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.
When leaving work on 1/6/22, I didn't let my car warm up for more than 1 minute because I was in a hurry to get home. It was very cold - I think -10 if I remember right - and I had just passed through an intersection about 2 blocks from work where road construction closed the road to one lane. The car in front of me stopped because someone in front of him was turning. I had plenty of time to stop & hit my brakes but had no response, much like not having power brakes, but the pedal felt very firm. As cold as it was, there was no ice or snow & the road was dry. I had no traction control or ABS lights come on & ended up rear-ending the car in front of me. The police came & made a report & I came home & checked KIA forums to see if this had ever happened to anyone else but didn't find anything. I explained it to my KIA service advisor but they found nothing wrong & had no explanation. I thought I had maybe imagined it until it happened again, also on a very cold morning, about 2 weeks later in my own driveway. Just no response of the brakes. I couldn't push the pedal hard enough to stop the car. I also mentioned it to my insurance adjuster who just said to let them know if I found out anything further, which I didn't. I never thought to report it here until my husband had an issue with his car recently & was advised to do so. Even extreme cold should not affect a system as important as the brakes on a car & I believe this is a major safety concern. My accident was minor because I was not traveling at a high rate of speed & was at a safe distance, but the brake failure was still the cause of the accident. When the failure happened in my driveway, I had braked when pulling onto the road but didn't stop. If another car was coming or I was pulling out at the end of my street where there are 4 lanes of 45mph traffic, this could have been disastrous! Please notify me of any steps taken by KIA to remedy this issue. Thank you.
Breaks went completely out while driving on freeway. Was diagnosed And this is the technician story verbatim VERIFIED CUSTOMER CONCERN CAN HEAR GURGGLING NOISE COMING FROM BRAKE AREA EVEN WHEN VEHICLE IS OFF. WHEN MOVING VEHICLE INTO STALL. ALL BRAKE SYSTEM FAILED AND CHECK BRAKE SYSTEM WARNING CAME ON. INSPECTED FLUID LEVEL. FLUID LEVEL OK AT THIS TIME. WITH VEHICLE OFF CAN HEAR ESC MODULE ACTUATING. CONNECTED KDS AND PERFORMED ACTUATION TEST. ACTUATION TEST FAILED. RECOMMEND REPLACING ESC MODULE AND BRAKE PEDAL ASSEMBLY AND RETEST CUSTOMER DECLINES TO REPLACE AT THIS TIME -DISCOUNTED RATE: $4839 PLUS TAX (NEED TO ORDER) -REG RATE: $5400 PLUS TAX (NEED TO ORDER) Manufacturer is denying any responsibility to repair. I contacted a lawyer who said the manufacturer is responsible for safety defects.
Traction control is too sensative. I was in a stop sign. Then tried to press the acceleration but vehicle lost power. Too sensative traction control caused me to stall in the middle. There were car coming from the left or right to me. I am glad I was at safe distance and could regain control of the car.
Was driving on a busy street. Went to accelerate, car wasn-??t getting gas. Brakes seized and steering wheel seized. Had to drift off the road since the whole car died.
I put gas in my car and my hand and mileage did not move and my brakes feel stuck after I release my foot and press the gas aldeco put a protective cap Over something when they change my oil and I keep having to have my brake fluid flushed and refilled
- Atlanta, GA, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
When I start the car the rear break lights flicker rapidly when I press the breaks the 3rd break light won't light up at all, so the only two break light stop working, it causes the anti traction control warning light and the auto-hold warning lights to come on.
Suddenly the brakes were applied to the car on the road while driving at 55 mph on a highway. If there were any cars behind me, I would have gotten rear ended, at a very high speed, potentially resulting in severe injury. I was not able to drive the car anything more than 5mph due to the break constantly being applied to the car resulting in me not being able to merge across the highway safely to the side. The car gave the "check brake" alert along with "hybrid system failure". the Kia dealership in fremont, California diagnosed the issue. Attached is the diagnosis report. There was a brake fluid leak inside the hydraulic electronic control unit (hecu), possibly resulting in an electrical short. That is exactly same issue as Kia recall 20V519000 issued in August 2020. If the hecu short circuits, there is an increased risk of an engine compartment fire. Kia needs to add this VIN to the recall. It's same year model as recall. Dealer advised to replace a part 58620-4U301. Kia shall promptly address this issue. Greatly appreciate it.
First I had to replace my transmission then I started getting a warning message stating hybrid system warning safety. Followed by check brakes warning. This occured while I was at a stop light.the breaks completely go out and begin to make a loud grinding sound. Once I shut the car off fir about 30-60 minutes the light goes out until the next occurance. Prior to losing all break control the car is fine. This persisted to a point that I cannot driive the vehicle. The dealership finally diagnosed the issue as a hydraulic problem and could be fixed for $2700. This is a Kia manufacturing issue and Kia should be responsible to fix it. I did submit a complaint to Kia Consumer Affairs to no avail. Please help with this issue or put this on a recall list. This is a safety hazard.
