Was driving and car lost power and shut off while in traffic car would not restart
2016 Kia Forte
Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations
Similar to other model years
Owner complaints for the 2016 Kia Forte do not stand out strongly from the model-year median of 141.5.
About this comparison →How this year compares
Owner complaints by model year
Compare all Forte years →Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.
What owners reported most
All reported categories
Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.
When problems were reported
Mileage at the reported incident
60 reports with mileage · 75 unknown
NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.
What to inspect
Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.
- Engine. Review the 66 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Electrical System. Review the 21 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Power Train. Review the 16 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.
What owners actually said
135 reportsWednesday night I departed work, I was in the 4th lane of the 10Fwy when my car shut down. All dashboard lights came on. I turned on my 4ways and managed to change lanes to the service Lane on the right. I attempted to restart the vehicle..nothing. I started looking through my insurance papers for the tow service and thought to …
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Wednesday night I departed work, I was in the 4th lane of the 10Fwy when my car shut down. All dashboard lights came on. I turned on my 4ways and managed to change lanes to the service Lane on the right. I attempted to restart the vehicle..nothing. I started looking through my insurance papers for the tow service and thought to try and restart the vehicle one last time. It started I departed the freeway and used the streets instead of the fwy to make it home. The next morning I drove the car to AutoZone for spark plugs and a diagnostic check. The clerk printed it out and it said no issues. I drove back to the house and as I was pulling into my driveway it shut down again, no clicking sounds this time. Friday I had it towed to pepboys. They were replacing faulty shocks that were under warranty new brakes and rotors all the way around and a full oil change all items were inside the vehicle I pretty much only had to pay for maintenance except for the faulty shocks the manager called me as I was on my way to work. My engine is blown. I saw my engine check light come on Wednesday night when the car stalled no oil light ever came on in the car except when you initially started and then it disappeared. My complaint is why wasn't I notified by the vehicle that there was no oil in the pan that's the whole purpose of the oil light indicator. Now am stuck with a 3500.00 engine repair bill which was the cheapest I found online for a used 1.8 liter engine. I want my dashboards computer checked. I have the AutoZone diagnostic paper the attendant gave me.
I have a 2016 KIA Forte that I bought 6 months ago. I'm a subsequent owner. The dealership where we brought it from told me that it's in good condition. My partner was driving it when it started making knocking noises and would not accelerate past 20 mph. The engine failure happened 5 months of using it (the car only has 92000 m…
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I have a 2016 KIA Forte that I bought 6 months ago. I'm a subsequent owner. The dealership where we brought it from told me that it's in good condition. My partner was driving it when it started making knocking noises and would not accelerate past 20 mph. The engine failure happened 5 months of using it (the car only has 92000 miles). I had a mechanic came to check it, even changed the oil again to see if the problem is in connection with the oil. We never had the oil light prior to the knocking noises, not even the engine light. The engine light only came on with the knocking noises. It was completely out of nowhere. Changing the oil did not solve the issue at all. My mechanic found metallic shards in the oil and was also just as confused as we were. He said that it's possible that the connecting rods under the engine have been worn out. My mechanic said that it could've blown up, and thankfully, my partner and his friend were not harmed when the incident happened. There were no recalls regarding my car. I wasn't informed of the KSDS update either because I'm a second owner. We're still paying for it and its insurance even when we cannot use it.
On May 25th 2023 I was driving on the highway when I experienced extreme loss of power and the infotainment screen displayed "possible engine condition". Considering I was driving 70 mph on the highway it was super dangerous because there were several 18 wheelers driving on the highway alongside me it could have been deadly for …
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On May 25th 2023 I was driving on the highway when I experienced extreme loss of power and the infotainment screen displayed "possible engine condition". Considering I was driving 70 mph on the highway it was super dangerous because there were several 18 wheelers driving on the highway alongside me it could have been deadly for many of us. Thankfully I was able to get to the shoulder to assess the situation. I have been unable to get my vehicle to a dealership since I was traveling and had to leave my vehicle 150 mi from where I live. If Kia knew there was some sort of issue with engine failure and extreme loss of power they should have issued notification before other than have people possibly die on the highway from engine failure.
