Owners have filed 1,837 complaints on the Kia Telluride, covering 2020–2025. The system named most often is Visibility/wiper (299 reports). Worst years by volume: 2020, 2021, 2022; cleanest: 2025, 2023, 2024. 37 reports describe a crash, 21 a fire, 1 a death. On average the car was 2.2 years old when the problem happened.
What breaks on Kia Telluride
Grouped by the system owners named — percentages are shares of all 1,837 Telluride complaints. Open any row for the full reports in owners' own words.
Visibility/wiper 299 Read
I bought this car in August 2025 and I have already gotten three cracks in the windshield. This seems very off compared to all the other cars I’ve owned, which most have had none or maybe one small crack from debris off the road. This could cause a problem cracking so easily that I’m afraid if it hits just right, I…
I purchased a 2025 Kia Telluride on 6/23/2025. In February 2026 I started having issues with the windshield wiper system. When I spray the front windshield, it would leak fluid on the back windshield. Brought the car in for service at the end of February and they said I needed a new motor, but never called me back to…
On June 3, 2026, my 2025 Kia Telluride was struck by a minor piece of road debris. Rather than cracking, spiderwebbing, or chipping as federally regulated safety glass is engineered to do under FMVSS No. 205, the laminated windshield suffered a catastrophic structural and material failure. The minor piece of road…
Electrical System 223 Read
The vehicle had been throwing different Electrical Codes for several months around August through December 2025. The last code it through was an engine management system error. On December 22nd 2025 the car caught fire in the engine and exploded while parked in the driveway. Fire investigators are leaning towards in…
The front passenger seat of my 2024 Kia Telluride began emitting smoke while I was driving it. It quickly incapsulated the entire interior of my vehicle in thick smoke. The fire department had to be called to extinguish the fire. Prior to a fire starting while I was driving my vehicle, my vehicle had been in for a…
The KIA Telluride Tow Hitch Harness Module has been responsible for getting humidity and dirt inside and starting a fires. So, KIA has recalled this issue BACK IN AUGUST, 2022 and told everyone not to park the vehicle inside or near any buildings and expected a solution this October. However, it's December and I have…
Exterior Lighting 187 Read
Hooded projector lights provide very limited vision on dark roads. We hit a deer and have significant damage to our vehicle due to this issue. Our brights do not come on either. Nothing happens when we select the bright option
Front lights gets foggy when it gets hand wash, contacted the dealership and they are willing to replace the “Gasket” because the headlights must have “ventilation”. While driving with nobody in front the collision warning went off non stop, the road was completely clear
Headlights does not display full visibility. It seems as if the headlights are cut off with blind spots. Headlights doesn't have full visibility. Headlight projection is not 100 percent. Dealership technician have said Kia doesn't have a fix for it. When its very dark outside their are blind spots. Vehicle smokes from…
Engine 170 Read
The contact owned a 2024 Kia Telluride. The contact stated that, while the vehicle was turned off in her driveway, she observed flames emanating from the interior of the vehicle on the driver's side. No warning lights were illuminated. Local emergency services arrived and were able to extinguish the flames. The…
Was driving heard a noise and then lost power to gas peddle and bunch of smoke and then flames coming from front of car got out and there were flames coming from hood eventually flames died down and was just smoking police &fire department were called. Piston blew through engine block these engine have a known oil…
The contact owns a 2021 Kia Telluride. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and turned off, there was smoke coming from the vehicle. The contact stated that the engine located on the rear driver's side had caught on fire. The vehicle was extinguished by the Fire Department. A fire report was filed, and…
Power Train 144 Read
The vehicle was parked(placed in park on gear shift) in a friends driveway, facing upward on approx. 15Deg incline with the engine idling. My wife exited the vehicle and walked around the front of the vehicle to the houses front entrance where she spoke briefly with the owner inside the front door. On leaving the…
Placed the car in park then it started rolling backwards and crashed
The contact owns a 2022 Kia Telluride. The contact stated that while the vehicle was idle and in park(P) in the driveway, the vehicle jerked forward while his wife was in the front driver seat. As the contact's wife checked the gear shifter, the vehicle suddenly accelerated and crashed into the contact's garage door…
Structure 128 Read
The lower opening in the front grille allows road debris to damage the A/C condenser. This repair has an average cost of 2500.00 to 2800.00
My vehicle has 300 miles on it and I owned it for 5 days. I was driving when the front sunroof glass exploded and blew glass up and out of the vehicle. It scratched my roof, panoramic glass and multiple other panels. Kia of Chattanooga was very unprofessional when I brought this to their attention. The sales manager,…
Friday, March 13, 2025, at approximately 11:50 AM PST while driving on Interstate 5 northbound, heard a loud explosion like a gunshot, with no vehicles in close proximity, then hearing the rush of wind, opened the interior sunroof cover, discovered the sunroof glass shattered
Suspension 63 Read
Vehicle at 700 miles is having suspension issues causing bumping and shaking during the ride making it unsafe
This vehicle only has 31,000 miles on it and I've already had one door trim molding replaced. (now the rest of the trim doesn't match so that's great for aesthetics) The interior door panel replaced because it was loose. This car developed a "thumping" noise around 25K miles when turning at low speeds. Took it to the…
My rear shocks are making bumping and rattling noise at slow speeds. It also has a stiff ride in some situations
Visibility 60 Read
The contact owns a 2025 Kia Telluride. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, there was a loud sound coming from the sunroof glass before the glass shattered. There was no impact on the sunroof glass to cause the failure. Small glass fragments fell into the second and third row seats. The…
The contact owns a 2025 Kia Telluride. The contact stated that the windshield had significantly cracked without impact. The contact stated that the crack appeared to have started from underneath the seal at the bottom of the driver's side of the windshield. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, where the contact…
The contact owns a 2025 Kia Telluride. The contact stated while driving approximately 61-62 MPH, the sunroof exploded without impact. There was no injury sustained. There was an abnormally loud sound coming from the vehicle. The local dealer was contacted, who confirmed there was no coverage for the sunroof glass. The…
Telluride years to avoid — and the clean ones
Complaints per model year. More reports usually means more cars on the road as well as more trouble, so read the crash and fire columns alongside the count.
| Model year | Complaints | Top system | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Air Bags,seat Belts | 2 | 2 | |
| 2024 | Air Bags | 5 | 2 | |
| 2023 | Air Bags | 5 | 1 | |
| 2022 | Air Bags | 10 | 4 | |
| 2021 | Air Bags | 7 | 4 | |
| 2020 | Air Bags | 8 | 8 |
The same model year, different builds
Every complaint carries the first 11 characters of the VIN — plant, year, body and engine. That is a production series, and complaints are spread across them very unevenly.
| Measure | Value |
|---|---|
| Distinct production series | 393 |
| Average complaints per series | 4.7 |
| Worst single series | 21 complaints |
| Average age at failure | 2.2 years |
A model average of 4.7 hides a worst series at 21. Enter a VIN above to see the numbers for that exact build instead of the model as a whole.
Owners reported these. Find out if yours is one of them.
- Complaints matched to the exact production run, not just the model
- What the car is worth given what tends to fail on it
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How we count
Every figure here comes from complaints owners filed with NHTSA — 1,100,006 of them, covering 1,982 models built between 1981 and 2026.
A complaint is an unverified report: someone wrote down what happened to their car. It is not a confirmed defect and not a recall. What makes the volume useful is the pattern — when thousands of owners of the same build describe the same failure, that is a signal no marketing brochure will give you.
Two things we do that the source does not. First, we compute the age of the car at the moment of failure from the incident date and the model year. Second, we group complaints by the first 11 characters of the VIN — the production series — so a bad plant run does not disappear into a model-wide average.
Frequently asked questions
What are the worst years for the Telluride?
By complaint volume, 2020, 2021, 2022 drew the most owner reports. Bear in mind that popular years put more cars on the road, so check the crash and fire columns too.
Which Telluride years are the cleanest?
2025, 2023, 2024 have the fewest complaints on file. For recent years that can simply mean the cars are young.
How many complaints does the Kia Telluride have?
1,837 owner complaints filed with NHTSA, covering 2020–2025. Of those, 37 describe a crash and 21 a fire.
Are these complaints verified?
No. They are unverified reports from owners. NHTSA publishes them as filed and investigates only a fraction. The value is in the pattern, not in any single report.
Can I check complaints for one specific car?
Yes — enter its VIN above. We match the first 11 characters, which identify the plant, year, body and engine, so you get complaints on that exact production series rather than the whole model.