Owners filed 1,977 complaints about the 2015–2025 Kia Telluride with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the 53rd-most of any vehicle in our Car Problem Index. The 2020 model year drew the most (758), and the single most-reported problem area is wipers / visibility, named in 18% of complaints.
Key findings
- Worst model year: 2020, with 758 complaints, led by exterior lights (183).
- Spike years: 2020 (2.4× the typical year).
- Earliest-failing area: wipers / visibility complaints came at a median of 4k mi on the odometer.
- Fire and crash reports: 23 complaints mention a fire and 39 mention a crash; owners reported 41 injuries and 1 deaths.
Kia Telluride complaints by model year
| Model year | Complaints | Top problem areas | Median mileage | Crashes | Fires |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 758 | Exterior lights (183), Engine (142), Wipers / visibility (135) | 6k mi | 8 | 9 |
| 2021 | 363 | Wipers / visibility (64), Engine (62), Electrical system (41) | 3k mi | 7 | 4 |
| 2022 | 322 | Wipers / visibility (73), Electrical system (69), Engine (29) | 36k mi | 10 | 4 |
| 2023 | 207 | Electrical system (49), Wipers / visibility (29), Transmission / powertrain (24) | 20k mi | 5 | 2 |
| 2024 | 215 | Electrical system (47), Wipers / visibility (29), Automatic emergency braking / collision warning (28) | 8k mi | 6 | 2 |
| 2025 | 112 | Engine (41), Electrical system (21), Wipers / visibility (16) | 7k mi | 3 | 2 |
Newer model years have had less time on the road, so their counts are lower partly because owners have had fewer years to report problems.
Most-reported Kia Telluride problems, and what they cost to fix
| Problem area | Complaints | Share | Median mileage | Repair estimate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wipers / visibility | 346 | 18% | 4k mi | Wiper replacement cost |
| Engine | 312 | 16% | 35k mi | Engine repair cost |
| Electrical system | 285 | 14% | 14k mi | Alternator / electrical repair cost |
| Exterior lights | 206 | 10% | 12k mi | Headlight replacement cost |
| Transmission / powertrain | 168 | 9% | 7k mi | Transmission repair cost |
| Body structure | 154 | 8% | 6k mi | — |
| Automatic emergency braking / collision warning | 90 | 5% | 9k mi | — |
| Visibility (windows, mirrors, wipers) | 82 | 4% | 21k mi | — |
One complaint can name several problem areas, so shares add up to more than 100%.
What this data can and can't tell you
These are unverified reports that owners submitted to NHTSA, counted by model year. They are not defect findings, and they aren't adjusted for sales: a best-selling vehicle collects more complaints simply because more of them are on the road. Use the counts to compare model years of the same vehicle and to see which systems owners complain about most, not to compare how reliable two different models are. See the full methodology.
Other Kia models in the index
- Kia Sorento (4,270)
- Kia Soul (3,124)
- Kia Optima (2,598)
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation, consumer complaint files (nhtsa.gov), model years 2015–2025, retrieved 2026-09-23. Free to cite with a link to this page.