Kia Soul 2014

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

0.55 per 1,000

1.2 times this nameplate’s own median · from 72 complaints filed in the first three years, of 902 ever. 95% lower bound 0.42.

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 553 complaints

oil	277	50%
catalytic	127	23%
converter	123	22%
catalytic converter	117	21%
campaign engine	78	14%
knocking	76	14%

Exterior Lighting 130 complaints

flicker	45	35%
flickering	18	14%
headlights flicker	17	13%
flicker off	16	13%
using	16	13%
using turn	14	11%

Electrical System 98 complaints

flicker	26	27%
flickering	13	14%
turn signal	12	13%

When it breaks

11% of reported failures happened before 30,000 miles (median 89,000 miles, from 624 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

3 investigations covering this model year, 3 of which list a recall campaign.

Non-crash Vehicle 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:

10554720 · 10568239 · 10576877 · 10578067 · 10579438 · 10586447

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.