Owner-reported complaints naming the seat belt system, filed with NHTSA
Data refreshed
Reports naming seat belts, buckles, retractors and pretensioners. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2014 Kia Forte submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 14 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Shown in the owner’s own words, exactly as filed
After T-boning a Toyota Prius, my air bag did not go off and my driver seat belt did not lock. As a result, I suffered a collapsed right lung, my left hand punched the windshield fracturing my wrist and had to have surgery from that. Also suffered my 7th right rib fractured. There was no warning lamps and no shop or dealer mentioned any of the malfunctions.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Forte. The contact stated that while buckling the driver's side front seat belt buckle, the front driver's seat belt buckle failed to lock securely as intended. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with front driver's side seat belt buckle failure. The contact was informed that the front driver's side seat belt buckle needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 198,000.
Seatbelt comes undone I have to hold it or it will unbuckle randomly.
There was a car accident car was totaled my wife was stuck in the seat the seat belt broke would not unlatch they had to cut her out. There not supposed to break. What if the car cought fire?
The driver side seatbelt keeps unbuckling, this is after checking to make sure it is fastened completely, I have to keep checking the belt throughout the driving period to ensure it is latched. What if all my belts do this, and when my kids are in the car and if a wreck occurs and they fail to protect us? There were multiple incidents when it came unclipped was when I was doing 15mph and up to 60mph.
In May 2021 my daughter was in a bad car accident while driving my 2014 Kia Forte. The airbags did not go off and the seatbelts never tightened. Fortunately her and her passenger were not seriously injured and only received bruises on their knees and sore necks. There was so much damage to the front end of the car it was totaled by our insurance company. No warning lights were seen that day or even prior to the accident showing that the airbags weren't working properly. My car was not part of 6/18/18 Kia Forte recall#SC165 for airbags and seatbelts. The recall was for Kia Forte 2010-2013. While my Kia was a 2014, I did take possess of it in 2013. Starting in January 2014 I brought the car back to the dealership many times because of all the electric issues I was having with it. Since the dealership could not replicate the codes while the car was there Kia refused to look into or fix the problems. Electrical issues included doors not unlocking, doors not being able to be opened from inside or outside, windows not opening, headlights coming on while the car was parked, emergency flashers turning on without pushing the button, while driving traction/anti-slide light came on without a reason.
SEAT AIR BAG DETECTION IS ON, WENT OFF THEN CAME BACK ON
THE SEAT BELT LIGHT WILL COME ON AND STAY ON EVEN IF NOBODY IS IN THE SEAT. IT WILL SHUT OFF RANDOMLY AND WILL COME BACK ON A FEW MINUTES LATER. THE LIGHT LOOKS LIKE SOMEBODY SITTING IN THE SEAT WITH A BUCKLE ON.
2014 KIA FORTE: VEHICLE WILL BE STATIONARY, IN MOTION, OR TURNING AND THE AIRBAG LIGHT WILL TURN ON AND OFF RANDOMLY, IT HAS BEEN STAYING ON IN THE PAST FEW DAYS. DEALERSHIP STATED "AIRBAG NEEDS REPLACING, BECAUSE IN AN ACCIDENT AIRBAG WILL NOT DEPLOY" THIS CAR IS ONLY 5 YEARS OLD WITH ONE OWNER LESS THAN 75,000 MILES ON IT. SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT WITH HOW THE AIRBAG WAS INSTALLED BY KIA MANUFACTURES.
THE CAR HAS A DESIGN FLAW THAT ALLOWS RAIN TO SOAK THE SEATS, SEAT BELTS, AND ENTIRE TRUCK CREATING BLACK MOLD IN THE SPARE TIRE COMPARTMENT, MOLD IN SIDE THE CAR ON THE SEATS AND SEAT BELTS. THE CAR DOES NOT HAVE TO BE MOVING IN ORDER FOR THE RAIN TO ENTER THE CAR. I HAVE HAD MY CAR DETAILED MULTIPLE TIMES ALONG WITH CLEANING THE MOLD OUT OF THE CAR MYSELF. SINCE OWNING THE CAR SINCE 2014 I HAVE STAYED SICK AND I ONLY FOUND OUT LAST MONTH HOW MY SEATS WERE GETTING SOAKED. THE ENTIRE BACKSEAT AND TRUNK NEED TO BE REPLACED FROM THE MOLD AND RUST FROM THE LEAK. ATTACHED ARE PHOTOS OF THE BACK SEAT AFTER A RAIN.
TAKATA RECALL: ON THE DRIVER SIDE OF MY CAR THE SEAT BELT WILL NOT LOCK AND SECURE FOR THE DRIVER ACROSS THE LAP AND CHEST. THE BUCKLE WORKS FINE. THE SEAT BELT IS NOT SECURING TO ENSURE DRIVER WON'T BE THROWN FROM VEHICLE IN CASE OF AN ACCIDENT. THIS DOES NOT STAY SECURE WHEN IN MOTION OR IF THE CAR IS PARKED. NO LIGHTS APPEAR ON DASH BUT FEEL IT IS STILL A SAFETY ISSUE WITH CONTINUED DRIVING.
THE DRIVER SIDE SEAT TRACK BREAKS AFTER 66,000 MILES OR NINE MONTHS MAKING THE SEAT SHIFT WILDLY WHILE DRIVING. THE DEALER HAS NO SEAT TRACKS IN STOCK AND NO ETA FOR BACK ORDER. THE SEAT LETS DO NO UNCLASP UNLESS JERKED IN SEVERAL TIMES AFTER THE RELEASE BUTTON IS PRESSED.
ON FEB 14TH, 2015 I WAS DRIVING ON A MAIN ROAD, THERE WAS A SNOW BLIZZARD, IT WAS JUST STARTING, I WAS TRYING TO STOP ON AN INTERSECTION MY SPEED WAS LESS THEN 10MPH, THERE WAS A TRUCK IN FRONT OF ME, MY CAR SLIPPED HITTING THE HOOK ON THE TRUCK. THERE IS A SMALL HOLE ON BUMPER THAT SMALL IMPACT ACTIVATED THE AIRBAGS. MY LEFT WRIST WAS BROKEN. ULNA AND RADIUS FRACTURE PRETTY BAD. I WAS TAKEN ON AMBULANCE TO THE HOSPITAL AND GOT SURGERY 2 WEEKS AFTER. IT'S TAKING ME 6 WEEKS OUT OF WORK AND 3 MONTHS TO RECOVER. I BELIEVE THE AIRBAG AT THAT SPEED SHOULDN'T COME OUT. THE FRONT WINDOW WAS BROKEN BECAUSE OF PASSENGER SIT AIRBAG AND SEATBELT ON FRONT SITS HAVE TO BE REPLACE. *TR
BOTH DRIVER AND PASSENGER SEAT BELTS FRAYING AND RIPPING DRIVERS SIDE SEATBELT HAS OPENED 2X DURING VEHICLE OPERATION TAIL LIGHTS FAULTY, SPORADICALLY TURNING ON AND OFF. *TR
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
Data on this page last refreshed .