2021 KIA SELTOS — Complaint #1754045
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:CONTROL MODULE:SOFTWARE filed June 25, 2021
NHTSA complaint #1754045 (ODI reference 11422265) concerns a 2021 KIA SELTOS and was filed on June 25, 2021. The owner reports the failure occurred on June 24, 2021. The report was geocoded to New Hampshire based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as power train:automatic transmission:control module:software, 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 SELTOS cohort independently describe similar power train:automatic transmission:control module:software 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 2021 KIA SELTOS shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
Driving on a busy 4 lane highway where everyone was going over 70mph. Car began to shudder in the transmission and lost most of its power. Rpms went up to 3 or 4 thousand when stepping on gas to pull out out fast traffic and wouldn't go above 35 mph. Had to slowly pull out of traffic with hazards on at 30mph with cars flying by in both sides. Finally got to breakdown lane after a mile and tried to use sport shift mode to try other gears. Car wouldn't go above 30 mph and rpms went up to 4000. Luckily there was a rest area 500 feet off the highway. Pulled in there to look at transmission oil dipstick but couldn't find it. Spent over 2 hours trying to get Kia roadside assistance towed to a LOCAL Kia dealer but none had loaners to give so had to use my AAA to tow it to my dealer where I bought it. Hopefully I will get reimbursed for the tow I had to pay for. Still waiting for my service department to fix it. They tried to drive it and confirmed the transmission is gone. The car ONLY has 65
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1754045 |
| ODI Number | 11422265 |
| Date Filed | June 25, 2021 |
| Failure Date | June 24, 2021 |
| VIN | KNDEUCAA6M7 |
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.