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.
I was driving home on memorial day weekend from a nice visit with my family and when I was almost home I could hear clicking/tapping sound and the engine stalled on a major interstate. I was able to quickly restart and get to the shoulder. Started up again and took off but when I tried to accelerate to the flow of traffic, the car would not accelerate and was losing power. I was close to a Kia dealership and was able to milk it to the service garage. Upon inspection, they found metal shavings paired with a ton of copper on the valve timing solenoid. Crankshaft bearings are shot, causing low oil pressure, stalling and erratic behavior. Engine is toast! after doing some research I came across this: www.hyundaiproblems.com/trends/sonata-engine- failure. Same engine, same problems and Hyundai stands behind their product. I take great pride in my vehicle. I take it in for regular maintenance and oil changes. I am not at fault. I will be escalating this to the national team at Kia corporate office and Kia Consumer Affairs to get a case number as I feel they need to be held liable to pay for the engine.this is obviously a known issue and it's sad that Kia is putting the blame on the customers instead of taking responsibility for a factory defect. No car with 111K miles on it with proper maintenance should have the engine just blow! Kia not only put my life in danger but they also put my daughter's life in danger!! I'm lucky I was in the right place at the right time on a major interstate on memorial weekend or the results could have been much worse!! my daughter and I are ok, but I fear the next Kia Optima this happens to will not be a good outcome. Major safety issue and a recall should be instated.
While driving home the car suddenly lost all power for no reason. Got the car jumped and it started but was sluggish. No indicating lights ever came on. Drove the car to work for the next 2 days (approx 450 miles) with no issues so I though it weird but a fluke. Two days later approximately 2 blocks from my house the car suddenly locked up for a split second (heard the tires chirp) but kept rolling. The car had no power, all lights, radio, etc stayed on but the engine was not running. I let the car coast into my driveway to park it. The car starts fine but the engine is definitely shot. Sounds like the connector rods are bent. Loud knocking and sometimes a squeal that sounds like metal on metal. Checked the oil and there was minimal oil but again no indicating lights ever came on. The car is only 4 years old with 127,000 mile but has always been maintained to Kia specs. Upside down on the loan already which I wouldn't have a problem with if the car ran. Now I owe on a loan for a car I can't drive.
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving, the engine stalled. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where an unknown part needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 84,000.
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced a loss of power without warning. The vehicle was towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that two cylinders had no compression and the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. Prior to the failure, the engine was previously replaced due to the same failure. The contact observed steam coming from the engine during the failure. The contact referenced NHTSA campaign number: 15V568000 (engine); however, the VIN, year, make, and model were not included. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 10,000.
Trying to state a short version of this brutal situation!! purchased the car with 60,000 miles my car is now out of warranty has not reached 100,000 miles and the engine is gone. Of course Kia will not fix my car I woe $24,000 on.
- Brunswick, GA, USA
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At 60,100 miles the engine failed. No check engine light no oil light ever came on. I have an extended warranty that denied it along with Kia corporate. Premature engine failure. Maintained to Kia standards as well with oil changes. With every oil change I was told the oil was fine and nothing seemed wrong or amiss with the oil in the car. I took my car to have an oil change the day before my engine blew. I was driving to work when it made a very loud knocking noise and I was unable to make it to work. I had the car towed immediately to the nearest dealership. I have owned the car for 18 months as the second owner. I am still making payments.
While driving down the highway at appx 60mph the car suddenly stopped on us, and all of the indicator lights on the dashboard came on-for the first time ever. There was no knocking sound prior to this happening (we found out there should have been after taking the car to the dealership) after having the car towed to our Kia dealership, we were informed that the engine had seized, but there was oil in the car. I am now having to replace the entire engine. After reading multiple stories of this happening to other people as well, it sounds like Kia needs to issue a recall.
The first thing would have to be the steering wheel like it has been noted before when you sit still it has a clicking sound. And all driving the highway at 75 miles an hour it sticks and you have to jerk it back witch is no safe I have had it aligned many times but does not fix the problem. My car has 112,113 miles on I take care of replace thing that need to done and oil changes every 3,000 well after I hit the 100,000 mark my car sounds like it has no oil.. are I have seen on the internet that it sounds like your rpms are really high but there not... it starts when I'm going 20 mph another thing that is weird when I'm turning left the noise goes away
As I was driving on the overpass and merging onto another highway my car would not accelerate, I put the car in neutral and was able to veer off the freeway to a side street when I stopped the vehicle and a lot of smoke started coming from the engine and the car would not restart. Before this I had no indication that anything was wrong with the vehicle. I had it towed to Kia where I was told this was due to lack of maintenance as there is metal debris in the oil filter and oil pan. The vehicle only has 71000 miles on it and I have oil change records to prove maintenance every 5000 miles or sooner on the car. It has now been almost 2 weeks and I am still waiting for Kia to respond if they are going to fix my vehicle. Since I am considered the 2nd owner (even though the first owner was the dealership I bought the car from) I only have a 60K mile warranty. I have read multiple stories on 2012 Kia Optima's doing the same thing to other people and Kia needs to step up and fix this problem!
