Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault on the 2010 Kia Forte
Only 6 reports for this mode came with an odometer reading, which is too few for percentiles to mean anything. The page is here because someone linked to it; treat the figures as anecdotes, and see the full report for this year instead.
When airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault gets reported
There are 11 reports of airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault on the 2010 Kia Forte, 6 with a mileage attached. That is too few to place the failure on the odometer with any confidence.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 6th most-reported problem on this model year.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | — | 97,363 miles | — | — |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Putting it right typically runs $300–$1,600 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 5 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2015, at a median of 65,000 miles, and latest on the 2011 at 110,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 carries the most reports, with 33; the 2010 has 11. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Vehicle has intermittent air bag indicator light. It has come on repeatedly over the past year. No codes have ever been found. Now that the vehicle is out of warranty the airbag light is on solid and will not go off. Kia needs to be investigated, there has been countless models of kia vehicles that have had airbag problems. Most are loose connections that vibrate loose. This is unacceptable for a safety feature. Kia dealers are charging excessive fees to clear codes and wiggle wires. $110 diagnostic fees. Only to have the lights pop up again. There should be a mandatory 5 year unlimited miles warranty on safety features on vehicles. I am now driving my car without airbags and refuse to pay kia to fix them temporarily. Something needs to be done. Do some research you will see how many people have had loose connections on air bag sensors in the past 5 years. *tr
I have a 2010 kia forte ex. I am the only owner as I purchased this vehicle brand new. On 5/29/2015 I was driving approximately 20 MPH and the airbag light came on. I was not involved in any crash. There is no reason for the light to be on. I contacted my local kia service department and was told the following: "you need to bring it in and we will hook it up to our computer and see what code it displays to see what the problem is.". Then he ask the mileage. I told him and he stated it would cost me "$110.00 for the diagnosis.". I ask what was there a recall on the airbags or the airbag indicator light and he stated #not on the year your car was made.". I am not going to pay them over $100.00 for this. This is supposed to be a safety features on my car. I believe should be free for them to test a safety feature of such importance. Not to mention it would be good customer service. But they do not think so. I told him I have heard of several kia's that have had recalls for airbag issues and he said yes but not the 2010's. I believe this should be investigated . I just believe it is another way to punish the working class of society…
Just a few days after purchasing this vehicle new from the back in aug 2009, the drivers air bag light came on while driving. There was no accident involved. I returned it to the dealer and was told the problem was fixed. Since that first visit, I continued to return to the dealership with the same problem at least 5 times within the year. I was told parts were replaced, but the problem kept returning. When I sent a letter to the headquarters, I was contacted and told I would just have to keep returning the car to the dealer for testing and repairs, but I wasn't guaranteed a loaner during the repair. I figured at some point they would just start charging me for every visit, without completely fixing the problem. Up to that point it wasn't costing me for the diagnosis, but it was costing me in time away from work, and rental fees. Since I lived in texas at the time the safety inspection did not include the air bag light. However, I just moved to virginia and theirs does, so now I have a car I can't register, hence can't drive. I made an appt with a local dealer to see if they can resolve this (pending). However, I don't know if I…
Also reported on the 2010 Kia Forte
Other engine problem
Other wheel or tire problem
Tire pressure monitor failure
Other powertrain problem
Cruise control failure
Other brake problem
How far this goes
This page is kept out of search results because 11 reports is not enough to publish percentiles from. It stays reachable because somebody looking at this exact car would rather see the reports than be told there are none.
Complaints are voluntary, so 11 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault happen on the 2010 Kia Forte?
Across 6 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 95,000 miles. A quarter were filed before — and a quarter after —. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault on the 2010 Kia Forte?
11 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.3 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed