With annual service costs coming in well under $500 and no investigations on file since release, the 2021 Kia Seltos is shaping up to be one of the brand’s better SUVs. However, a few scattered complaints of engines stalling and glitchy fuel-saving tech have been registered.
Key Points
- After its first year on the road, the 2021 Kia Seltos gathered just one recall and 62 complaints. No investigations have yet been filed.
- The car’s biggest problem so far was a major oil leak recall covering nearly 150,000 Kia units total. This is specific to the 2.0L “Nu” engine.
- Some 2021 Seltos drivers have reported that the engine’s auto-shutoff feature will fail to restart the engine when releasing the brake.
- A scarce few reports have been made that the Seltos may not stay put when placed in park, or that it may be difficult to take out of park.
- At present, it may be too early to say whether the Seltos is a reliable vehicle. But it does have a Top Safety Pick award with the IIHS, and Kias are notoriously easy to maintain.
2021 Kia Seltos’ First Big Problem: Major Oil Leak Recall Affecting Almost 150,000 Models
The 2021 Kia Seltos has had a pretty smooth rollout thus far, with only 62 complaints on file with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as of this writing. And 24 of the complaints are for the engine, making up a little more than a third of the total.
The main complaint: The car is stalling at stop signs and red lights. This is often accompanied by excessive oil use, oil warning lights dinging on, and other signs of oil leaks. Which means that more of these instances than not likely relate to the car’s sole recall.
In April of 2021, the car was called back into the shop for piston oil rings which were not properly heat treated. The recall covered nearly 150,000 Kias, including a number of 2020 Souls, and 2021 Souls and Seltos, specifically those packing a 2.0L Nu MPI engine under the hood.
The incident rate here is rather low, but the potential severity of the problem is rather high. Left unchecked, serious damage can be done by driving without adequate oil. Some drivers have reportedly been made to wait on the recall, with at least one eventually requiring a whole new engine.
Fuel-saving Feature Has the Kia Seltos Shutting Down at Stop Signs and Failing to Start Back Up
The 2021 Kia Seltos uses a fuel-saving feature, shutting the engine off at a stop so that it’s not burning gas while idling. When it works, this feature can save drivers hundreds of dollars a year at the pump. When it doesn’t, you wind up stranded at stop signs and red lights.
Cars using this feature are supposed to restart the engine as soon as you take your foot off the brake, but in a handful of 2021 Kia Seltos, this is, reportedly, not happening. In some instances, the entire car will shut down. This isn’t the same thing as engine stall, rather, this is an electrical issue.
Best case scenario, drivers can simply hit the ignition and start’er up again, but it goes without saying: this isn’t what you want to be doing at every single stop sign.
As with the oil leak, this is happening at a low enough rate of incidence that it probably won’t affect you. Unlike with the oil leak, this has yet to result in a recall or an investigation, so drivers dealing with this will likely have to rely on their warranty or pay for the fix out of pocket.
A Few Drivers Have Reported Their SUV Fails to Shift Out of Park, While One Mentions the Vehicle Won’t Stay Put When Parked
One driver reports that their car will not stay put when they put it in park. Other drivers report that the car will get stuck in park, and they are unable to shift it into drive or neutral. The latter of these problems is the more common of the two. Complaints in both instances are few, but the former driver has just one report on file.
When you add this to the other transmission problems, both on the NHTSA website and on various auto forums, you have a clear pattern emerging: This car may have some difficulty when it comes to shifting gears.
Though it probably won’t have any problems, if it does, they’ll most likely be in the transmission.
It May Be Too Early to Call, but the Kia Seltos is Shaping up to Be a Safe, Reliable SUV
For all of the problems listed here, rate of incidence is rather low. In total, there are fewer than 100 complaints on file, with Kia having sold more than 50,000 of these cars in 2021. So the odds of your Seltos being affected are well under one in five hundred.
While the outlook so far is quite positive, remember that the Seltos was only launched in North America in 2021, so it’s difficult to say whether or not the nameplate is reliable at this point. There simply isn’t much data available on which to make an informed guess at present.
But, it has a four-star safety rating with the NHTSA and is a Top Safety Pick award with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. The Seltos also average less than $500 a year for maintenance costs, per Repair Pal.
If the Kia Seltos turns out to be anything less than safe and reliable in the long run, well… that would be surprising.
Photos: Kia
