KIA Forte vs Nissan Maxima

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	KIA Forte	Nissan Maxima
Complaints on file	3,611	8,854
Model years covered	2009–2024	1982–2023
Worst model year	2017	2000
Best model year	2024	2013
Crashes reported	381	466
Fires reported	202	398
Injuries reported	228	330
Deaths reported	21	16
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Transmission & Drivetrain
Share of complaints involving harm	23%	13.7%

KIA Forte by year

1 317 214 406 272 645 326 203 432 190 217 103 95 42 102 46

09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 1,179 32.7%

Electrical System 322 8.9%

Other & Unspecified 322 8.9%

Airbags 294 8.1%

Brakes 219 6.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 216 6.0%

Lights 178 4.9%

Steering 162 4.5%

Nissan Maxima by year

4 8 40 64 74 194 73 78 138 99 140 102 128 195 117 123 133 215 467 225 278 249 1,725 1,152 733 169 99 460 399 138 137 71 127 2 224 155 46 28 33 4 6 2

82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 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

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,466 27.9%

Engine & Cooling 957 10.8%

Electrical System 915 10.3%

Steering 528 6.0%

Airbags 517 5.8%

Fuel & Propulsion 503 5.7%

Brakes 441 5.0%

Body & Structure 355 4.0%