This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
On Mon, Nov 18, 2025, I was driving at 60 mph with cruise on. Suddenly cruise was cancelled and check engine and low oil pressure lights came on. I pulled off road at earliest point possible. Seemed to be running ok. Drove slowly to a convenience store and turned off engine. I checked oil and it was low. When I was walking out to car after buying some oil, I saw oil under car. I called tow service and had it delivered to dealership. Upon inspection, the dealership determined the oil drain plug had fallen out and the engine needs to be replaced. The oil had been changed by an independent shop at 75085 miles. This incident happened at 78,887 miles. I feel the drain plug would have fallen out before 3002 miles if it was put in loose. This issue needs to be made into a recall with reimbursements for engine replacements and towing. If this had happened on a busy road and engine seized, there could have been a wreck trying to get off road.
While driving on my way home from work my, brakes became extremely hard to press down on and then my service engine light came on this all occurred on 7/31/2024. So the very next day I took my vehicle to a Kia dealership which was 8/1/ 2024 to find out what was causing this to happen. The technician stated that they would have to put it on a machine and run a diagnostic on it. I asked the technician while they were doing that to change the oil. I also realized that the oil light for my vehicle has NEVER came on since I purchased the car. So the technician did the diagnostic and stated that my vacuum pump had went out but he couldn-??t tell me why or how this had happened. I then took the vehicle to my parents house and left it there in the garage for a few weeks to have second opinion done. I then took it to another Kia dealership and they stated there was no vacuum to the brake booster and said there was a broken camshaft and metal pieces were in the engine and the engine needed to be replaced. Again I asked what caused all of this and no one could give me an answer. I had only had the car a 1 1/2 years and don-??t understand what caused all of this and I now have a car that I can no longer drive.
Engine code came on, one interior headlamp works when it wants to, climate control module is bad it has cause the relay to blow and the resistor to go out. The air turns up on the control module by itself and then your ac just stops working and then starts again as it chooses. All of these are electrical issue as stated in MANY OTHER reports. And electrical issue is unsafe it can cause fire at anytime, my car is new 2021 Kia k5 Lxs, 60k miles and now who knows when the car is going to catch fire while my baby is strapped in a car seat and no AC. RECALL before lives are took from heat stroke or possible fire. To be -??luxury-?? it-??s sad I just paid my 3rd car payment and now I can-??t even drive my car. Over 100 reports on this same problem and y-??all do nothing. Kia is maybe at 70k sells a year now meanwhile Toyota and other are at 300k. When my baby is insured do to this crack head wiring system I will sue someone this is ridiculous.
Car will lose power when accelerating and slow down to an almost complete stop in traffic with no pick up it will jerk as it is trying to accelerate it has happen two times in six months
When you get in the vehicle to turn it on the lights are on an everything else accept for the engine. The dashboard says the the vehicle is on, however it is not. Diagnostics shows no problems. This is on going in the New K5 community.
- Jacksonville, FL, USA
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Bought the car used and had it in within first two weeks with 6k miles on it for warped brakes. They repaired. Now it has 68k miles on it and had all maintenance. 2nd owner and now we are told the antifreeze is going thru the turbo and into head gasket and Kia will not do anything. We were not aware the 10 yr 100,000 miles was not transferable. 6k miles out of warranty and they want us to buy a motor. This car has always been maintained and should not need a motor with only 68k miles. The optima-??s had the same issue as we also have an optima which was covered due to recall. This should be looked at. The dealership charged us 200 for diagnostics and said too bad you pay for it.
One day I was driving my car when suddenly I heard a loud explosion sound from the back. I continued to drive the car until I could pull over to inspect the car. In the midst of pulling the car over I began smelling a strong odor of gas in the cabin of the car. Prior to stopping the car started skipping and missing badly. I pulled over checked the car and discovered something malfunctioned and caused the rear seat to pop up and be bent from the frame. I proceeded to look under the seat and saw where what appeared to be the fuel pump almost popped out, the bracket above the fuel pump was broken and popped up from the explosion, the seat would not go back in place. I looked at the gas hand I went from 3/4 tank of gas to E in less than a few miles. The exhaust also sounds like something blew or came apart the car runs very loud and you can hear the car sounding like the exhaust have a hole. After the sequence of events the engine light never came on. This is huge life safety problem that should have never happened.
Vehicle engine shut off while driving down the highway. Traveling on 74 and while still in drive the engine abruptly shut off. Vehicle was started again and then it again shut off a couple miles down the road. When the vehicle was started a 3rd time it immediately went into limp mode. I was stuck on the side of the highway with vehicles going 70MPH around me. On my way to the dealership the car shut off multiple times potentially killing me multiple times. After 60 days at the dealership they said they fixed the problem. I drove the car 4 miles and it shut off on me on the highway again. I had a car almost crash into me along with trying to start the car and get off to a safe location. I still do not know what is going wrong with the vehicle but this could of killed me and others..... this needs to be addressed along with the fact they gave me the vehicle back just for it to do it again.
Vehicle was stopped a red light on a city street when suddenly cut off. Smoke began to pour out from under the hood. Less than 1 minute later the vehicle was fully involved under the hood of car. Car was a total loss. Vehicle had just been driven approximately 25 miles (all highway) from home towards work when incident occurred.
While I was driving on the interstate, I heard and abnormal about of noise coming from the engine bay as well as a scratch while I was driving. This happened on March 26, 2021 at 10pm. On March 29, 2022 I took it to the dealer ship and I was notified that my engine cover came off and was the cause of the noise. There's damage to my driver side fender, rubbing to the wheel/tire and my fog light housing is hanging.
While driving the vehicle and after it is parked and engine is turned off the cooling system ( coolant reservoir on upper right side of engine are) allows antifreeze vapors and high pressure to escape into engine area. When parking in a garage there is a very strong smell of coolant. Dealer has verified that the radiator cap appears to act as a vent allowing vapors to escape the system.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Lorena, TX, USA