The 2020 Kia Niro Phev has 1 NHTSA recall campaign affecting an estimated 121,411 vehicles. Recall repairs are always free at any authorized dealer. Owners have filed 5 complaints with NHTSA, most often about the power train. Last updated July 5, 2026.
Recall campaigns
POWER TRAIN23V5340002023-07-31121,411 affected
Defect
Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2017-2022 Niro and 2018-2022 Niro Plug-in Hybrid vehicles. Fluid may leak into the printed circuit board inside the hydraulic clutch actuator, which can result in an engine compartment fire.
Consequence
A fire increases the risk of injury.
Remedy
Dealers will inspect and replace the hydraulic clutch actuator as necessary and install a new fuse, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed December 29, 2023. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC276.
Complaints by component
POWER TRAIN
2
SERVICE BRAKES
1
STEERING
1
STRUCTURE:BODY
1
Total complaints5
What owners report
Verbatim reports filed with NHTSA, lightly edited for readability and with personal
information removed.
“The vehicle locks the left wheel when braking. It skids and brakes in one simultaneous action. It doesn't happen often but occasionally if I'm in heavy traffic. I reported this problem to the kia dealer who found no problem. I really feel that this requires investigation as it could cause an…”
“The contact owns a 2020 kia niro. The contact received notification of nhtsa campaign number: 23v534000 (power train) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer…”
“On [xxx], flakes of paint starting peeling away and flew over the windshield while simply driving along an interstate highway at 65 mph on a calm, dry and sunny day in co. (a factory paint application defect of the swp paint color is a common owner complaint) issue reported to kia customer service…”
“The bearings in the steering wheel is going bad. The car is a 2020 and should not have this issue. They’re claiming it’s not covered under basic warranty since my mileage is 77,637, over the 60,000 mileage. Even with this many mileage, a steering wheel bearing should not go bad this quickly.”
“We purchased a new 2020 kia niro ex premium phev on 10/10/2020 and regret it. Less than a week and 50 miles in we had the "check active air flap system" warning. Apparently this a known problem, https://www.kianiroforum.com/threads/2020-phev-check-active-air-flap-system.9142/ how ridiculous that a…”
Defect investigations
InvestigationDP22005 Opened 2023-01-27 · closed 2023-08-07
Pedestrian alert sounds
NHTSA received a petition on or about July 18, 2022, requesting that Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 141 be applied to all electric and hybrid vehicles operating in the United States. The petition can be reviewed at NHTSA.gov under ODI Number 11486072. FMVSS 141 establishes performance requirements for…
Recall, complaint, and investigation records from official NHTSA datasets (FLAT_RCL,
FLAT_CMPL, FLAT_INV), synced weekly. Counts reflect NHTSA records for the 2020 Kia Niro Phev as of
July 5, 2026. Complaint narratives are consumer-submitted and unverified. This page
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