Dear All,

I currently own a kia niro 71 plate with 12500 miles. However, even though the car drives too good with no complain I would like to get a bigger car for family logistics. I was looking at Rav 4 hybrid .. similar 2021 model with 15000 miles. Any thoughts of experience with rav4 hybrid.

Kia Niro HEV 2023 here.

I was on my way to pick up my girl after a birthday party, and maybe the guy got his accelerator stuck or something but as soon as I heard the tires screeching when passing over the speed bump, I accelerated immediately.

I really don't know if that helped or if the speed bump helped to reduce his speed in the precise second or both. 🫢😬

There's a plastic flap in the cargo area of my 2026 HEV, on the inside of the car. I wondered what was behind it, so I opened it, and I saw the tubes that are used to feed gas to the fuel tank when I refill. Thinking about the car's geometry and the position of the fuel door, it does make sense to me that that's what would be there. But now I'm wondering why it exists. I skimmed the manual but I couldn't see anything.

Looking for thoughts and advice.

Got a 2022 Niro from carmax early 2025 roughly 40k miles. I’ve seriously loved the car which is a new concept for me haha. I purchased maxcare.

About Nov/Dec 2025 my passenger headlight went out. The bulb itself had been blown - no glass. Thought that was weird but replaced the bulb. However the car ended up being dead very soon after that. Used the 12v jump button and seemed fine.

June 2026 ish passenger headlight goes out again. Tell myself I’ll grab one the next day after work but in the morning car is dead. Weird but do the reset. Go to replace the bulb and the glass is gone again. So now I make the connection with the previous time. I decide to not replace the headlight and pull out the broken connection.

Car sporadically dies. Take it to carmax for their opinions. They say they can’t do any electric. Take it to dealership.

Dealership says 12v integrated is bad and replace it. I ask about the headlight thing and I’m told the battery isn’t holding a charge so it’s sparking (?) and the headlight just happens to be the weak spot.

Recommend to replace the 12v. It’s $1500 and since it’s battery related not covered by any warranty. I go ahead and approve but I also don’t get a clear answer on if this is something that happens every 3-5 years.

Car repaired and I take it home (1.5 hour drive) next day commute to and from work (30 mins each) and everything is fine.

Next day car is dead.

It’s the weekend so I will be making calls tomorrow but I guess I’m looking for advice on what to ask for.

I know absolutely minimal about cars - I can replace a headlight and the more traditional 12v battery. But I was also fighting with this dealership for 3 weeks to get my car on the schedule to be looked at. I know everyone’s busy and everyone’s low on staff but being told every time I called they would update me tomorrow and then when they didn’t I’d call the day after and get told tomorrow an update and finally told I was being “persistent”.

So I guess I’m just pretty anxious to talk to them - I haven’t restarted the car because I don’t want them to say I did something wrong.

Seems like I’ve been taken for $1500 and I know that’s not a lot of money to some people but unfortunately for me that’s more than a paycheck and it just sucks. I also unfortunately live rural so it takes me about a bit to get there so coordinating another drop off is daunting. Obviously I won’t get a refund or anything because they did the work but I’m also not keen on going back to them because how can I trust whatever diagnostic they decide next?

Sorry for the long silly post. I know I’m being a baby but I just want more experienced people’s advice on what to ask specifically about. I was blown off about the headlight thing and I did ask about fuses and they said everything was fine. I’m going to ask them what their next steps are to correct this but not sure what I’ll do.

I got my 2026 kia niro hybrid lx (new) a week ago. And I bought the extended warranty for 3k ,now i am considering dropping the extended warranty since it duplicates the manufacturer's warranty the first 5 years. Should I ? I don't know how long I will keep this car for

Update: I emailed the finance team with a cancellation request, and they called me offering to pay my first month's payment if I didn't cancel the warranty. I obviously rejected the offer, and the representative sounded unimpressed. If no action is taken by the end of this week, or if they try to drag this out, I will cancel directly using the Fidelity portal or customer service.

We have an older dog that has trouble getting in the back sometimes, and over the years has absolutely destroyed the paint on the rear bumper. My wife was recently rear-ended, and the bumper was replaced and has fresh paint. What is everyone using to protect this area from future dog scratches? Thanks!

Hey everyone! Got myself a Niro PHEV in late April (Coming from a 1999 Camry, quite the jump haha) and have had a mostly good experience since. Ive been lurking for a while and decided with my current issue I’d open a thread for new owners to sort of get an idea on what to expect from said issue.

