When coming to a stop, the car will jerk forward with a loud clack sound. Sometimes it's mild, but other times it is as if the car had been rear-ended, causing it to lurch forward abruptly. There is no rhyme or reason to when it will happen, but it is always when coming to a stop, usually at a very slow speed.

- Port Saint Lucie, FL, USA

Within the first 6 months of owning our 2019 Kia Plugin Hybrid, we started experiencing a clunk with a lurch when accelerating from a stopped position. The issue became progressively worse over time - increasing in frequency and severity. The car has been to the Kia Lupient dealership in Brooklyn Park, MN multiple times for this issue. At our most recent visit on November 7th, 2022, the service advisor acknowledged that the issue may be due to shipping the vehicle with the wrong transmission fluid. The transmission fluid was replaced with the correct fluid. However, we experienced the issue again on December 2, 2022. Could the wrong fluid have caused permanent damage to the transmission? This Technical Service Bulletin (https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2020/MC-10174520-0001.pdf) indicates that could be true. We are pursing arbitration with the dealership.

- Fridley, MN, USA

The vehicle has an intermittent jerk/clunk sound when accelerating or coming to a stop. Occasionally it can feel as if the clutch is coming engaging/disengaging roughly and cause passenger's heads to shake forward. In a few instances there has been a delay when pressing on the brakes to initiate stopping before the vehicle, this momentary loss of control is alarming. It feels as if the clutch and brakes did not react to the pedal immediately. I have taken the vehicle to the Kearny Mesa Kia dealership to diagnose the issue on 3 separate occasions starting from 2 months after purchasing the vehicle. On the most recent visit they have diagnosed that dual clutch failed a calibration test - it is unclear if they performed this test on the previous visits. Repairs have not yet been performed as I am disputing the out of warranty claim by the dealership

- San Diego, CA, USA

12 volt starting battery (Lithium Ion Polymer) pn 37507-G2120. battery swollen and will not take charge (2.5 years old) 15,000 miles on vehicle. This battery powers dash and all related safety systems. Dealer refuses to look into problem as batteries are on national back order status and cannot fix due to parts availability. 3 dealerships have been contacted, all have been making excuses for other systems at fault to avoid recognizing battery is defective. I have been without use since Mar2021.

- Vero , FL, USA

There is a pause upon acceleration from a stop (unresponsive). Then the vehicle will lunge forward and make a loud noise. For both driver and passengers, it can be quite startling and feels as though the car has been hit from behind. This started happening in the fall of 2021, when the car was about two years old with about 18,000 miles. It has happened about a dozen times in the six months since first noticed. It seems that this may be a software issue related to the hybrid system - a lag in triggering which motor to use for acceleration.

- Henderson, KY, USA

Multiple problems with transmission and electrical. Electrical: 1) While traveling 80mph in the far left lane of the highway, I had to make a hard break when someone changed lanes and moved into my path. When I did that, the car turned off completely. (The key fob was still secured in my cup holder.) I could no longer accelerate and it was slowing down quickly. There was no way for me to turn the car back on using the start button. I could do nothing but try to cross 6 lanes of oncoming traffic to get to the roadside in order to stop, which was extremely dangerous on a busy highway. I was very luck I didn't get slammed from behind and end up in a horrible accident. Once I got to the roadside, I stopped the car and was able to re-start it. Kia mechanics said a diagnostic turned up nothing, and they could not "duplicate" the problem. Of course, they can't guarantee it won't happen again. 2) Another time, I turned off the car after parking, grabbed my key and exited the vehicle. It started loudly beeping at me. It's the sound it make when the key fob is taken from the car while it's on, or you try to lock the car and leave when it's still on. I had to turn the car back on and then back off in order to resolve the issue. Transmission: Transmission was replaced at 19,000 miles because the gears were grinding when I was downshifting and it wasn't shifting from 3rd to 4th well. I'd put my foot on the gas and it just wouldn't go, and then it would finally kick in. I was also having issues with it when parking or coming to a stop. It would get to a point when the car was slowing down and should now coast slowly, and instead, it would come to a sudden stop, then it would jerk forward. When on any kind of an incline, it would stop, roll backward, then catch and roll forward. It seems to suddenly shift into neutral when I'm not in neutral and it should be moving forward. New transmission addressed grinding, but other issues remain. I also multiple issues accelerating now. On May 12, after driving the car to a nearby sto

- Atlanta, GA, USA

Starting battery (which operates the safety systems) was getting progressively worse until vehicle could not be started. Upon inspection it was determined that the 1.5 year old starting battery was swollen and defective. NOTE: Vehicle did sit for 12 months in estate litigation.

- Deerfield , FL, USA

I don't know what components are involved. When attempting to move forward from a stop the car does not respond immediately. Then there is clunk noise and a lurch forward. Sometimes when this happens it feels like the car has been hit from behind. The problem began about a year ago and has been into the dealer's service center several times. I believe during one of those service visits a reset of something was done that seemed to resolve the issue for several months. The problem is intermittent. Dealer has been unable to reproduce the issue, but stated the last time the car was in for service that another customer with the same year and make was having the same symptoms and a tech that had been allowed to use the car for over a week did not experience the issue. No warning lights or codes are associated with the issue. A car that fails to move forward on a green light is in danger of being rear-ended placing the people in the vehicle and surrounding vehicles at risk of bodily injury. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone other than service staff at the FOlsom Lake Kia dealership. On February 18, 2022, the vehicle had no power (automatic doorlocks didn't work, etc) could not be started and was towed to the dealership where it is now.

