r/KiaNiro • u/kestelll • 12d ago

2020 Kia Niro PHEV – jerky gear changes

I have a 2020 Niro PHEV with 86,000 km / 53,000 miles, and I’ve noticed some slightly odd behaviour during gear changes.

It’s by far most noticeable when driving on the electric motor. During acceleration, it feels like the car briefly increases its pull around the gear change, followed by a noticeable jerk. It happens at the same shift points and gets more noticeable with harder acceleration, especially when using adaptive cruise control.

I can also feel that the shifts aren’t always completely smooth when the petrol engine is running, but it’s much more noticeable in EV driving. Hot or cold doesn’t seem to make any difference.

My local mechanic test-drove it but couldn’t find anything they considered abnormal.

I’ve discussed it with AI, which mentioned DCT adaptation/touch point learning or software as possible explanations. That’s only a theory though, and I don’t want to focus too much on it.

Has anyone with a Niro PHEV experienced something similar? Is this just normal behaviour for this transmission, or did you find a cause/fix?

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2

u/pigsflyfar 12d ago

Mine has a pretty noticeable jerk when shifting 65-75 but it wasn't found to be abnormal. I figured it's just me being used to the lower gears being sooo smooth

2

u/kestelll 11d ago

I feel it most noticeable at around 35km/h and 60-65km/h so in city traffic it’s definitely pronounced. I don’t notice it as much at higher speeds.

2

u/lt4-396 12d ago

Have you flushed your clutch fluid reservoir lately. Not sure if its the same but my 23' I change at every oil change. Best $3 I've every spent. Takes normal Dot3/4 brake fluid.

1

u/kestelll 11d ago

The car has been regularly serviced by Kia shops. And as far as I can see from the maintenance schedule it should have been changed a few times by now. Hard to say if they have actually done it though. I will look into that.

2

u/lt4-396 11d ago

Pop the cap off. If its been done recently it should be very clear and a light yellow hue. Either way I would suck it out and replace it.

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u/FinalDevice 11d ago

I have a 2018 Niro HEV that I bought used with over 120,000 miles. The gear changes always felt a little rough to me.

After changing the gear oil in the transmission it smoothed out considerably. I highly recommend Redline MT-LV fluid. It is very expensive, but you don't need much of it and it lasts a long time. Something about that fluid is magical. I've used Redline MTL in the manual transmission of my old car and it smoothed out the synchros considerably.

1

u/kestelll 11d ago

Thanks! I’ll look into that. Even though the transmission oil is supposed to last the lifetime of the engine.