Volvo 850 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	Volvo 850	KIA RIO
Complaints on file	732	1,816
Model years covered	1993–2000	2000–2023
Worst model year	1996	2002
Best model year	1997	2023
Crashes reported	45	229
Fires reported	51	149
Injuries reported	38	163
Deaths reported	3	8
Most complained-about part	Brakes	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	18.7%	30.2%

Volvo 850 by year

96 108 148 235 142 2 1

93 94 95 96 97 99 00

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

What breaks

Brakes 117 16.0%

Transmission & Drivetrain 73 10.0%

Electrical System 73 10.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 67 9.2%

Engine & Cooling 55 7.5%

Tires 45 6.1%

Airbags 42 5.7%

Seats 37 5.1%

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%