. It'll freeze, then I have to grab my phone, and answer it. Can't even use the BT (Bluetooth) in the car, I've used both Android Auto, and Carplay. It doesn't matter it's still terrible. It's unresponsive to touch about 90% of the time. Absolute trash. I've only had this car for a few months (I'm the second owner), and I can see why that last owners got rid of it. I've had nothing but issues out of this car. If I wasnt screwed by the dealership and payed 20k more than it was worth, I would have done traded the stupid thing in. I'm honestly thinking about trading it in to a Tesla, and just transfer all the negative equity over. Yea it'll cost an arm and a leg, but atleast I'd have something I'd like.
The contact owns a 2021 Kia Seltos. The contact stated while driving 60 MPH, the horn was inoperable and inaudible. The contact indicated that the failure was discovered while driving on the freeway when a commercial vehicle drove into the contact’s lane and the contact was unable to alert the driver. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 42,000.
For the second time in the past month the car would not start. Appears to be due to a dead battery however the dealership has been unable to locate a problem. Looking online and it appears to be a issue that Kia is aware of but not owning up to. This is my wife's car and should she get stranded her personal safety could be at risk. The dealership did admit that there could be something like an electrical component that stays on and is causing the drain but they said it could take a long time to find it or they might never find it. The car has only 8700 miles on it. We recently saw a recall on other kias that are catching fire. Could this be a similar component that is draining our car battery?
The entire electrical system (display, gauges, exterior lights, etc.) resets while driving. This may be a one off or may happen several times in a few minutes. The engine never stops running, which is good as this happened in the interstate. In the dark, this could be dangerous as the headlights and taillights go out for a moment. I am not aware if this is easily replicated or if this poses issues to other systems.
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Quick Summary
The 2021 Kia Seltos has 8 Electrical System complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.