Four problems related to suspension have been reported for the 2001 Kia Motor RIO. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2001 Kia Motor RIO based on all problems reported for the 2001 RIO.
I have had my kia for 3 years now (bought on April 24,2001), after only having it one year(April 25, 2002) my two front tires were shredded all the way to the metal. The dealer said that my tires were only covered for a year so I had to replace them, come to find out it was caused by the alignment that showed no sign of being off. Right after that the cooling fan shorted causing the engine to smoke and the car to be in the shop for 2 weeks because kia couldn't order the right part. Soon after that both of my sunvisors broke to the point they are not usable. Kia told me that it would be $35 each to replace, not covered under warranty considered normal wear and tear. My alignment has been fixed 4 times in 3 years with normal driving conditions and regular maintenance. The shifter ( automatic) has gone out twice. Once resulting in kia having to replace the whole shifter. The car is constantly vibrating, really bad when a/c is on. The brakes have always made noise and occasionally "stick" dealer said there may be a recall coming out, that was 3 years ago, haven't heard anything yet.
While driving engine light came on, causing vehicle to vibrate, vehicle almost caught on fire.
Steering wheel wobbled. This vehicle was replaced with a new vehicle, butproblem started again, dealer told consumer to have tie tires and the suspension checked.
Engine check light comes on repeatedly with cause unknown. The only corrective action dealership did was to change a code in the vehicle's computer system. Faulure caused vehicle not to exceed 5 mph. The brakes were making a loud noise, the air bag light was on, the left window was acting erractically, the regulator had to be replaced, the rear view mirro was inoperative, all 4 door seals were leaking water, there was a shimmy in the steering wheel, the shift indicator strip was out of poistion, the trim around the windshield was loose for the second time, there was a noise coming from the exhaust due to the shiled on the midpipe being loose.