2014 Kia Forte EX Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.com

2014 Kia Forte EX Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds looks into the 2014 Kia Forte's trunk, and finds that the rear seats fold down. But not perfectly flat.

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legacygt

The pass through width is key and it looks like Kia did a nice job maximizing it. This looks wider than the pass through on the TSX Wagon you had in the fleet.

stovt001_

Having release levers in the trunk only makes sense if they cause the seat to fully collapse by themselves. Otherwise I'd rather they save space in the trunk and just put them on the seat backs.

bc1960

The theory is, if the inside trunk release can be locked or disabled or doesn't exist, putting the seat release in the trunk isolates the trunk from the passenger compartment if the car is broken into through a window. In practice it doesn't seem a big advantage, but more sedans seem to be going this route so maybe there's a cost advantage as well. Some companies used to put a keylock on each interior seat back release, but that's definitely higher cost, still not that secure, and lots of cars are doing away with keys anyway. Yeah, Honda passthroughs are narrower on their cars with IRS because of the suspension design. Worse, on coupes and sedans they use a one-piece seatback just like the 1970s. With a beam axle like the Fit or Forte, or something like the control blade used by Ford, Mazda, et al. it can be wider.