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2009 Kia Rio

Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations

Similar to other model years

Owner complaints for the 2009 Kia Rio do not stand out strongly from the model-year median of 38.5.

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How this year compares

Owner complaints by model year

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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

30 reports with mileage · 9 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.

  • Air Bags. Review the 17 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Engine. Review the 7 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
  • Seats. Review the 4 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →

NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.

6 crash reports0 fire reports5 injury reports

Unknown Or Other complaints

3 reports
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Mileage unknown · Jul 6, 2022
Unknown Or Other

The doors will lock and won't unlock. This happened to the front passenger door when the car was less than a year old and they repaired it. The rear passenger door locked and it won't lock so I don't load items on that side but yesterday, July 5, 2022 I got locked in on my drivers side! I had to exit the vehicle by crawling o…

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The doors will lock and won't unlock. This happened to the front passenger door when the car was less than a year old and they repaired it. The rear passenger door locked and it won't lock so I don't load items on that side but yesterday, July 5, 2022 I got locked in on my drivers side! I had to exit the vehicle by crawling over the stick shift to the front passenger side. I've seen hundreds of complaints about this and can't understand why there has not been a recall.

NHTSA ODI #11472481

69,000 miles · Jul 10, 2018
Unknown Or OtherInjury

INSIDE DOOR HANDLES. VEHICLE WAS STATIONARY. THE CHROME PAINT USED ON THE INSIDE DOOR HANDLES CRACKS FORMING RAZOR SHARP EDGES THAT HAS SLICED MY HANDS DEEP WHILE OPENING DOORS TWICE. I HAVE CALLED TO REPORT THIS AWHILE BACK AND WAS TOLD IT WOULD BE SENT TO HIGHER. HAVE NOT HEARD ANY RESPONSE TO THIS DAY. I HAVE HAD TO PUT ELEC…

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INSIDE DOOR HANDLES. VEHICLE WAS STATIONARY. THE CHROME PAINT USED ON THE INSIDE DOOR HANDLES CRACKS FORMING RAZOR SHARP EDGES THAT HAS SLICED MY HANDS DEEP WHILE OPENING DOORS TWICE. I HAVE CALLED TO REPORT THIS AWHILE BACK AND WAS TOLD IT WOULD BE SENT TO HIGHER. HAVE NOT HEARD ANY RESPONSE TO THIS DAY. I HAVE HAD TO PUT ELECTRICAL TAPE AROUND ALL DOOR HANDLES TO PREVENT BEING CUT WHILE OPENING DOORS. I HAVE READ ON KIA FORUMS WHERE OTHERS HAVE HAD THIS SAME PROBLEM. MY QUESTION IS, WHAT ARE YOU (KIA MOTORS) GOING TO DO ABOUT THIS PROBLEM? MY CONCERN IS THAT A CHILD WILL IF NOT ALREADY, BE CUT BAD BY THIS. IT COULD BE BAD ENOUGH TO REQUIRE STITCHES AS THIS IS A RAZOR SHARP EDGE WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. THIS SHOULD BE PUT ON A SAFETY ISSUE RECALL AND FIXED BY KIA MOTORS JUST SAYING. AT LEAST USE SOMETHING DIFFERENT ON FUTURE VEHICLES. THANK YOU [XXXX] PARTS OF THIS DOCUMENT HAVE BEEN REDACTED TO PROTECT PERSONALLY IDENTIFIABLE INFORMATION PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

NHTSA ODI #11110413

69,000 miles · Apr 25, 2017
Unknown Or Other

PART AFFECTED:-DOOR: THE REAR PASSENGER DOOR WILL NOT UNLOCK, MANUALLY NOR BY KEY-FOB, THEREFORE I'M REDUCED TO USING THREE DOORS ON A FOUR DOOR CAR. *THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THIS MALFUNCTION HAS HAPPENED. THE FIRST TIME, IT WAS THE PASSENGER FRONT DOOR. ALL-STAR KIA OF BATON ROUGE REPAIRED IT BECAUSE THE CAR WAS STILL UNDER WAR…

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PART AFFECTED:-DOOR: THE REAR PASSENGER DOOR WILL NOT UNLOCK, MANUALLY NOR BY KEY-FOB, THEREFORE I'M REDUCED TO USING THREE DOORS ON A FOUR DOOR CAR. *THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THIS MALFUNCTION HAS HAPPENED. THE FIRST TIME, IT WAS THE PASSENGER FRONT DOOR. ALL-STAR KIA OF BATON ROUGE REPAIRED IT BECAUSE THE CAR WAS STILL UNDER WARRANTY HOWEVER, NOW THAT THE CAR IS PAID FOR AND NO LONGER UNDER WARRANTY THEY WANT TO CHARGE A $100.00 DIAGNOSTIC TO SEE WHAT THE PROBLEM MIGHT BE BECAUSE THEY DON'T KNOW.

NHTSA ODI #10980544

Official recalls

0

No recalls in this snapshot.

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

0

No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.