Complaint volume
709 consumer-submitted complaints are matched to this model year. Treat the count as a research signal, then read the actual summaries for repeated symptoms.
Complaint records
2020 Kia Telluride Complaints
709 consumer-submitted complaints on record for the 2020 Kia Telluride, grouped by component category.
709 Total complaints
8 Crash reports
7 Fire reports
7 Injury reports
Complaint data reflects consumer-submitted reports. A complaint is not proof
of a defect, recall, or manufacturer fault. Enriched severity fields come
from official bulk records when the complaint can be matched by ODI number.
Buyer interpretation
How to use these complaints before buying
Complaint records are most useful when they turn into inspection points, seller questions, and comparison checks against nearby model years.
Pattern to inspect
The most common categories are exterior lighting, visibility/wiper, unknown or other. Use those categories as a test-drive checklist instead of judging the vehicle from the total count alone.
Severity flags
Enriched records include 8 crash reports, 7 fire reports, 7 injury reports, and 1 fatality report. These fields come from complaint records and should be read in context.
Mileage clue
Mileage is available on 188 complaints, with an average reported failure mileage of 18,754 miles. Compare that with the mileage on the listing.
Questions to ask the seller
- Have you had any problems related to exterior lighting, visibility/wiper, unknown or other?
- Can I see recent maintenance and repair records?
- Has the vehicle ever been towed, involved in a crash, or repaired for the same issue twice?
- Can we also check the recall record for this 2020 Kia Telluride?
Used-car checklist
Use these complaints before the test drive.
Build a buyer checklist to turn these issues into questions and inspection points.
2020 Kia Telluride
Build buyer checklist Compare with other years Sends year, make, and model to pre-fill your checklist.
How severe are the 2020 Kia Telluride complaints?
8 Crash
7 Fire
7 Injury
1 Fatality
7 Towed
6 Medical attention
What are the most common 2020 Kia Telluride complaint categories?
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 162
VISIBILITY/WIPER 121
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 86
ENGINE 80
STRUCTURE 34
POWER TRAIN 31
SUSPENSION 19
VISIBILITY 12
POWER TRAIN,ENGINE 11
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 9
709 total complaints on record
Latest complaints
| Date | Component | Summary | Severity | Mileage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2024 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | High beam lights stopped working. Regular lights work. Seems like this is happening to other owners of same make and model year. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING,SEAT BELTS,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | HEADLIGHTS: have DEPLORABLE visibility, particularly around corners making it nearly impossible to see at night. It is GROSSLY DANGEROUS, and unacceptable to equip a vehicle with such low quality headlights. However, On January 13th 2024 the hi beams ceased to function at all, which has left me unable to drive at night. As a single mother this is a huge hinderance for my young sons and their activities especially this time of year getting dark at 4:30pm. DRIVER SEATBELT MALFUNCTION: The seatbelt has all but completely failed to retract upon removal, leaving the entire thing loose causing to twist and get caught in the door. It will not retract upon collision which also is a PRIORITY SAFETY CONCERN. DRIVER SIDE MIRROR: Gets stuck in the folded position, and more times than not, I then have to manually unfold it. This causes the saved position for my optimal rear visibility to get comprised and I then have to adjust while driving which is ALSO dangerous. The dealer has addressed this and said the wiring was loose to the mirror inside the driver door and assured me they fixed it, however is STILL getting stuck 90 percent of the time. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | Oil leaking from the oil filter housing suddenly. Most of the leaking happens after a cold start. As engine warms the leaking is less noticable. Mechanic found the back of the housing covered in oil but not the drain plug or the oil pan. No prior leaks until [XXX]. Finding that the part is on backorder with no date. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6) | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | Started to notice the high beams where not working. The dash light shows the high beams were on but the lights never changed. I purchased 2 new low/high beams bulbs. That did not fix the issue. My telluride has over 60k miles on it. Doing teacher everyone who has a 2020 kia telluride has this issue just after vehicle hits just over 60k miles. Never noticed before as we never drove at night time before november. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | SERVICE BRAKES | The contact owns a 2020 Kia Telluride. The contact stated that while depressing the brake pedal, the brake pedal extended to the floorboard and the vehicle failed to immediately stop. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who replaced the brake pads. After retrieving the vehicle, the failure reoccurred. During the failure, the ABS warning light illuminated. The cause of the failure was not yet determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 73,000. | Crash: No Fire: No | 73,000 |
| Jan 2024 | SUSPENSION | Rear self leveling suspension has gotten stiff and creates a severely rough and uncomfortable ride, especially when in the middle or third row. It can be jolting. I had the TSB 113 repair completed and ride is moderately better, but still very stiff. TSB 113 eliminated the clunking in the rear end but the ride is so stiff it creates discomfort for the occupants. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | I have a fairly brand new 2020 Kia Telluride with only about 50,000 miles on it and one day out of no where the car won't start and now I'm getting a check ESC message. Since it's fairly new I had it jump started and the car quickly turned on and ran fine for the rest of the day. The following day the car hesitated when turning on but it started. I was driving and when I got to a light and when the light turned green and went to take off the car wouldn't go. It turned off again and would start back up. I went into the KIA forum and noticed that a lot of Kia Telluride owners are experiencing this same issue but all seem to have different resolutions from needing a new battery, or a new starter or that the IBU system is blown. This is very frustrating because I don't necessarily know where I need to begin and I don't want to have waste my money with trying to figure out exactly what is going on with my car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | My high beam headlights are not working. There is no change whether the high beams are on or off. