KIA SELTOS · model year

2023 KIA SELTOS

59 NHTSA complaints, 5 crash reports, and 2 active recalls for this specific cohort.

NHTSA overall rating

4 / 5 ★

New Car Assessment Program

The 2023KIASELTOS carries 59 consumer safety complaints in NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation database for this specific model-year cohort. Within that volume, owners reported 5 crashes, 0 fires, 3 injuries, and 0 fatalities. For crash performance, NHTSA's New Car Assessment Program gave this cohort an overall 4/5 rating, with 4/5 front crash, 5/5 side crash, and 4/5 rollover scores derived from standardized barrier and dynamic tests.

Component-level analysis is where model-year complaints become actionable: the top complaint category for the 2023 SELTOS is unknown or other with 12 filings, followed by engine (12) and electrical system (11). Concentration in one or two component groups is the classic signature of a systemic defect; a flat distribution usually reflects normal aging, warranty complaints, or isolated build-plant variability. This model year has 2 active recall campaigns, which means the manufacturer is obligated to remedy the covered defect at no charge for the life of the vehicle — the full NHTSA campaign numbers are listed below.

NHTSA currently has 38 investigation files overlapping the 2023 SELTOS, and 1 remain open. Owners comparing this cohort against neighboring years should pair the counters above with the complaint-by-year trend on the parent model page — a spike in a single year often tracks to a platform refresh, a new transmission supplier, or an updated ECU calibration. Use the related-complaint feed below to read raw owner narratives before deciding whether any pattern here affects your specific use case.

59
Complaints
5
Crashes
0
Fires
3
Injuries
0
Deaths
2023 KIA SELTOS — NHTSA crash-test profile NHTSA NCAP crash-test star ratings for the 2023 KIA SELTOS. Overall composite: 4.0 of 5 stars across 3 safety dimensions. Front CrashSide CrashRollover 4.0 NHTSA NCAP of 5 stars
  • Front Crash 4.0 ★
  • Side Crash 5.0 ★
  • Rollover 4.0 ★
NHTSA overall 4.0/5 stars, with front-crash, side-crash and rollover ratings from standardized NCAP barrier and dynamic tests.

Total Complaints

59 filings

Crashes Reported

5 reports

Source

NHTSA ODI

Federal complaints database

Complaints vs. fleet median (215)

At or below the fleet median complaint volume.

NHTSA NCAP overall: 4/5 — Strong NCAP rating · Front: 4/5 · Side: 5/5 · Rollover: 4/5

Complaints by Component

ComponentCount
UNKNOWN OR OTHER12
ENGINE12
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM11
VISIBILITY/WIPER3
POWER TRAIN3
SERVICE BRAKES3
VISIBILITY:GLASS, SIDE/REAR2
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS2
STRUCTURE:INTERIOR PANELS:DASHBOARD1
VISIBILITY1
BACK OVER PREVENTION: SENSING SYSTEM: CAMERA1
STRUCTURE:BODY1
VISIBILITY:WINDSHIELD1
LANE DEPARTURE: BLIND SPOT DETECTION1
SEAT BELTS1

Recalls (2)

23V53100031/07/2023

POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:FLUID/LUBRICANT:PUMP

Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2023 Soul, Sportage, and 2023-2024 Seltos vehicles. The electronic controller for the Idle Stop & Go oil pump assembly may contain damaged electrical components that can cause the pump to overheat.

25V09900017/02/2025

ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:HARD PARTS INTERNAL/MECHANICAL

Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2021-2023 Seltos and Soul vehicles. The piston oil rings may have been manufactured incorrectly, which can result in engine damage.

Recent Complaints

20251102ENGINE

Vehicle acts like it’s going to die. No maintenance lights well maintained. Rattle noise and acts like it’s misfiring. Went to turn at traffic light and almost got into a wreck due to no horse power. This has been happening since less than 40,000 miles but car dealership keeps saying “nothing is wrong” because there isn’t a warning light on! It’s getting worse!

20251102ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Vehicle acts like it’s going to die. No maintenance lights well maintained. Rattle noise and acts like it’s misfiring. Went to turn at traffic light and almost got into a wreck due to no horse power. This has been happening since less than 40,000 miles but car dealership keeps saying “nothing is wrong” because there isn’t a warning light on! It’s getting worse!

