2009 KIA SPORTAGE — Complaint #1315469
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about EXTERIOR LIGHTING:TAIL LIGHTS:SWITCH filed September 8, 2016
NHTSA complaint #1315469 (ODI reference 10904679) concerns a 2009 KIA SPORTAGE and was filed on September 8, 2016. The owner reports the failure occurred on January 7, 2009. The vehicle had 75,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Arizona based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as exterior lighting:tail lights:switch, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same KIA SPORTAGE cohort independently describe similar exterior lighting:tail lights:switch failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2009 KIA SPORTAGE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2009 KIA SPORTAGE. WHILE DRIVING APPROXIMATELY 40 MPH, THE REAR PASSENGER TAIL LIGHT FAILED TO ILLUMINATE WHEN THE BRAKE PEDAL WAS DEPRESSED. THE FAILURE RECURRED THREE TIMES. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER WHERE THE LIGHT SWITCH WAS REPLACED. IN ADDITION, WHEN DEPRESSING THE BRAKE PEDAL OR WHEN THE VEHICLE WAS IN REVERSE, THE PASSENGER SIDE TURN SIGNAL LIGHT ILLUMINATED. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO THE DEALER WHERE THE LIGHT BULB WAS REPLACED. THE CONTACT WAS ALSO INFORMED THAT THE FUEL CAP AND STOP SWITCH NEEDED TO BE REPLACED. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURES. THE APPROXIMATE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 75,000. UPDATED 11/03/16*LJ THE CONSUMER STATED THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT ACCELERATE OVER 60MPH. THE VEHICLE WOULD LOSE POWER. UPDATED 09/19/2017*JS
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1315469 |
| ODI Number | 10904679 |
| Date Filed | September 8, 2016 |
| Failure Date | January 7, 2009 |
| VIN | KNDJF723597 |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.