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | ENGINE | This vehicle only has 77,000 miles and it is burning oil like crazy. I have already had a Hyundai engine replaced on a Sonata and it was showing the same signs as this Telluride. When the Hyundai engine blew we were on the freeway and it just slowed down to a crawl as cars where flying past. Clearly if the same thing happens again it is yet another safety issue that could be avoided. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | The high beam on my headlights are not working. As I switch back and forth you can't see a brightness. There is no notification of false beam or anything. Have not used the high beam often. Just notice this issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | High beams quit working. I have replaced the relay, fuse, and bulbs. Low beams work but the high beam functionality is 100% lost. My trim utilizes the single bulb with electronic curtain to toggle between low and high beams. Seems to be a deeper issue within the headlight assembly. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Jan 2024 | ENGINE | Motor was completely empty of oil 2000 miles before oil change was due. There were no warning lights. The engine continues to have oil consumption issues, requiring 2-4 quarts per week to be added. The Kia dealership in Hickory NC ran an oil consumption test and said there was nothing wrong with the vehicle and refused further investigation into the issue. They also failed to replace the housing for the oil filter properly, causing the oil to leak out. One can smell the oil burning from the exhaust when the car is running. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | Brights stopped working. They do not turn on, even though you pull the lever, and the dash light comes on | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | Right high beam stopped working. Low beams work, no indicators, bulb has been changed. Jist stopped working. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | Bright head light stopped working without any cause. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | High beams failure. Yes it is available for inspection. I live/travel in rural area with large sized wildlife. I require the ability to have high beams. I haven’t taken it to a service center, nor has any inspection been conducted. No warning lights, to the contrary, the interior instrumentation shows high beams are on even though they aren’t. This has been since I purchased the vehicle 2 months ago. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | STRUCTURE,UNKNOWN OR OTHER | My vehicle is 3 years old and the frame of my sunroof snapped. The warranty only covers the motor and the frame is what is damaged. When I called the warranty, they said this is a very common problem among Kia Tellurides. Why is this not a recall? It would cost me $4,000 to repair. This is not right. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER | While driving at highway speeds (above 50mph,) the Telluride’s front windows (driver and passenger) will not roll up. It seems that the The pressure that builds up in the cabin is pulling the glass out too far and when the window tries to make the seal, it’s out of place and rolls back down. There is a temporary fix to either roll down the back seat window or the sunroof to equalize the pressure, then the front window will go up - but that took a lot of trial and error. I figured it must be a safety issue since when it happens, I am talking my concentration off of driving and trying to figure out how to get the window back up. I’ve since been on forums and Kia owner pages where I’ve read of many people running into the same issues. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | POWER TRAIN | 1st winter of owning vehicle. The engine started to Rev with high rmps about 8000, and no power / speed incrase would happen. This was looked at by dealer within first year. This then happened again, dealer looked at it. Third time, the dealer had a code to look at, and the transmission was upgraded with software. We are now a 4th time at the dealer, and the observed reving is happening again, and shifting is not smooth. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,VISIBILITY | The Wind deflector broke on one side. My sunroof won’t close. It is causing water damage and the amount to fix it over 1k. After research this problem has been reported numerous times but no recall yet. Please recall this safety feature in the telluride. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | STRUCTURE | Large area of roof has paint peeling off exposing metal. Several paint chips on roof and sides as well. Hazard: Polyisocyanates such as toluene and 4,4'-diphenylmethane are found in paints and other automotive coatings. These are toxic to the nervous system and are also skin and eye irritants. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,AIR BAGS,BACK OVER PREVENTION | Light always appears on dashboard | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | EXTERIOR LIGHTING | Hi Beams on the headlights both stopped working at the same time without warning. I understand this is a known problem with the 2020 Telluride so I am just logging this one in as another instance | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | UNKNOWN OR OTHER,ENGINE | My mother noticed a fluid stain on the driveway and said it looked like oil. We didn't notice it at first because we parked over it. I had my husband take a look; it was oil, and our oil was low but not low enough that the check engine light came on. It started after our first freeze in Dallas, Texas, on October 31st. My husband took it up to a local guy because he thought maybe the dealership people did something when I took it up to get an estimate for the headlight high beam issue and frozen spare tire hoist. Both were covered under warranty BTW. The guy said it was the gasket to the oil pan. I took it to the dealership when the parts came in to fix the other issues, and they said the oil filter housing was cracked. It is made of plastic, which is really dumb. I went online and discovered this happens quite a bit right after a freeze, and it is often blamed on the customer or whoever did the last oil change. Our last oil change was on 9/21/23, over a month before the first freeze, and we had no oil leak before that. From what I have read, this usually occurs with less mileage the farther north you are. We bought our Telluride in Houston which is why I believe it has not occurred yet. I feel KIA should do a recall for Tellurides that are having this issue. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |
| Dec 2023 | ELECTRICAL SYSTEM,EXTERIOR LIGHTING | RH high beam light inoperable. Does not go high beam when selected. LH ok. LH drivers mirror does not extend or retract most times when locking or unlocking the car. | Crash: No Fire: No | Unknown |