20251102POWER TRAIN

Vehicle acts like it’s going to die. No maintenance lights well maintained. Rattle noise and acts like it’s misfiring. Went to turn at traffic light and almost got into a wreck due to no horse power. This has been happening since less than 40,000 miles but car dealership keeps saying “nothing is wrong” because there isn’t a warning light on! It’s getting worse!

20251019ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

One night I started my car and my screen on my Kia seltos had a bunch of gibberish on the screen and then I went to power off the radio and tried to power back on and screen wouldn’t turn on and one usb won’t work. Tried to hard reset and check fuses and still no luck. I keep reading a bunch of people saying how they had same issues as I did on my radio . My friend is sales guy at car dealer and he told me not first time a radio on a Kia took a poop. So how comes there is no recall yet on this part of the car. It’s crappy because warranty on radio is only up to 36,000 . And my car I have only had for 3 years almost and I have 50,000 miles on it now . After disconnecting the battery and plugging back in like the dealer told me to do and now I have a loading symbol behind my wheel on the dash

20251019UNKNOWN OR OTHER

One night I started my car and my screen on my Kia seltos had a bunch of gibberish on the screen and then I went to power off the radio and tried to power back on and screen wouldn’t turn on and one usb won’t work. Tried to hard reset and check fuses and still no luck. I keep reading a bunch of people saying how they had same issues as I did on my radio . My friend is sales guy at car dealer and he told me not first time a radio on a Kia took a poop. So how comes there is no recall yet on this part of the car. It’s crappy because warranty on radio is only up to 36,000 . And my car I have only had for 3 years almost and I have 50,000 miles on it now . After disconnecting the battery and plugging back in like the dealer told me to do and now I have a loading symbol behind my wheel on the dash

20250925ENGINE

We first noticed that the car was sputtering and jerking when accelerating at highway speeds. It wasn't consistent at first but continued to get worse over time and at more regular occurrences. White/grey smoke was spotted from the tailpipe whenever the vehicle was accelerating, either from a stop or when "resuming" on the cruise control. We brought the vehicle in to the dealership as the "service engine" light came on and explained what was happening with the car. They told us that there was an "intake valve" that was plugged and need to be replaced and that the on-board computer needed to be updated. We also had some routine maintenance done as well and they sent us on our way. Quickly after getting the car home we noticed that the original problem persisted and actually got worse. We checked the recalls on our car and noticed that there are other recalls on other VINs for the same Make, Model, Year and engine type as our car and the symptoms of those recalls were exactly the sa

20250827ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Seltos. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was gray smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. The vehicle was taken to the dealer; however, no cause for the failure was found. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled on the drive back to the residence. The contact stated that on a separate occasion, while driving 70 MPH, the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The contact stated that the RPM fluctuated, and the engine revved with gray smoke coming from the exhaust pipe. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to coast to the side of the road and waited ten minutes before restarting the vehicle; however, the failure reoccurred a short distance afterwards, with the vehicle vibrating abnormally, and the vehicle failed to accelerate as intended while depressing the accelerator pedal. The vehicle was pulled into a parking lot and

20250825ENGINE

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Seltos. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was while smoke coming from the exhaust, after which the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The contact was able to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle was able to be restarted. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who diagnosed a failure with the engine due to possible poor maintenance, which the contact disputed. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 80,000.

Mileage: 80,000

20250819ENGINE

3 times in the last 24 hours my vehicle has completely stopped while in motion. Once on the highway and twice in residential areas. There was no precursor problem to let me know this would happen, no strange noises and no check engine light. It just fails and the engine stops while I’m driving. It’s extremely dangerous and quite frankly very scary. When I called kia today to tell them what happened all they said to me was that since the check engine light wasn’t on, that it was safe to drive and they couldn’t get my car in for several weeks. Then the other kia dealership in the area said they would get me in next week but again that my car was safe to drive. It is most certainly NOT safe to drive!! This is happening while I’m driving and in motion. Twice at about 10 mph and once going 60 (thank god nobody was behind me)

20250819UNKNOWN OR OTHER

3 times in the last 24 hours my vehicle has completely stopped while in motion. Once on the highway and twice in residential areas. There was no precursor problem to let me know this would happen, no strange noises and no check engine light. It just fails and the engine stops while I’m driving. It’s extremely dangerous and quite frankly very scary. When I called kia today to tell them what happened all they said to me was that since the check engine light wasn’t on, that it was safe to drive and they couldn’t get my car in for several weeks. Then the other kia dealership in the area said they would get me in next week but again that my car was safe to drive. It is most certainly NOT safe to drive!! This is happening while I’m driving and in motion. Twice at about 10 mph and once going 60 (thank god nobody was behind me)