My brakes on my 2013 Kia Optima have a defect when turn on car the switch gear changes to P R D and any gear without me putting my foot on the brake to put the switch gear in place and it smells like a gasoline smell when I drive my car I don't know if that's a brake fluid leak are what but I was just notified that on consumers affairs Kia has a recall on year 2013 to 2015 Kia cars and Hyundai cars. Some cars have been catching on fire. Kia recall link https://abcnews.go.com/us/wirestory/Hyundai-Kia-recall-vehicles-leaks-fires-72793532 and on consumers affairs Kia recall brake fluid leak cars on fire link https://www.consumeraffairs.com/news/Hyundai-Kia-recalls-nearly-600000-cars-over-defect-that-can-cause-vehicles-to-catch-fire-090420.html
The contact owns a 2013 Kia Optima. While driving at approximately 30 mph, a warning indicator illuminated, advising the contact to discontinue driving the vehicle. The check engine warning indicator also illuminated. The contact had to turn the vehicle off and on in order for the indicators to turn off. In addition, while attempting to come to a stop, the vehicle shook and hesitated to stop appropriately. The contact took the vehicle to archer Kia (located at 11614 southwest fwy, houston, tx 77031, 888-879-5194) where repairs were made to the hydraulics. The specific parts were not identified; however, the failure continued. The contact took the vehicle to joe meyers Kia (located at 16484 nw fwy, houston, tx 77040, 713-587-9940) where the upper and lower control arms and ball joints were replaced; however, the failure recurred. The manufacturer was made aware of the failures and opened case number: 13386178. The approximate failure mileage was 90,000.
While driving on the interstate the car began to lose power even though I had my foot on the gas pedal. Once home, after turning the car off I noticed that the brake lights were still on. Driving the next morning we paid attention to the brake light in the rear window and every time the car would start to slow down or seem to lose power the brake light was on. It is almost as if the brakes are engaging on their own. You could see the light flickering but if you hold your foot under the pedal to keep it from moving there was no issue.
Brake lights will not go off after I turn off my car. Sometimes the brake lights and back lights pops on even when the car is off and will not turn off. The slippery when wet light stays on at all times. When I am driving the car and I have to use the brakes to stop at a red light or stop sign the car moves very slowing and stalls. Sometimes when I am driving the car looses power. I was driving on the interstate twice and the car just lost power and began to slow down. This was a huge safety concern. Now the car has no power.
While applying breaks I often get loud rumbling noise on city streets, also when it rains water leaks on driver and passenger feet under dash this happens when vehicle is in motion and stationary.
August 21, 2018, we had the car towed to gossett Kia motors (dealership) because it would not start.. the car has a push button start, whenever we tried to start the car by pressing the start button and pushing down on the brake pedal the car would not start. The dealership was unable to find a problem because the car would start for them. We drove the car home the same day. On the night of August 22, 2018, the car would not start, same as described above. On August 23, 2018, we had the car towed to the dealership and it was repaired and returned to us August 25, 2018. Today, August 30, 2018, the car did not start and exhibited the same problem as the previous two times. We will have the car towed to the dealership at their convenience. Luckily for us, each time the car did not start it was parked in our driveway. Special note, on August 2, 2018, we took the car to the dealership for brake repair work. Additionally, one of the tow truck drivers stated he towed several Kia Optima's with the same described problem.
I had my brake pads and rotors replaced in November 2017. The service dept at the dealership indicated, they would not pass inspection and were beyond salvaging. I had them replaced. In April, I went back to the dealer for routine service, including an oil change. I had complained of vibration in the brake pedal and was advised it was normal. On August 3rd I had another oil change and requested the brakes be looked at, as the vibration was at a point of concern. The serv dept indicated the front rotors were warped and needed replacing, less than a year later, and less than 4000 miles later. I was upset and they were able to charge me 1/2 the cost. That evening I drove and found the vibration to be exactly as before the replacement. I went to the service dept, yet again on August 8. they indicated the vibration was from the rear and those rotors needed to be replaced. There are only 42000 miles on the car. I drive less than 3 miles round trip each day. I discovered that they were never road testing the car, just looking at the brakes/rotors and replacing. They are either putting warped rotors on the vehicle and/or lying about replacing them. I could have saved time and money had the work been completed right, the first time.
I was driving my 2013 Kia Optima on a dry road surface. I had just gone through a traffic light that was green for me to go. There was a slight down grade so I started to apply my brakes because of traffic ahead. When I pressed my brake pedal the car would not stop causing me to rear end another vehicle. This happened in a very busy city street.
When braking on a rough surface (not new pavement) the brake pedal kicks back up in quickly, and braking power is lost during the upkicking. Very dangerous, as there is no way to come to a secure, safer stop in a traffic situarion. Not talking about emergency braking, normal braking will cause this prolem. The same lack of braking ability is exhibited on a wet street surface, and not necessarily a slick, dangerous surface. This is a 2013 Kia Optima sxl, I bought it with 14,000 miles on it in 2014, and the problem existed then. And still persists. In early 2015 the dealer told me that they had not heard of this problem, though I found thie problem stated in blogs by Kia owners back then. The key point is the brakes don't hold steady on rough surfaces or wet roads. And the problem is not going away. Thankfully I have not had to make any emergency stops.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Davenport, IA, USA