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.
While parked in various locations (on street, at gas pump, in parking lots), and on about 8-10 occasions, I was unable to get the car to start after depressing the brake and start button on my car. All the lights lit up on the instrument panel and the radio went on as well - the rest of the car electrical system worked fine. The brake pedal became very stiff and was hard to depress. I put my key fob into the bypass in the trunk and it still would not start. The only way to get the car to start was to depress the stiff brake pedal, then shift from P to D and back again. Then the brake pedal seemed to loosen up and I was able to start the car successfully. I had researched the remedy through you tube. The first time it happened was October 2, 2018 and it has happened about 8-10 times since then. I have a video of the problem, but not of the solution that I found online, therefore I am unable to attach any documentation. I noticed that the replacement of the brake switch was "voluntary" NHTSA # 13V-114, but feel that this should be a mandatory fix instead since it has happened so often to me. Just last week when it happened again, I remembered what to do quickly as I was stuck in a long line at the gas station just last week, with cars honking at me to move when I could not. It happened to me the last time just yesterday 10/8/2019 inside my garage. Please look into making this a mandatory recall. I will be contacting my local dealer this week as well. Thank you.
Right low beam needed constant changing (1 every 4-6 months). Within the last 6 months, I had changed the bulb, 2 weeks later, the low beam light was not working again. Noticed a white film on inside of light assembly. Upon investigation, I discovered the wiring caught fire and melted the connector for the light bulb. I purchased a new assembly, only to have the exact same thing happen. This is a huge safety concern. Firstly, the low beam lighting is absolutely horrible in this car to begin with, now I'm running off of one light. After looking into complaints online, I see this problem is prevalent across the board with this car. Kia is a multi million dollar company, you need to stand behind your product and have the mindset of putting your customers safety as a priority. I work as a firefighter/emt and I'd hate to arrive on scene of someone that was killed due to Kia's faulty unsafe product. Especially of one that could be prevented by fixing these problems that you know is a manufacturer defect. Shame on you Kia for putting people at risk.
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Optima. The contact stated that the low beam headlights illuminated too low at night. The contact replaced the bulbs; however, the failure recurred. The contact read that the housing for the low beam headlights were burning out due to the receptive strip melting when the front beams were being used. The contact took the vehicle to hagerstown Kia (located at 10307 auto place, hagerstown, md 21740, 866-404-6114) where it was currently being diagnosed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 114,000.
Engine died while driving on public street and would not restart and within minutes fire in engine compartment. Destroyed front of car and damaged interior
- Lakewood, NY, USA
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Having problems with electrical system/shortage in 2011 Kia Optima. While in motion, driver side door unlocks, interior lights comes on and off and door/doors open light comes on.
The car had been driven for 200 miles and would not start so a new battery was purchased. While driving the vehicle on the highway it stalled, lost power and had to be pulled over. When stopping for gas the car only started after it was jumped. The vehicle has stalled multiple times while driving which is dangerous and could cause a major accident. The battery is brand new, the alternator was test and is in good condition. When the car stalls the lost of power steering makes it difficult to pull the vehicle out of the line of travel. This vehicle is being driven by a young adult that could be in danger if this continues to happen
2011 Kia Optima. Consumer writes in regards to melted wiring harness that's is connected to starter. The consumer stated the after purchasing the vehicle in February, by July the motor needed to be replaced. The vehicle died while being driven. Within 2-3 of the motor being repaired, the started failed. The starter was repaired, but the failure recurred.
The contact owned a 2011 Kia Optima. While driving 25 mph, the contact smelled a burning electrical odor. Seconds later, black smoke appeared and flames rose from the hood. There was no warning indicator illuminated. The contact was able to coast the vehicle to the side of the road and exited the vehicle without injury. The vehicle then burst into flames. The fire department extinguished the fire. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed and towed to a tow lot. The cause of the failure was not determined. The dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and did not assist. The approximate failure mileage was 86,300.
My headlights are so dim that ****safe driving at night is impossible*** for me and other cars on the road because it's too dark to see! I've had new light bulbs installed, only to no avail. This problem started around 80K miles. I spoke to Kia's regional rep only to find that he has a pompous attitude and no regard for consumer safety. He told me that despite safety concerns, it all comes down to the warranty which expired at 40K miles and Kia "can't" do anything about it. Of course they can, but he assured me they wont. I advised him that according to the thousands of complaints on the internet, this defect typically occurs at 75K+ miles, meaning that their warranty would never cover it anyhow. It's a catch 22 and Kia apparently knows this, according to the rep. His supervisor, julie miller, is supposed to contact me within 48 hours. I hope she has more compassion for human life than her employee. This is my 3rd Kia vehicle, and hopefully not my last, since their vehicles and service have been great up until now. Kia, recall this defect before people die.
Using owners manual procedure for starting the engine. Vehicle is parked, transmission lever in park position. Foot depressing brake pedal, push button for starting engine on dashboard is depressed = no engine crank & no start ! instrument cluster display fully illuminates & "immobilizer" icon 'light' is displayed on preventing engine starting. Key fob is placed on the dash during above starting sequence...placing the key fob in the glove-box override "by-pass" port also will not start the vehicle. This is a very "intermittent" problem & has occurred 5 times in recent 2 weeks stranding us at shopping malls & gas stations. The Optima has been to the Kia dealership 3 times & service manager claims they are unable to find the problem or have the defect happen in their presence. I see many owners have posted videos on youtube.com with exactly the same problem as we are experiencing. This is very frustrating & unacceptable...especially with winter conditions arriving in 2 months ! please investigate asap !
