Kia Telluride reliability by year
17 recall campaigns and 1,947 owner complaints across 6 model years. Best year to buy: 2025. Year to avoid: 2020.
Worst model years to avoid → — the single year to avoid for every model line we track, ranked side by side.
Years to avoid — and why 1 flagged on the NHTSA record
Cleaner on the data: 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 . Still verify the specific vehicle.
At-a-glance: every year color-coded
Each cell shows the last two digits of the model year and its 0–10 reliability score from NHTSA data. Click any year to see the full record. ★ best year · ✕ year to avoid.
Year-by-year reliability 6 model years · newest first
Per-year recall counts add up to 33, more than the 17 campaigns above, because a single NHTSA campaign often covers several model years and is counted once in each.
Common trouble spots across the Telluride aggregated across 6 model years
Common questions
What's the best year to buy a Kia Telluride?
Based on NHTSA complaint volume and severity weighting, the 2025 Kia Telluride scores 7.2/10 — the strongest in the 2020–2025 range. 106 complaints on file, 3 active recalls. Reliability scores reflect the federal complaint record, not subjective owner reviews.
Which Kia Telluride year should I avoid?
The 2020 Kia Telluride scores 5.4/10 — the weakest in the lineup. 748 owner complaints with NHTSA, 7 active recalls. That doesn't mean every 2020 is a problem — it means failure rates run higher than peer model years on the same platform.
Which years of the Kia Telluride should I avoid?
On the NHTSA complaint and recall record, the model years to be most careful with are 2020 (avoid — the powertrain — 1 fatality report and 1 fire-related complaint on the powertrain). The cleaner years on the data are 2025, 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021. This is our read of the federal data, not a substitute for a pre-purchase inspection of the specific vehicle.
How many years of the Kia Telluride are tracked?
6 model years (2020 through 2025) with NHTSA records on file. Total across the lineup: 17 distinct recall campaigns and 1,947 owner complaints. Those campaigns land on 33 model-year entries in total, because one campaign often covers several years at once — which is why per-year recall counts add up to more than the campaign count.
What's the most-reported problem on the Kia Telluride?
visibility is the most-reported category — 365 complaints across 6 model years. Average shop repair runs about $350.