- Sacramento, CA, USA

Since the beginning of April 2021, and just after the odometer turned over to 10K miles, my E-Niro has been experiencing a bizarre behavior that poses a potentially serious safety risk. This takes the form of total loss of acceleration power for a few seconds, usually after deaccelerating to a near stop (usually, but not always, when using the paddle on the left side of the steering wheel to regeneratively brake) then pressing the accelerator pedal, or when making a very tight turn (e.g., into a parking space). Power returns a few seconds after the pause, and I can continue. I have been driving this vehicle for almost 2 years, and there has been nothing similar happen prior to the start of this behavior at the beginning of April. The vehicle has been garaged and charged normally and no extreme weather conditions or other factors had been present before this was first noticed. Instances now seem to be increasing in frequency the past couple of weeks, however. On 2 or 3 occasions, the vehicle actually backed up a couple of feet (on level ground), which was frightening both for me and the auto behind me and could have resulted in an accident. On the other occasions, being momentarily unable to accelerate is also concerning (for instance when it dies halfway into a traffic circle or in an intersection when starting to make a turn). Although no warning lights were initially seen, I now get a "check electrical system" warning when this power loss happens, sometimes even when there has been no loss of power to the motor. The warning light disappears after the vehicle has been turned off and only reappears when another incident occurs. I have asked the dealership service department about this, with no firm response yet. I'm reporting to document this in the event others experience this problem.

- Bend, OR, USA

Since November of 2020, our Niro has been at a Kia service center 12 times at 4 different dealerships in a desperate attempt to get our Niro to replicate, what I think is another transmission issue, during the mile or two the tech test-drives the vehicle for diagnosis. When I am coming to a complete stop, once in a while I hear a very loud bang or a momentary loud scraping noise as if a metal spatula is being swiftly dragged across a slab of concrete. When this occurs, the car also seems to lunge forward as if I am slipping on ice or wet leaves. At a few dealerships, I have described it like almost coming to a complete stop and then getting hit from the rear. This, to me means gears are grabbing what gears grab (I assume other gears) and causing the drive shaft to turn and thus causing the wheels to rotate without reason to do so. Since my foot is not completely pressing down on the brake pedal as I am still slowing down approaching a red light (or a stop sign, speed bump, driveway, pedestrian, etc), the car makes that notorious loud bang or scrape sound and then jolts forward a bit, enough to scare the daylights out of me. Nothing alerts me when this will happen, it just happened and when it does, the car gets away from me until I can fully brake or until the gears disengage (or stop doing what they are doing to cause this issue).

- Herndon, VA, USA

I bought my 2019 car on December 2020. When the car is stopped, and I start forward, the car jerks and make a loud noise. This happens to me randomly, but once very 15 stops in average, about once every 2 days. I went to an online forum of Kia owners and it seems that the problem comes from the wrong transmission fluid being put into the car during production. There is a Kia technical service bulletin that deals with changing the transmission fluid at https://static.NHTSA.gov/ODI/tsbs/2020/mc-10174520-0001.pdf but when I called Kia usa, they told me that it is not associated to my VIN. I have been 5 times to 2 different Kia dealership and it's still not fixed because they had difficulty reproducing and diagnosing the problem. But the second dealership told me that he was able to reproduce the issue once. I took 2 videos (inside and outside the car) of the problem, where one can hear the loud noise.

- Miami Beach, FL, USA

Ongoing issue: Randomly from a complete stop, upon acceleration there is a loud clunking noise. As if I am being rear-ended. Possibly the transmission. Happens more often in cold weather when the gas engine is in use more.

- Minneapolis, MN, USA

The contact leased a 2019 Kia Niro. The contact stated that while driving at 30 mph with the accelerator pedal depressed, the vehicle stalled without warning. The failure was experienced twice. The vehicle was taken to kaearny mesa Ford Kia dealer (7303 clairemont mesa boulevard, san diego, ca 92111, (858)560-6965, and the vehicle was test driven however, the mechanic was unable to duplicate the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 200.

- San Diego, CA, USA

When I was going to la using 110 express lane. Car stop unpredictably totally and I parked the car left side 110 express lane. I was stayed 3 hours until tow coming.

- Paramount, CA, USA

The vehicle will sometimes go forward eventhough the gear shift is in the R position for reverse. And the opposite happens. I may go in reverse eventhough the gear is in the D position for drive. -- I believe the above happens if I shift gears too quickly before the car finishes its system check. -- that is my own troubleshooting effort/opinion. The wrong motion happens when starting from a stationary position. For example starting the car and wanting to drive forward out of a parking spot or wanting to go reverse to back out of a garage. ---- it's happened several times. I notified the deal sales rep back in Oct. When it first happened. It's happend a couple other times and finally I found this website after it happened again this week.

- Gainesville, GA, USA

The consumer rented a 2019 Kia Niro. The consumer stated that when the vehicle was started and placed in reverse, the vehicle moved forward without warning. The gear shift indicator displayed that the vehicle was in reverse at the time of the failure. The vehicle was returned to the rental company. The dealer and manufacturer were not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 9,000. The VIN was unknown.

- Los Altos, CA, USA