20250809ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

Car has stalled 3 times after driving short or long distances in hot weather (near Great Lakes, not even southern heat). Twice in 2024 and once in 2025. It is 2023 Kia Seltos with only 10,000 miles. Dealer inspected it 2024 (possibly not knowing of other recalls) and said nothing wrong. It’s the turbo engine, while I see the regular engine versions have a recall. Could be the rings, crankshaft sensor, ISG, electric oil pump controller, etc. It stalls while at a red light or stop, and is dangerous if on a hill as it does not accelerate and starts to roll backwards when take foot off brake and step onto gas pedal. It has also stalled in traffic on a bridge and then needed to be restarted.

20250809UNKNOWN OR OTHER

Car has stalled 3 times after driving short or long distances in hot weather (near Great Lakes, not even southern heat). Twice in 2024 and once in 2025. It is 2023 Kia Seltos with only 10,000 miles. Dealer inspected it 2024 (possibly not knowing of other recalls) and said nothing wrong. It’s the turbo engine, while I see the regular engine versions have a recall. Could be the rings, crankshaft sensor, ISG, electric oil pump controller, etc. It stalls while at a red light or stop, and is dangerous if on a hill as it does not accelerate and starts to roll backwards when take foot off brake and step onto gas pedal. It has also stalled in traffic on a bridge and then needed to be restarted.

20250809ENGINE

Car has stalled 3 times after driving short or long distances in hot weather (near Great Lakes, not even southern heat). Twice in 2024 and once in 2025. It is 2023 Kia Seltos with only 10,000 miles. Dealer inspected it 2024 (possibly not knowing of other recalls) and said nothing wrong. It’s the turbo engine, while I see the regular engine versions have a recall. Could be the rings, crankshaft sensor, ISG, electric oil pump controller, etc. It stalls while at a red light or stop, and is dangerous if on a hill as it does not accelerate and starts to roll backwards when take foot off brake and step onto gas pedal. It has also stalled in traffic on a bridge and then needed to be restarted.

20250518SERVICE BRAKES

On 4 different occasions my vehicle applied the brakes forcefully on its own at high speeds. The dash flashed with the message "check forward collision avoidance assist system." as well as displayed the following icons: master warning light, hill climb assist, traction control, forward collision, and the Auto start/stop was flashing. These continued until I was able to stop and turn the car off. When I was trying to slow down and stop my brakes were not working correctly as I had to push the pedal all the way to the floor for a long period to stop all the way. When the car was put in park the engine was revving up until it was off. The car was towed to the dealership after first incident and the following codes were in the history: C164202 C161308. Dealership had my car for 6 days, opened a tech line case and without an answer of why this happened nor remedy, my car was released back to me resulting in 3 additional instances. It is now going to another dealership to hopefully get an a

20250518FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING

On 4 different occasions my vehicle applied the brakes forcefully on its own at high speeds. The dash flashed with the message "check forward collision avoidance assist system." as well as displayed the following icons: master warning light, hill climb assist, traction control, forward collision, and the Auto start/stop was flashing. These continued until I was able to stop and turn the car off. When I was trying to slow down and stop my brakes were not working correctly as I had to push the pedal all the way to the floor for a long period to stop all the way. When the car was put in park the engine was revving up until it was off. The car was towed to the dealership after first incident and the following codes were in the history: C164202 C161308. Dealership had my car for 6 days, opened a tech line case and without an answer of why this happened nor remedy, my car was released back to me resulting in 3 additional instances. It is now going to another dealership to hopefully get an a

20250518ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

On 4 different occasions my vehicle applied the brakes forcefully on its own at high speeds. The dash flashed with the message "check forward collision avoidance assist system." as well as displayed the following icons: master warning light, hill climb assist, traction control, forward collision, and the Auto start/stop was flashing. These continued until I was able to stop and turn the car off. When I was trying to slow down and stop my brakes were not working correctly as I had to push the pedal all the way to the floor for a long period to stop all the way. When the car was put in park the engine was revving up until it was off. The car was towed to the dealership after first incident and the following codes were in the history: C164202 C161308. Dealership had my car for 6 days, opened a tech line case and without an answer of why this happened nor remedy, my car was released back to me resulting in 3 additional instances. It is now going to another dealership to hopefully get an a

20250327ENGINE

Bought my 2023 Kia seltos new, Been driving it and maintaining the maintaince myself. Vehical has 58,000 Miles still under the warranty. Did my normal oil change only to have it start blowing smoke out of the exhaust. Took it into the dealer for service only to be told that the Rings are failing. that i need a new engine. Now there is a recall out for the 2020-2023 Kia Souls and Seltos with the 2.0 engines for miss manufactured rings. Mine has the 1.6L turbo in it. Seems very odd to me that they are claiming exactly what they have the recall for on the 2.0 engines. They are denying warranty.

