Kia Soul 2013

Safety complaints filed by owners in the first three years, per 1,000 sold.

0.45 per 1,000

1.0 times this nameplate’s own median · from 53 complaints filed in the first three years, of 664 ever. 95% lower bound 0.33.

Against its own model years

The model year carries far more information than the badge, so this is the comparison that matters.

Model year	Per 1,000	Complaints
2010	1.07	72
2011	0.51	43
2012	0.43	47
2013	0.45	53
2014	0.55	72
2015	0.44	64
2016	0.24	35
2017	0.26	34
2018	0.41	45
2019	0.23	23
2020	1.94	165
2021	0.75	55
2022	0.26	17
2023	0.69	41

What owners describe

Phrases over-represented in these complaints compared with the same component on every other vehicle. Counts are complaints containing the phrase.

Engine 285 complaints

campaign	74	26%
converter	64	23%
engine engine	61	22%
catalytic	60	21%
campaign engine	58	20%
catalytic converter	56	20%

Steering 152 complaints

coupler	38	25%
clicking	33	22%
steering coupler	26	17%
wheel makes	16	11%
coupling	12	8%
souls	11	8%

Service Brakes 99 complaints

tool	52	52%
tool confirms	50	50%
confirms	50	50%
confirms parts	49	49%
repair yet	46	46%
yet exceeded	42	42%

When it breaks

17% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 91,000 miles, from 365 complaints that recorded one).

Failures arrive late and spread out, which looks like wear. Service history matters more than model year here.

What NHTSA did

4 investigations covering this model year, 3 of which list a recall campaign. Owners had filed 43 complaints about this component over roughly 122 months before an investigation opened.

Hyundai and Kia ABS Module Fires

What owners and forums say

Not built yet. This panel is meant to carry community sentiment beside the filed-complaint data, so the two can be compared. Showing something weaker here would defeat its purpose.

Check this yourself

Example records behind this page:

10494499 · 10501470 · 10513853 · 10514820 · 10514982 · 10515045

Limits of this figure. It counts safety complaints filed with the federal government, which is a floor on failures and not a census: problems that only cost money are under-reported. Complaint rates also reflect how likely a brand’s owners are to file, which cannot be separated from how often the car fails. Sales are calendar-year and the denominator for this nameplate is automated checks only, not verified against an external source.