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Owner-Reported Problems · NHTSA

2020 Kia Sportage — Problems & Complaints

NHTSA has 162 owner complaints on file for this vehicle. Every report below was filed by a real owner with the US government's road-safety agency.

162
Complaints
filed with NHTSA
11
Involved a Crash
owner-reported
12
Involved Fire
owner-reported
8
Injuries
across all reports
Years to Avoid

Kia Sportage — Complaints by Model Year

Years flagged AVOID have at least twice this model's average complaint count — the strongest public-data signal of a bad year.

381 complaints

124 complaints

146 complaints

134 complaints

401 complaints

164 complaints

70 complaints

162 complaints

54 complaints

46 complaints

192 complaints

73 complaints

54 complaints

0 complaints

Problem Areas

What Owners Complain About Most

Engine 75 reports
Unknown Or Other 31 reports
Electrical System 19 reports
Service Brakes 12 reports
Structure 10 reports
Engine And Engine Cooling 9 reports
Steering 8 reports
Fuel/propulsion System 7 reports
In Their Own Words

Recent Owner Reports

Structure ODI 11707811 12/30/2025

clear coat peeling inspected by dealer

Unknown Or Other ODI 11562697 12/30/2023

Car has barely any power and it will not accelerate more than 40 mph. It stutters from a stop to moving at a red light like it’s going to stall out. Will not do steep hills without almost no power and a stalling sound and bucking. Not sure what’s wrong but I think I was sold a lemon and I am not happy. I need my vehicle to continue working to make money to support my famil…

Exterior Lighting ODI 11707427 12/29/2025

We only have 58,000 on our car . We had extremely low oil and light never came on it blinked randomly. We still had 2,000 miles left before oil change was due . Car was almost bone dry if we did not check we would have been in big trouble.We were told these cars are known to burn oil and we should come in every 3/4 weeks depending on how much we drive to have oil added . This …

Steering ODI 11707561 12/29/2025

Vehicle has excessive wandering, that is intermittent, during traffic, surrounding traffic on freeways and on slight wind and rain. The vehicle exhibits behavior that is very very unstable.. I’ve had the vehicle for about three years and it’s been doing this for about two years now intermittently I recently took it into the Kia dealership in Stocton to have it looked at nothin…

Fuel System ODI 11445272 12/28/2021

Oxt 2021 check engine light illuminated on my 2020 Kia Sportage. Code P242200 was pulled. service technician replaced the Canister Close Valve due to sticking open. Nov 2, 2021 the check engine illuminated again during a trip out of state. During the trip the engine light would go from illuminated to off a number of times. The car was returned to the dealer on November 16,…

Same Vehicle

Recalls & Crash Tests

Complaints are one half of the picture — see the official recalls and NHTSA crash-test stars for the 2020 Kia Sportage, or check your exact car by VIN with the free VIN lookup.

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Problems Checker

Any year, make and model: open the Car Problems Checker. Data: NHTSA (US DOT, public domain), cached up to 7 days.

Questions

FAQ

Is the 2020 Kia Sportage reliable?
Owners have filed 162 safety complaints with NHTSA for the 2020 Kia Sportage, most often about engine. Compare the complaint counts across model years above — a year with far more complaints than the model's average is the strongest 'avoid' signal in public data.
Which Kia Sportage years should I avoid?
The rule of thumb used by analysts: a model year whose complaint count is well above the model's own average (we flag 2× or more) usually had a real manufacturing or design problem — not just noisy reporting. Use the year-by-year strip on this page.
Where do these complaints come from?
Directly from NHTSA, the US government road-safety agency. Any owner can file a Vehicle Owner Questionnaire; NHTSA publishes them as public domain data. We cache each lookup for up to 7 days.
Do complaints mean a recall is coming?
Sometimes. NHTSA opens defect investigations when complaint patterns emerge, and investigations can end in recalls. Check the recalls page for this vehicle to see what has already been recalled.