KIA Sorento vs Chevrolet Malibu

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 Sorento	Chevrolet Malibu
Complaints on file	13,981	29,413
Model years covered	2003–2026	1964–2025
Worst model year	2012	2010
Best model year	2009	2022
Crashes reported	481	1,224
Fires reported	653	234
Injuries reported	371	743
Deaths reported	11	38
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	10.8%	7.6%

KIA Sorento by year

421 341 457 382 224 319 79 3 2,077 1,208 1,297 1,375 960 1,629 1,034 336 626 189 357 287 201 53 119 7

03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 4,214 30.1%

Electrical System 1,380 9.9%

Other & Unspecified 1,279 9.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,162 8.3%

Body & Structure 937 6.7%

Lights 864 6.2%

Airbags 719 5.1%

Brakes 703 5.0%

Chevrolet Malibu by year

1 1 2 2 4 6 3 3 1 1 3 693 1,480 1,227 1,379 1,005 755 773 1,639 1,386 1,475 1,253 1,489 2,356 2,204 1,526 1,472 1,383 563 399 1,443 1,174 1,215 307 332 132 149 103 59 15

64 74 75 78 79 80 81 82 83 86 89 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 24 25

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

What breaks

Steering 5,713 19.4%

Electrical System 4,816 16.4%

Engine & Cooling 3,161 10.7%

Brakes 2,824 9.6%

Lights 2,060 7.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,682 5.7%

Stability & Traction Control 1,330 4.5%

Other & Unspecified 1,290 4.4%