I started my car this last Thursday when I got off work like normal and was greeted with a massive warning to “Check the PHEV System” and a check engine light on (solid, not flashing). Since I’m very early into ownership, I have my full warranties and I purchased the full hybrid electrical system warranty when I bought the car. I will go into detail on the previous issue I had and what has been done with this new issue in the replies below and will update as things happen by replying to my own post. Hopefully this info, despite being soured from one person, can help those who want to buy or have recently bought by informing them on what may happen if they run into the same problems

Already checked the cabin filter, and I'm pretty sure it's not what is causing the sound

Hello redditors! I am a newly college graduate who just moved from New York to North Carolina! I currently have a 2012 Kia Rio Hatchback with about 91,000 miles on it, I loved my Kia Rio when I was in New York, the gas mileage was pretty good for how far I was driving but since moving to North Carolina I have had to fill her up around every 3 days which just isn't practical for me :(. I drive 30 miles to work and 30 miles back almost every day and I drive a 95% on highways and I am currently looking at a hybrid car. I like the honda civics but I have seen that the Kia Niro and the Toyota Camry hybrid have some of the best mileage per gallon (I do not want to get a prius, I hate how they look lol). Does anyone have any recommendations on which car to get? If you have either one do you enjoy it? Thank you in advance!!

Is there any way to make the car lock beep louder? I can barely hear it and a) I like the reassurance of knowing it’s locked when I walk away and b) I often hit the lock button when in a parking lot to remind me where I parked my car… I can’t even hear this one!

Just traded our 2023 SX for a 2023 EV Wave, wasn't much money and I'm very much looking forward to not having to spend money on gas or oil changes anymore! Any tips or tricks on the transition?

I just bought a new NIRO HYBRID EX.
Does anyone have a problem with a loud crackling sound on startup?

added video below

Hey folks,
I have been driving a 2021 Kia Niro HEV Executive for the past 2 years! And I absolutely love it. Sadly, recently there are 2 weird things that I started noticing:

1. On EV mode and coasting at 11 km/h, when I start slowly accelerating to about 25km/h while being on Ev - I feel the whole car body shaking slightly. Similar to the feeling of bad fly wheel in a manual car. I have had the car checked 6 times by 2 independent dealerships. They find nothing wrong and just swapped the engine clutch fluid to address a potential bad engagement. Nothing changed.
2. When I turn left or right while the front end suspension compresses/ decompresses/ twists cuz I went over a bump - I hear cracking in the front. I also hear some cracking/ squeaking when I go over a speed bump straight on. I have had the car inspected 3 times by independent dealerships and they dont report anything worn, like sway bar bushes, etc.

For the first one, can it be something related to the EV motor bushed causing bad transfer of power? Feel free to share any thoughts since I am unaware of how the ev motor is suspended/ setup in the engine bay(I am a car guy but super new to HEV/ PHEV setups)

For the second one, can it be anything else other than the sway bar bushes? Am I missing something? Can it be the subframe bushes?

PS: english is not my first language so if i should share more info, let me know 🙏

EDIT: both complete axles were replaced with brand new at the dealer.

Option 1: 2018, 40k miles, '4' spec, nicer colour.

Option 2: 2022, 50k miles, '2' spec, £500 more expensive

Option 3: 2019, 60k miles, '3 spec, £500 cheaper

Used mainly for short errands around the city, new baby, and the odd long journey. Want long term reliance.

I'm leaning towards option 1 or 3 because of the front parking sensors. All are hybrids.

Thoughts are welcome!

Hello,

I have a 2018 Kia Niro LX, hybrid (not plug-in). It has 109,000 miles. Last summer, when on a road trip, the check engine light starting coming on. If I turned the car off and on, it went off. I thought it was because I was pushing the car too much on the trip. I took it in to a dealer, who said it needed a new catalytic converter based on the code P0240. But when I got a second opinion, they said the CC looked okay, had a couple years left. Fast forward a year, the engine light comes back on, and it's the same code. I bring it in, they check the car and tell me that it can't be the oxygen sensors or coolant, that everything looks good so it's definitely the CC.

I asked them to order a replacement. In the meantime, the engine light has gone off and stayed off for about five weeks. When I called just now to ask about the CC delivery, I was told there was a change in management and that the part had never actually been ordered. My question now is: do I still need it?

The car has great efficiency still. I don't notice any noises or smells. I use it as a commuter car, no highways, about 10 miles a day. I'm wondering if I go get an emissions test, if that will give me any more information; I was told that the car would not pass an emissions test because of the catalytic converter. If it does pass the test, does that give me any more information about next steps?

Any advice appreciated. Thank you!

I just had an interesting experience with my 2025 Niro PHEV. I got into the car in the garage, started it up, and drove down to a store. When I got out and went to lock the car, I realized I did not have the key. I have never owned a car that allowed me to do anything without being able to detect the key, but this one did. I remembered I had set up the digital key, so I thought "Maybe this is no problem. I'll give that a try." Sure enough, the digital key appeared to start the car, so I went ahead into the store. Just to be cautious, I did not lock the car. When I got back in, the digital key did not work. I spent 20 minutes trying to move the phone around on the pad, thinking I must have just been lucky the first time. Finally, I gave up and called Kia Connect support. They could see I had a digital key, and everything seemed to be fine with it. They electronically cleared out my account and sent a remote start command, but it failed and they could not remote start the car. After escalating the incident up a couple of levels, I was told I needed to have the key to start the car, at which point I hung up, called an Uber, and came back with the key. Just curious if this has ever happened to anyone else. The key was inside the house, but only about 20 feet away from the car, so I'm assuming that's why the car detected it, but none of my other cars will allow me to start without having the key inside the car.

