While driving at highway speeds, the vehicle suddenly began bucking, lost power, and lost oil. The engine compartment immediately caught fire. The fire was entirely non-collision related and required immediate extinguishing. The incident was logged by the Washington State Patrol. The vehicle was towed and subsequently inspected by a certified Kia dealership. The Kia dealership technicians officially diagnosed the cause of the fire as a catastrophic internal engine failure, specifically noting in writing that they "found hole in engine block." They noted there was no other possible causation. This spontaneous engine failure and resulting fire occurred at approximately 99,000 miles. The vehicle is currently disabled and available for inspection upon request.
2016 Kia Rio: fire, smoke or burning smell
7 of the 80 complaints about the 2016 Kia Rio describe fire, smoke or burning smell.
- owner complaints
- 7
- of this car's complaints
- 9%
- recalls
- 0
Fire, smoke or burning smell by model year
What owners say
I was driving when my Kia stalled and shut off but was still playing music and driving. So I pulled over and then my Kia caught on fire and went up in flames.
The car would constantly stall, would need to jiggle ignition to get car to turn over. burn oil EXTREMELY. would foul spark plugs around 20k-30kmiles. , coolant would get burned and get shot out to the exhaust area, and finally the car would have smoke coming out of the engine bay after driving for a distance of 15-30 miles while also getting terrible MPG. Car on average should get 38mpg highway and 27mpg city. This car was getting about 20-22mpg highway and 16-20mpg city.
I need a new engine but cant find one because they all keep catching on fire. This is a issue they should refund me for my car or fit it.
On June 29, 2022, I was driving on I-5 southbound when I heard a loud sort of tapping sound coming from my engine. About 30 minutes later, before I had time to get to a gas station, there was a loud "BOOM!" sound and all of a sudden, the catalytic converter light and some other dash lights started to flash and I started to lose power. I pulled over to the left shoulder of the highway and before I could even pop the hood, I noticed flames immediately licking from the underside of the hood. I grabbed my phone and pulled my rabbit in her cage from the back seat of the car and called 911. My car continued to burn, starting a small brush fire, until the fire department finally came and put the fire out. The whole front of my car was completely incinerated and it had made its way to the back hatch in less than hour. I don't know for certain what caused this as the only indication of a problem was the loud tapping sound- zero dash lights were flashing until the boom. I had just taken the car in for an oil change and general check up less than a week before, and they saw nothing amiss. Geico, my insurance company, has inspected it to determine that it is, in fact, a total loss, but I'm sure they didn't do a sort of diagnostic to determine what happened to cause the incident. I am beyond lucky that I was able to escape my car with my pet and my life, but had the fire moved any faster through the car, we would be dead. It all happened within an hour.
On May 29th 2021 my 2016 Kia Rio engine caught on fire after multiple attempts of letting Kia know that my engine had a possible recall/detect. I was told that my car wasn’t apart of the recall list of considered on the list of the 1.6 million or billion others who’s engines have blown up as well. I have paper work/trail of recent mechanical work/mechanics informing me with “possible recall issues as well”. Paid for an oil change May 21st, visited the mechanic and 8 days later my car was in flames at an EXXON gas station pump, literally traumatized.
Tl* the contact owned a 2016 kia rio. A minute after the contact exited the vehicle, it caught on fire. The fire department was called and extinguished the fire. The vehicle was destroyed. The dealer (dyer kia, 21280 us-27, lake wales, fl 33859) was contacted and advised the contact to call the manufacturer. The manufacturer was contacted and was unable to assist. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The cause of the fire was unknown. The failure mileage was 16,003. *ln
Service bulletins that may apply
- Customer satisfaction: anti-theft s/w logic upgrade & decal installation (CS2307)
- Owner notification
- Owner re-notification
- Customer satisfaction: kia genuine remote start control module upgrade for anti-theft logic compatibility...
- Kia genuine remote start control module upgrade for anti-theft logic compatibility (CS2310)
- Owner notification
- Owner notification
- Customer satisfaction: anti-theft s/w logic upgrade & decal installation (CS2307)
Related recalls
No recalls on record for this model year.
Questions about the 2016 Kia Rio fire or smoke
Is fire, smoke or burning smell a common problem on the 2016 Kia Rio?
7 of 80 owner complaints about the 2016 Kia Rio (9%) mention fire, smoke or burning smell. The model year with the most reports is 2013.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2016 Kia Rio?
There are 0 recalls and 21 service bulletins for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.
Other symptoms on the 2016 Kia Rio
Oil consumption 15Check engine light 9Stalling 6Engine failure 5
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2016 Kia Rio?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history