20250303SERVICE BRAKES

I purchased my vehicle in mid June 2024 used from the dealership. I purchased extended warranty although my vehicle still had original warranty. On [XXX], my parents 50th anniversary party. I packed my car and left my house. Vehicle drove fine, but my husband called me worried stated that after I left our driveway that there was an oil puddle on the drive that concerned him. He took my vehicle down the road to a service place. They don’t want to touch my vehicle saying it was low on oil and needed towed. We were in Missouri and had to have it towed back to the dealership in Illinois. $400 or more tow bill. Anyway, no one could tell us why the oil leaked and said I must have hit a rock just right that cracked my oil filter. They replaced and said it was just that. This did not satisfy me nor when I spoke to multiple people who knew cars. Said that something was fishy. I had not even gotten to a first oil change. 2nd incident happened four months later. I was driving to

20250303UNKNOWN OR OTHER

I purchased my vehicle in mid June 2024 used from the dealership. I purchased extended warranty although my vehicle still had original warranty. On [XXX], my parents 50th anniversary party. I packed my car and left my house. Vehicle drove fine, but my husband called me worried stated that after I left our driveway that there was an oil puddle on the drive that concerned him. He took my vehicle down the road to a service place. They don’t want to touch my vehicle saying it was low on oil and needed towed. We were in Missouri and had to have it towed back to the dealership in Illinois. $400 or more tow bill. Anyway, no one could tell us why the oil leaked and said I must have hit a rock just right that cracked my oil filter. They replaced and said it was just that. This did not satisfy me nor when I spoke to multiple people who knew cars. Said that something was fishy. I had not even gotten to a first oil change. 2nd incident happened four months later. I was driving to

20250110ENGINE

Dear, I own a 2024 Kia Seltos and have experienced a recurring issue. While driving, I stopped at a red light, and the vehicle's automatic stop system activated as usual. However, when the light changed and I pressed the accelerator, the vehicle completely shut down. To restart it, I had to turn the key to the "Off" position, shift to "Parking," and then turn it back on. This issue has occurred four times now, and I’m concerned it may compromise driving safety. I would appreciate your guidance in resolving this matter. Looking forward to your response. Best regards, [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Compare 2023KIASELTOS to Similar Vehicles

NHTSA Investigations 1 Open

View all investigations

Frequently Asked Questions

How many complaints does the 2023 KIA SELTOS have?
The 2023 KIA SELTOS has 59 NHTSA complaints, 5 crashes, 0 fires, 3 injuries, and 0 deaths reported.
What is the safety rating for the 2023 KIA SELTOS?
The 2023 KIA SELTOS received an overall NHTSA safety rating of 4/5, front crash rating of 4/5, side crash rating of 5/5, and rollover rating of 4/5.
Are there any recalls for the 2023 KIA SELTOS?
Yes, the 2023 KIA SELTOS has 2 recall(s). The most common affected component is POWER TRAIN:AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION:FLUID/LUBRICANT:PUMP. Recalls are issued by NHTSA and manufacturers must provide a free remedy.
What are the most common problems with the 2023 KIA SELTOS?
The most-complained component for the 2023 KIA SELTOS is UNKNOWN OR OTHER with 12 complaints. Other frequently reported areas include ENGINE and ELECTRICAL SYSTEM.
Is the 2023 KIA SELTOS safe to buy?
Review the complaint history, crash and fire reports, safety ratings, and recall status on this page to make an informed decision. The 2023 KIA SELTOS has an NHTSA safety rating of 4/5. Compare with other model years using the links above.
Where does this data come from?
All complaint, recall, and safety rating data is sourced from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Complaints are filed by vehicle owners through NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation.

Vehicle Safety Guides

Data as of 2025. Sources: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) complaints database, NHTSA recall campaign API, NHTSA NCAP crash-test ratings, and NHTSA FARS for fatality cross-reference.