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.
The driver's side sun visor suddenly dropped down from its stowed position, directly in the driver's line of sight while driving on the freeway at 55mph. This blocked the driver's view of the road and other traffic. The driver attempted to push the visor back up to the roof, but it would not stay and again fell, blocking vision. The driver also tried to push the visor up toward the windshield, but again, it would not stay and dropped back into the line of sight. During this time, the driver was dangerously distracted trying to get the visor out of the line of sight, and almost had an accident. Finally, the driver had to exit the freeway while holding the visor with one hand, and the other hand on the wheel, just to be able to see. The car is now unsafe to drive until the visor is removed or repaired. A quick internet search reveals that this is a widespread problem with 2006-2008 Kia and has been encountered by numerous drivers. This is a safety hazard and should be fixed by Kia before someone is hurt or killed as a result of a defective visor blocking the view of the road and creating a very dangerous situation.
The contact owns a 2008 Kia Optima. The contact stated that the sun visors on the front passenger and driver side failed to remain closed. The contact discovered that both sun visors were fractured. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The VIN was unavailable. The failure mileage was 56,000.
The sun visor broke. This is a known problem with these vehicles. It will not stay up. I have tried many do-it-yourself fixes, but it continues to fall down, which interferes with visibility, especially in the dark. It is an accident waiting to happen. No matter how many times I push it back into position, it just falls down. It blocks the rear view mirror as well.
The contact owns a 2008 Kia Optima ls. The contact stated that the horn was inoperable. The sun visors would not remain in the closed, upright position and the driver side child door lock would not unlatch. In addition, the safety lock for the trunk would detach and cause the trunk to occasionally fly open while driving. The contact stated that the vehicle would constantly break down and the dealer would not repair the vehicle. The manufacturer was contacted who sent her to a second dealer for the repairs. The failure mileage was 10,000 and the current mileage was 54,800.
- Irvington, AL, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
The contact owns a 2008 Kia Optima. Whenever the contact would drive down a hill or slope with the low beams activated, a blind spot would appear three car lengths ahead of his view. The contact did not notice any differences in the vehicle prior to the failure. The vehicle has not been diagnosed by the dealer. The speed was unknown. The current and failure mileages were 2,000. Updated 07/31/08. Updated 08/05/08
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Waterloo, IA, USA