Other electrical problem on the 2014 Kia Forte
2 crashes 7 fires 1 injury 10 of the 29 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2014 Kia Forte report other electrical problem at a median of 60,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles, from 16 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 10,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 130,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 118,445 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
25% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 miles | 36,362 miles | 59,800 miles | 79,750 miles | 128,445 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
Of these reports, 2 a crash, 7 a fire and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $250–$2,000 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 11 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2019, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2018 at 115,000 miles.
By volume the 2014 is the worst of them, which makes this a problem of this specific year rather than of the model as a whole.
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.
Turned onto a fairly narrow street with cars parked on both sides; I was driving down the middle of street until I passed all parked cars; attempted to move back into my lane and steering wheel froze and started jerking; I was headed toward a stop sign pole; I jumped the curb and scrapped right from bumper and tire rim; ignition shut off. Took car to dealer; they kept it for testing and inspection for about 2 weeks and found nothing; we wanted to exchange it but they refused since they did not find anything mechanically wrong with it; we took car back and it has been driving well so far but incident is still in the back of our minds every time we drive it. *tr updated 10/1/2014 *js
On september 14, 2014, my wife and I were driving our 2014 kia forte when the car began to smoke. As soon as I pulled the car over to the shoulder, flames came out of the hood. The local fire department extinguished the fire. The vehicle was a total loss. Kia corporate was notified of the incident however, they do not want to investigate. I need help! *tr
Intermittently, on days of excessive heat (110+) the car will start up with all sensor lights illuminated, cannot shift into gear without pushing the gear shift override button, power steering doesn't work, skid control on, and AC blows hot air. Once it cools down the issue stops and won't present itself again unless very specific conditions are met. Happened first year after having the car, in the summer. Service center couldn't reproduce the issue. Summer year 2, issue happened again, with pictures, service center used heat gun to reproduce the problem. Transmission range sensor/neutral safety switch was replaced. Summer year 3. Issue happened on 118 degree day when starting up car. A week later happened on the freeway while driving on another 118 degree day. New issues include tachometer and speedometer stay at 0 even while driving. Also, display that shows range and gas mileage stopped working properly. Range would adjust when gas peddle pushed, mpg stayed blank and did not come back after car had rested and cooled down.
Also reported on the 2014 Kia Forte
Other engine problem
Other steering problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Excessive oil consumption
Other brake problem
Other body or interior problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 29 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 other electrical problem happen on the 2014 Kia Forte?
Across 16 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 60,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 35,000 miles and a quarter after 80,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2014 Kia Forte?
29 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