2003 KIA SPECTRA — Owner-Reported Problems

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation Snapshot 2026-08-22 89 complaints · 0 recalls
Most-reported system: SERVICE BRAKES (16 complaints · 18.0%)
Safety signals:
  • Crashes 15
  • Fires 1
  • Injuries 10
  • Deaths 0
Compare with 2002 →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Component Problem Distribution

Share of owner complaints filed for each vehicle system (unaffected by sales volume)

Component Problem Distribution SERVICE BRAKES appears in 16 of 89 owner complaints (18.0%) in this vehicle snapshot. SERVICE BRAKES: 16 complaints, 18.0% of reports SERVICE BRAKES 16 · 18.0% · 3 crash reports AIR BAGS: 10 complaints, 11.2% of reports AIR BAGS 10 · 11.2% · 9 crash reports POWER TRAIN: 10 complaints, 11.2% of reports POWER TRAIN 10 · 11.2% ENGINE: 9 complaints, 10.1% of reports ENGINE 9 · 10.1% · 1 crash reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 8 complaints, 9.0% of reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 8 · 9.0% · 1 crash reports 1 fire reports FUEL SYSTEM: 5 complaints, 5.6% of reports FUEL SYSTEM 5 · 5.6% STRUCTURE: 5 complaints, 5.6% of reports STRUCTURE 5 · 5.6% SEAT BELTS: 4 complaints, 4.5% of reports SEAT BELTS 4 · 4.5% · 1 crash reports STEERING: 4 complaints, 4.5% of reports STEERING 4 · 4.5% UNKNOWN OR OTHER: 51 complaints, 57.3% of reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER 51 · 57.3% · 10 crash reports 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER is an NHTSA classification artifact and is always listed last.

View component data as a table
System / Component Complaints Share of Reports Safety Reports (Crashes / Fires)
SERVICE BRAKES 16 18.0% 3 crashes · 0 fires
AIR BAGS 10 11.2% 9 crashes · 0 fires
POWER TRAIN 10 11.2% 0 crashes · 0 fires
ENGINE 9 10.1% 1 crashes · 0 fires
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 8 9.0% 1 crashes · 1 fires
FUEL SYSTEM 5 5.6% 0 crashes · 0 fires
STRUCTURE 5 5.6% 0 crashes · 0 fires
SEAT BELTS 4 4.5% 1 crashes · 0 fires
STEERING 4 4.5% 0 crashes · 0 fires
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 51 57.3% 10 crashes · 0 fires
NHTSA Consumer Complaints, NHTSA Safety Recalls, and NHTSA Defect Investigations Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Problem & Recall Timeline

Observed complaint volume and manufacturer recall actions over time

Problem & Recall Timeline Owner reports in this snapshot begin in Oct 2002. 2002-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2003-Q1: 6 owner reports 6 2003-Q2: 6 owner reports 6 2003-Q3: 4 owner reports 4 2003-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2004-Q1: 6 owner reports 6 2004-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2004-Q3: 3 owner reports 3 2004-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2005-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2005-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2005-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2005-Q4: 6 owner reports 6 2006-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2006-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2007-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2007-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2007-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2008-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2009-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2009-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2010-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2010-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2010-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2011-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2011-Q3: 3 owner reports 3 2012-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2012-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2012-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2013-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2013-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2014-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2014-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2015-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2016-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2017-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2019-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 Owner reports Oct 2002 Jan 2019
View timeline records as a table
Date Record type Count Record identifier
2002-Q4 Owner reports 1
2003-Q1 Owner reports 6
2003-Q2 Owner reports 6
2003-Q3 Owner reports 4
2003-Q4 Owner reports 1
2004-Q1 Owner reports 6
2004-Q2 Owner reports 3
2004-Q3 Owner reports 3
2004-Q4 Owner reports 2
2005-Q1 Owner reports 4
2005-Q2 Owner reports 2
2005-Q3 Owner reports 2
2005-Q4 Owner reports 6
2006-Q1 Owner reports 4
2006-Q2 Owner reports 1
2006-Q3 Owner reports 1
2006-Q4 Owner reports 3
2007-Q1 Owner reports 3
2007-Q2 Owner reports 2
2007-Q3 Owner reports 1
2008-Q1 Owner reports 1
2009-Q1 Owner reports 2
2009-Q4 Owner reports 1
2010-Q1 Owner reports 1
2010-Q3 Owner reports 2
2010-Q4 Owner reports 2
2011-Q1 Owner reports 2
2011-Q3 Owner reports 3
2012-Q1 Owner reports 1
2012-Q2 Owner reports 1
2012-Q4 Owner reports 1
2013-Q1 Owner reports 1
2013-Q4 Owner reports 1
2014-Q2 Owner reports 3
2014-Q3 Owner reports 1
2015-Q3 Owner reports 1
2016-Q4 Owner reports 1
2017-Q3 Owner reports 2
2019-Q1 Owner reports 1
NHTSA Safety Recalls Snapshot 2026-08-22 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Safety Recalls (0)

Official safety recall campaigns filed with NHTSA

Zero safety recalls recorded for this model year in official NHTSA records.

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Complaint Narrative Explorer

Verbatim owner-reported defect narratives from NHTSA public records

Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · snapshot Aug 21, 2026
Safety incident filters
Showing 0 of 89 complaints · page 1 of 4

No complaints match the current filters.
EPA Fuel Economy Database Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Estimated Ownership Cost

EPA fuel economy ratings and annual operating cost estimates

Data: US EPA Fuel Economy Guide · snapshot Aug 21, 2026
Supported range: 1,000–60,000 miles per year
Supported range: $1.50–$10.00 per gallon
55% city45% highway
Estimate unavailable

EPA fuel-economy data is unavailable for this vehicle.

No estimate is shown when required EPA values are unavailable.

 Open Ownership Cost Calculator →

Adjacent Model Years

Immediate preceding and succeeding model year records

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Methodology & Data Integrity

Data sourced from NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. Snapshot date: 2026-08-21.

Read our complete data methodology → Sources