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Engine & cooling

2011 Kia Rio Engine problems

Owners have filed 7 complaints about the 2011 Kia Rio's engine & cooling with NHTSA - 29% of all its complaints, most recently on March 23, 2025. Stalling, loss of power, oil consumption, overheating, head gaskets, timing chains and engine failure.

Complaints
7
Recalls
0
Crashes
0
Fires
0
Injuries
0
Deaths
0

Engine complaints

Engine & cooling

Coils, I have been through 6 sets of coils since I bought this car in 2011. This causes the engine to run rough , sputter & have no pick up when trying to accelerate. The 1st set I paid the dealer $125 a piece bc they said I must replace all 4 at once even though when 1 coil burned out under warranty they only replaced the 1. I got smart after dealing with the dealer. I bought lifetime coils from autozone and about every 1.5 to 2 years I am replacing them. It's easy to do but thats not the point. I've never had or...

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heard of any car doing this except mine. And please let's not talk about resetting the computer brain. That is an impossible task in LA the land of teaffic....please take a moment & read the hoops you have to go through on kia's Rio forum. After trying to get my car slogged for a year I paid a guy 135.00 gave him my car for the night so he could do it. Utter [[redacted]] ! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11649950
Electrical systemEngine & cooling

The engine and all electrical shuts down without warning. This happened three times in heavy traffic and nearly caused an accident. The engine stops running and the electrical components turn off which shuts down power steering and power brakes. Each time this has happened the electrical is disabled and the car is completely dead with zero response when the ignition key is turned; no dash lights, no starter, no power. After the first incident the plugs and coil packs were changed out. After the second incident...

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the fuse block was changed out which was said to have been overheating. After the third incident the car was parked and has not been driven since. After the "dead" car is towed and it sits for a couple of hours it will start again and run for indeterminable amount of time before shutting down.

Filed Incident Electrical system · EngineNHTSA 11542347
Engine & cooling

Ignition coils. Ever since I bought my kia in 2015 I have had to replace the ignition coils every 3-6 months. At first, when it was still under factory warranty, the dealership kept telling me they cannot find anything wrong with the car even though it would jump and even shut off on me when idling. It took 3 months of me taking the car back and forth to the kia dealership before the figured out what was going on with my car because the check engine light never came on. It turned out to be the ignition coils. Once...

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they were replaced everything was fine. On top of this, I was so stressed out about my car that it made me physically ill and gave me a rash all over my body (i have medical records to prove it) and once the issue was fixed, all of my physical ailments disappeared. Since then, I have had to change all 4 coils every 3-6 months. This last set only lasted me 2 months before it started with the same issues again. I have researched this issue and found dozen of forums regarding this same issue with my same exact make, year, model. There has to be something that is causing this to happen so often. I know it's a kia but I should be able to drive my car more than a few months before it breaks down. It doesn't matter where I am, what speed I am going or how long I am traveling, this issue still occurs.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 11182851
Engine & cooling

I was driving and the car started driving rough and finally stopped.

Filed Incident Unknown or other · EngineNHTSA 11164526
Acceleration & cruise controlEngine & coolingFuel system

Sold a car that turned out to be a 'lemon' after only a month of having it began breaking down the most recent issue being the cadillac converter making it a little dangerous to drive because speed is affected along with toxic fuel, whenever I drive up a hill the car is loud slow to where it sometimes rolls backwards or stops and at a green light car can not reach minimum speed cause other cars anger and strong fuel order sometimes when starting car, car cut off once at red light and when turning vehicle moves entirely too slow to when oncoming cars almost make contact

Filed Incident Vehicle speed control · Engine · Fuel / propulsion systemNHTSA 11118042
Engine & cooling

Tl* the contact owns a 2011 kia rio. While the vehicle was idling at any stop, the engine threatened to shut down without warning. The contact called a local dealer and was informed to have the vehicle towed to a shop, but the contact did not want to pay for the towing. The failure was not diagnosed. The manufacturer advised the contact to tow the vehicle to the original dealer. The vehicle was not towed. The failure was not diagnosed or remedied. The failure mileage was approximately 62,000.

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 10939893
Engine & cooling

I'm really not sure what's wrong with it bit this is way happened. I was driving to workfrom lunch wasn't having any problems then all of a sudden the engine light stayed flashing. In the 4 mins that followed my car started loosing power so I pulled over to a gas station once I stopped the car I heard a knocking sounds and then the car shut off. There was oil, it wasn't black, it did not have white spots and there was no smoke v of any color coming from the hood or tailpipe. What was weird was that the antifreeze...

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reservoir was completely bone dry. I had a oil change and fluids check and topped off the two months before and had checked the fluids myself the month before after my spark plugs were change. Needless to say finding no antifreeze in the reservoir was a little bit confusing. Had 3 mechanics look at it and they all said if the ass no oil they would have said the rod was thrown or piston broken but I need to pay someone to take the top off the engine to even get to where people guessing the problem is. Worse thing is the car is only 3 years old and maintenance is done on it so why I'm I having engine problems? *Tr

Filed Incident EngineNHTSA 10610220

Kia Rio engine complaints by year

Rio engine problems, every year

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Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked . Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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