Acura CL vs KIA RIO

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Acura CL	KIA RIO
Complaints on file	731	1,816
Model years covered	1997–2004	2000–2023
Worst model year	2001	2002
Best model year	1998	2023
Crashes reported	49	229
Fires reported	4	149
Injuries reported	35	163
Deaths reported	7	8
Most complained-about part	Transmission & Drivetrain	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	13%	30.2%

Acura CL by year

106 69 66 11 317 71 89 2

97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Transmission & Drivetrain 333 45.6%

Airbags 77 10.5%

Electrical System 63 8.6%

Engine & Cooling 42 5.7%

Brakes 30 4.1%

Suspension 27 3.7%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 26 3.6%

Acceleration & Cruise Control 25 3.4%

KIA RIO by year

4 355 171 103 53 46 89 64 57 54 38 32 75 218 75 69 110 37 42 29 37 23 15 20

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 399 22.0%

Airbags 274 15.1%

Brakes 184 10.1%

Electrical System 159 8.8%

Other & Unspecified 130 7.2%

Fuel & Propulsion 102 5.6%

Transmission & Drivetrain 98 5.4%

Seat Belts 64 3.5%