Engine failed due to rod knock at 127,000 miles, this is a known defect with the car. Kia is refusing to replace the engine even though they know they are designed poorly and fail. Knock sensor and flashing engine light came on, had all the qualifications for the replacement but Kia is making excuses and denying it. I have all t…
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Engine failed due to rod knock at 127,000 miles, this is a known defect with the car. Kia is refusing to replace the engine even though they know they are designed poorly and fail. Knock sensor and flashing engine light came on, had all the qualifications for the replacement but Kia is making excuses and denying it. I have all the paperwork and maintences done on time and they still won’t cover it. My corroded brake lines were supposed to be fixed under the recall and they have had them on back order since September of 2022. Dealership has no loaner cars to provide.
Engine blew twice on the vehicle, Kia replaced the first blown engine. Then that engine blew again at 160k miles. First engine blew at a 105k miles.
Pulling out into traffic, without warning my car lost power and shut down! The car had to be towed to the dealership who advised that the engine had a catastrophic failure and needed to be replaced. I was told by the dealership that KIA would not cover the repair for two reasons: 1) I was beyond the warranty period (the car…
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Pulling out into traffic, without warning my car lost power and shut down! The car had to be towed to the dealership who advised that the engine had a catastrophic failure and needed to be replaced. I was told by the dealership that KIA would not cover the repair for two reasons: 1) I was beyond the warranty period (the car has 60,264 miles on it and apparently as the second owner I am only covered up to 60,000 miles not the 100,000 that comes with the car), and 2) despite acknowledging that they engine had a defect, KIA did not issue a recall to fix the problem. Instead, they issued a performance improvement notice. KIA also acknowledged via a phone call on 3/10/23 that they have mailed these notifications to the previous owner rather than to me. I have on a number of occasions conducted recall searches on www.nhtsa.gov/recalls which does not list the known engine defect! It seems underhanded for KIA to recognize a defect and instead of reporting it as such and issuing a recall, they hid the problem behind a deceptive "performance improvement" label. It's not a performance improvement!! It's a known defect that if not fixed, it will result in a blown engine and COSTLY bill for the owner!!! The NHTSA SHOULD IMMEDIATELY ISSUE A RECALL AND REQUIRE KIA TO REPAIR OR REPLACE THE ENGINES IN THESE CARS. THEY SHOULD ALSO REQUIRE KIA TO REIMBURSE OWNERS WHO HAVE HAD TO REPLACE ENGINES NOT COVERED BY THE WARRANTY!
My car has been broken into twice due to the manufacturer not having proper ignition safeguards put into place, received no help from manufacturer , this is a known issue
My car has had 2 engine failures in the last 2 years. The first time the repair was performed by Jeff Wyler Superior KIA in Cincinnati, Ohio a little over a year ago. Currently it's at Jeff Wyler KIA in Fairfield, Ohio awaiting repair. There diagnosis is another engine failure. There were no warning lamps before either engi…
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My car has had 2 engine failures in the last 2 years. The first time the repair was performed by Jeff Wyler Superior KIA in Cincinnati, Ohio a little over a year ago. Currently it's at Jeff Wyler KIA in Fairfield, Ohio awaiting repair. There diagnosis is another engine failure. There were no warning lamps before either engine failure. The first time the engine made noises so I stopped driving it and had it towed to the dealer. The second time it wouldn't start when I came out in the morning to go to work.
After slowing and making a right turn onto another street, I tried to accelerate but the vehicle would not speed up in heavy traffic. After driving downhill 0.2 miles, I made another right turn and the vehicle would not accelerate uphill and was making a loud noise from the engine. I managed to limp home and parked the vehicle a…
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After slowing and making a right turn onto another street, I tried to accelerate but the vehicle would not speed up in heavy traffic. After driving downhill 0.2 miles, I made another right turn and the vehicle would not accelerate uphill and was making a loud noise from the engine. I managed to limp home and parked the vehicle as the engine is now always making a loud knocking sound.
Official recalls
121V622000 · Latches/locks/linkages:trunk Lid:latch
Aug 9, 2021
Kia Motors America (Kia) is recalling certain 2016-2018 Forte 4-door, Forte Koup 2-door, and 2018-2019 Rio 4-door vehicles. The trunk latch may become damaged, preventing the opening of the trunk from the inside. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 401, "Internal Trunk Release."
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: A person inside the trunk compartment may become trapped, increasing their risk of injury.
Remedy: Dealers will replace the trunk latch assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed on February 10, 2022. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC216.
Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗
NHTSA investigations
0No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.
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