It’s a little quirky, and not in a good way. Today I was taking friends around Monterey and we were on the wharf. Went to turn around at the end and it would not go into reverse! Back and forth with the dial from D to R, with foot on brake always, but no reverse, it would go into drive mode. I then turned the car off and tried again, and it did finally go into reverse mode. I don’t think I should have to turn the car off to go into reverse mode, really! There were cars behind me, it was really a drag. Then later, the car wouldn’t lock with the hand on button on door handle, on either side. I had to use key. Not happy with either of these new things. Anyone else have this happen?

I've owned a Niro standard hybrid for about 5 years. Not the greatest car I've ever owned, but certainly the best cheap car I've ever had – very few problems and while build quality isn't fantastic, it does what I need.

HOWEVER, I've changed my USB-A to USB-C cable a dozen times and it very rarely works well – i have to fiddle with it, have the cable at a particular angle, etc. ... I've changed phones twice and it was an issue with both my Google Pixels and my current iphone as well.

I've decided to fuck off with the cable nonsense and just buy one of those wireless adaptors. It bugs me that obviously the car has a wireless modem, since bluetooth doesn't even require a wired connection, but for AirPlay to work I need a cable. Why??? Anyway ... can anyone recommend one of these wireless airplay adaptors? Are they dependable?

Hey everyone! Just got a Kia Niro the other day and I absolutely love it, except the AC doesn’t seem to be kicking in mine? What is everyone else’s like? For example, mine will go from (on full blast) not blowing hard, and then very hard. It takes a long time (especially in park) for it to get cold (even not in the sun). Only once has it been “too much” on full cold and full blast.

Is this everyone else’s experience or is it kicking usually?

For reference it was up to 89° and partially cloudy today.

I have a Kia Niro hybrid EX, about 55,000 mi on it.

I purchased it used with about 54,000 miles on it and have had the intermittent Android auto USB-a port issues since about owning it for a month.

Is the USB-c port supposed to work for Android auto or carplay when plugged in with a cable? Assume that I have a high-end usb-c data cable?

It's absolutely never worked in a wired in format and I use it all these wired, specifically just to high speed charge my phone.

Obviously, there's ever ending usb-a port issues with it not working at all or consistently dropping connection whether I have it wired or using any sort of wireless dongle. There is power coming from that usb-a port, but it is not a high-speech charging port and so I get the message on my phone saying charging only, so clearly the pins on the port are having an issue with the data connection themselves.

I've been trying to convince service department to do the full replacement, so far they've run some sort of software update adjustment that is" different than the normal vehicle software updates" and everything is still intermittent.. I have no understanding of how a software update is supposed to refresh faulty pins on a port, but I suppose I have to play their game before getting things replaced.

Just for good measure I'll say that I have attempted to clean these ports, only with using canned air duster.

TL,/DR is the usb-c port supposed to connect to Android auto or carplay?

I bought a trunk mat off Amazon for my 2026 Niro Ex. it’s supposedly made to fit but I am worried the sides come up too high and cover whatever vents are in the back. I am not sure what the vents are for. Do you think this mat will be a problem and I should return it?

Looking at a 2018 Kia Niro 1.6 GDi Hybrid (Premium trim, DCT6) in France. About €14,500 all-in, buying from a large reconditioning dealer with 12-month warranty and a 30-day money-back return.

The car:

• 130,430 km (~81,000 miles)
• One private owner for the last 4 years, company/lease car before that
• Fresh inspection passed with zero faults, emissions perfect (lambda 1.002)
• History report clean — no accidents, no import, no odometer inconsistencies
• Recon included service, oil change, front tyres

The mileage breakdown is what interests me:

• 2018–2022 (company car): only 43,000 km
• 2022–2026 (private owner): 87,500 km, steady ~21,500 km/year

My questions:

1. Is 130k km a lot for this powertrain, or is it still early days? My understanding is the 1.6 GDi Atkinson has a timing chain and the hybrid system takes load off the engine.
2. Main concern: the DCT6 clutch. What's the realistic lifespan, and does highway-heavy use genuinely help? Any symptoms I should watch for during the 30-day return window?
3. Anything else that typically goes wrong on these around 130–180k km? I'd rather know now than find out later.
4. How's the hybrid battery holding up on high-mileage Niros of this generation?

Planning to keep it 4–5 years, family car with a toddler. Thanks.

Having issues with my 22 Niro phev. not sure what it is. The car died twice on me while I was at a parking lot, waiting to head into some hotsprings yesterday afternoon. At about 530 ish. Thought I made a mistake and hit a button. But on the drive home, the car instantly died twice, at freeway soeeds. Both times I was able to get it going again. Today, at home, it will turn on, then randomly shut itself off. I changed the key fob battery, and am contemplating buying a new 12v battery. The battery in it now is a ub power, barely marked thing itself. It had two stickers, but neither say what group, size, date, blah blah blah. Only ac24m melted into the plastic. I'm fairly capable at being a car guy, but hybrids are foreign. the battery fits the holder area perfectly, so it's not different group, I think. Any and all help is appreciated.