Last week, during an oil change, I was told that my transmission cooler hose was leaking and needed two new ones. In addition to that I would have to pay for the cooling service which would be a total of about $200. No telling how long the car was without coolant, but my car has never over heated. Coincidentally, I received an email that there is a recall on the Kia/2011 for the same issue! I was told that there was nothing Kia would over if it was not included in the recall which it most likely should be by looking at online reviews. Please investigate.
Driving North bound on major highway. Car starts losing speed, I pull over into a gas station and my car dies, it restarts instantly with no service lights I continue down the road on the service road, the car dies at a red light. Starts up once more. I hear a knocking noise coming from my engine. I was able to make it home but now the noise is much louder, its coming from the rear of the engine on the right side. I take it into the dealership. The connector rod to a piston is destroyed. The car has plenty of oil. I've read on forums many people have had this same problem.
Driving at approximately 50 mph on the parkway, engine stalled without warning and would not re-start. I had the car towed to a shop where they informed me the engine had seized. There was definitely oil in there as I had an oil change within the last couple of weeks, . the car has 72K miles on it and I am the second owner so not covered by Kia's non-transferable 10yr/100K mi warranty. Working with Kia customer service, waiting to hear back from a supervisor.
Sudden engine failure without warning lights. Knocking sound. Parked car and had towed to dealer. Car has 63,000 miles on it. Dry of oil, and oil was changed within past six weeks. Same engine (theta II) from same plant (ala) as the Hyundai sonatas covered by recent recall. Symptoms are also the same. Kia refusing coverage under warranty because not original owner. Working through their Consumer Affairs to escalate. So far, no results. I believe we are seeing an identical problem in my car with identical engine to sonata and Kia should fix
The vehicle hit 63,000 miles during this incident. As I was merging onto the expressway at 50mph, I got the vehicle to 60mph and the speedometer gauge froze at 60mph. Then, the RPM gauge dropped to 0. suddenly the engine lost power, the brakes locked up and before I got the car off to the shoulder at a complete stop, the engine cut out completely. The engine would not start at all after it cut out. I then brought the vehicle to a dealership where they deemed a new engine as the current engine blew.
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. While driving approximately 50 mph, the engine stalled without warning and would not restart. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the engine failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 117,000. Updated 02/10/16. Updated 04/08/16 updated 05/03/18
When cranking up car engine makes loud noise, then if driving at a normal speed the car slows down on it own, also the dash board lights goes from bright to dim to almost no dash board lights at all, driving
Metal debris in engine oil, scorch engine- same engine problem as parent co. Hyundai motor recall. On sonata. A 2.4 liter engine., manufactured before April 2012. Engine needs to be replaced. Engine failed on freeway during normal use.
I was driving on I 95 on our way home from Florida. We were passing fayettsville, nc when my car engine made some knocking noise and then the engine light came on, before I can pull to the shoulder, the car stalled, lost power at 70 mls per hr. We were lucky no one hit us as I was slowly navigating to the shoulder. I had it towed to a Kia dealership in fayettsville, nc. They said engine seized up and needs to be replace. The car has 71,000mls but Kia denied my warranty claim so I end up paying $5,700 for a remanufactured engine.
My engine sounds like a truck, I took car to Kia dealer ship and they claimed it was it was serpentine belt tensioner loosing tenion and ideler pulley bearing.said they fixed these problems but I'm still have the same problem, and said there was no recall on my car.but there is a problem with the the one I bought.
The waste gate actuator on Kia Optima turbo model failed. There are thousands of complaints about this defective part online and Kia has not address the issue of this defect. To replace the defective part which is not covered under the powertrain warranty is $500. Do not purchase a Kia until they have addressed this glaring defect. I've had 8 cars in my life 7 Honda and 1 Kia. The Kia was a big mistake.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- New Richmond, WI, USA