In-depth reviews

Kia EV6 review: reliability & safety rating

A seven-year warranty and five-star safety rating complements Kia's good track record for reliability

Overall rating

4.5 out of 5

Reliability & safety rating rating

4.0 out of 5

Euro NCAPAdult protectionChild protectionSafety assist
5 stars (2022)90%86%87%

Kia's seven-year warranty and generally good reliability record have seen it perform well in customer-satisfaction surveys in the past. That looks set to continue long into the electric age, too, as the EV6 is already proving popular with owners – proven only recently with a seriously strong finish in the 2023 Driver Power satisfaction survey. Safety is excellent, too – confirmed by a five-star independent evaluation of the car's crashworthiness from Euro NCAP.

Kia EV6 reliability & problems

As mentioned above, Kia and sister brand Hyundai generally tend to have satisfied customers. Kia continues to perform well in our annual Driver Power owner survey, and despite slipping from third to sixth overall (out of 32 brands) in 2023, it still finished ahead of big names Mazda, Lexus and Peugeot.

Perhaps more interesting is that the EV6 itself managed to sneak into the top 10 in the list of the 75 best cars to own – making it the top-rated electric car overall. Customers seem to like their cars’ ride and handling, as well as interior and exterior styling – and it even bagged a first-place finish for rear legroom. 

We’ve not heard anything to suggest serious reliability issues, and even if there is the odd glitch, most things should be covered by the standard seven-year, 100,000-mile warranty. Whichever way you look at it, EV6 ownership should be relatively pain-free.

Safety

The closely related Hyundai Ioniq 5 scored a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating in 2021, and the Kia EV6 followed suit a year later. In fact, both car's individual category scores were pretty similar. The EV6 was rated highly for adult occupant protection, child occupant protection and driver assistance features (90%, 86% and 87% respectively), while its pedestrian protection rating was a little lower (63%).

There's plenty of safety kit fitted as standard to ensure you don't come to grief in the first place, such as forward-collision avoidance, hill-start assistance, an intelligent speed limiter, lane-following assistance and lane-keeping assistance.

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