My Kia was making a whistling noise on and off for awhile then my oil light would flicker so I figured I need an oil change. Got my oil changed and then the car started make a knocking noise and would get worse with acceleration and would have a hard time accelerating. It would jolt and vibrate and make knocking and flapping noises. Turn on my road to go home and lost power. My car slowly came to a stop I could not accelerate at all. My engine, battery, oil, and eps light came on. I tried starting it up and would come on for about 5 seconds make a lot of noise and the engine would turn off but my radio and windows still worked. My ac was on but not cooling. All the cabin lights work still but my brake are stiff.
Takata recall as soon as I turn the key the airbag light shows up, steady. It is on all the time, whether I am stationary or in motion. I have no idea if the airbags even work. There are also issues with the electrical system as the door often unlocks on its own, alarm goes off on it's own, lights flash inside every time I make a turn, left or right and the radio spazzes out
2 issues with 2011 Kia Optima @ 101,987 miles. Quick burning of oil (causing oil to burn up and having car owner deal with topping off oil levels) and gradual "ticking" sound from engine that results in engine shutdown as car is in motion prob #1: my Kia burning thru oil at high temp-I performed each and every oil change paying over $70 for top quality oil. Issue with oil gradually became worse. I had to buy my oil in between changes to keep adding oil to engine, made mistake in blaming oil change companies, wasted time and money in having oil changed sooner then 3,000 miles. Oil can henry stated that they believed Kia engine ran on high temp which was burning oil 2X faster then any car. Problem #2: "ticking" sound from engine, that gradually for louder, finally caused engine to shut down (characteristics are deceiving car owner assumes battery issues/ Kia mechanics blame bad battery) this is not the case! I have aaa witness my car issues, and car still had issues after new battery was installed, which Kia mechanics still blamed battery. Car shutdown is not battery since all inside lights, radio etc still function and when car died during driving it still allowed me to "coast" home at 3 mph. The day my car died, there was already a new battery in car. I came out to leave for doc appointment, car lights came on/radio on but engine barely start, if it did start car engine died, it was as if engine barely started and couldn't maintain itself. I missed a urgent appointment(iam disabled). Called aaa, they confirmed battery at 100%. we tried everything possible, aaa guys said horrible noise from engine, after 20 tries I was barely able to revive it enough to test drive. Drove around my block down the street and after 10 min car died, but not completely. Although I couldn't accelerate, car "drifted" at 2-3 mph. I turned on er lights, coasted home in 1 hour.
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Optima. The contact stated that the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was coasted off the road and was unable to restart. The vehicle and the motor locked up with the presence of smoke from the starter when the contact made several attempts to restart the vehicle. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence and then towed to the dealer. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 131,000.
On September 7, 2016, I was driving down the highway at 70 mph in my 2011 Kia Optima when all of a sudden the engine shut off and all of the lights on the dashboard came on. I could hear the engine rev slightly when I stepped on the gas, but the car would not accelerate. The engine just shut off. It was 7:30am when this occurred so luckily there were not many cars on the road yet. I was able to get the car over, however, because the engine was off, the breaks would not work well. I was finally able to get the car to stop by continuing to hit the breaks and applying the emergency break as well. Kia recommends oil changes every 7,500 miles, however, I usually have mine done every 5,000. I had zero warning signs that something was wrong with my car. The last oil change was performed on August 31, 2016, and the mechanic that performed the change said everything looked fine. There was zero smoke coming from the engine or exhaust and no "knocking" sound in the engine. I had the car towed directly to the dealer. Once there, we tested the battery and it seemed a little low. Mind you this is a new battery purchased from costco about 2 months ago. We tried jumping the car and after trying to start the car a 3rd time, the engine started shooting out black smoke and had a foul smell to it. Several hours later, I received a call from the dealer authorizing $280 to open the top of the engine so they could take pictures and send it to Kia.. I searched on the internet and found several other 2011 Kia owners experiencing a similar issue and was just told by a friend the same thing happened to her 2011 Optima as well. Looks like Hyundai had the same issue and it is the same engine as the Kia and had a recall. My car had 101,500 miles (mostly highway miles) and the only issue I ever had was to replace a clockspring in the steering column about 6-months ago.
March 2016 while traveling on highway at 65 mph and passing a slow moving vehicle car lost power, became difficult to steer and unresponsive. We were lucky that we were right by rest area and coasted safely. Inspected the vehicle while and noticed a smell reminding an electrical short/fire. Car was towed to Kia dealer and diagnosed to be engine failure. The engine was inspected and per dealer it was pristine, Kia decided to cover under warranty @ approx 98K miles. Dealer stated that per Kia it was due possibly to non oem oil filter (nice). When we got the car back it did not want to start occasionally, where it hesitated especially as temperatures increased. Noticed dealer, dealer took it in verified battery and starter were to spec. In June on a hot day car almost did not start, set an appointment with dealer for later in the week. Next day car did not start, was towed to dealer and diagnosed to week starter. Starter was replaced and car started on for one day, the second day temperatures increased and car was dead with similar electrical meltdown, also noticed fog lights were not working after bulb replacement. Dealer diagnosed with Kia to bad engine again due to tolerances causing friction and more heat. Spoke to Kia and started a case but they just want to replace the engine again and not discuss potential issues with electrical harness compromise and ongoing issue with engine failing for no reason. This car is scarry and hope it does not start on fire when the third engine fails.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- San Jose, CA, USA