2017 KIA FORTE — Complaint #1885333
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SUSPENSION:MULTIPLE AXLE:TORQUE ARM filed April 4, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1885333 (ODI reference 11515440) concerns a 2017 KIA FORTE and was filed on April 4, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on March 21, 2023. The report was geocoded to Oregon based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as suspension:multiple axle:torque arm, 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 FORTE cohort independently describe similar suspension:multiple axle:torque arm 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 2017 KIA FORTE shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2015 Charmac Outlaw Trailer hauled by a 2017 Kia Forte. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 15V838000 (Suspension). The contact stated that while towing the trailer at an unknown speed, the splines on the axle fractured and the two wheels separated from the axle. Additionally, the contact stated that the trailer was towed to the residence. The contact notified the manufacturer of the failure but was advised to contact the axle manufacturer. The trailer had not been repaired. The contact stated that the axle manufacturer denied fault of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1885333 |
| ODI Number | 11515440 |
| Date Filed | April 4, 2023 |
| Failure Date | March 21, 2023 |
| VIN | 3KPFL4A89HE |
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.