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.
My steering wheel locked while I was on my way to work early Monday, March 28,2022. I was driving down county road Park Avenue around 30MPH and suddenly, I was unable to move the steering at all. Luckily, I was already in the right lane =; however, it was very challenging to steer to get off the road. I called the local dealership and they suggested I bring the car in for inspection to determine what the cause is. I took the car to the dealership and I was informed the vehicle was not drivable because the Steering Wheel Column Assembly and ECU needs repair. They also informed there was no recall on the vehicle. The mileage at the time was 67,400 miles which was very surprising. I received a letter from Kia Motors in February 2022 (6 years after the car was manufactured about the recall however, most cars at this point were out of warranty and Kia was aware no car met the warrantee qualifications). I was told by Kia Motors customer service that my vehicle was out of warranty at the mileage. I paid $3386 for repairs which should have been covered years in 2019 and 2020 according to other reports of the same incident occurring to other 2016 Kia Optima models.
Soonroof/Moonroof closed rattle noise. When the Soonroff/Moonroof is closed at highway speeds or windy weather it make a rattle noise to inside of the car, i try to do their reset method and nothing worked, i being looking in kia forums and most of the people had complained about this issue, and that kia doesnt wants to fix. I will like an investigation of this issue and if you can start a repair campaign recall due this soonroof parts are really pricey. And i think is a manufacturer problem.
Three power window regulators have failed over the course of a year. Without warning the window suddenly drops down and cannot be let up. On each occasion, the regulator gears appear to have just desecrated. The car windows are rarely let down. The passenger side rear was the first to fail. The driver's side rear failed 4 months later. The passenger side front was the third to fail 3 months later. It seems like this is a very common problem, but Kia has not set up a recall. Instead, they are raising the price of the window regulators. Interestingly enough, the new regulators have a blue gear instead of a white gear.
While driving down major highway the engine failed and the electrical system started blinking and I lost all power. No warning, dashboard just lit all up and engine seized up.
vehicle is burning oil at a very speedy rate....much quicker than normal. Perhaps more than a quart per 1000 miles. The car is available for inspection. *Today was the second time that I was surprised to find that there was not enough oil to even register on the dip stick. I don't yet know if there was any permanent damage to the engine. My experience seems to be very similar to many other people who have posted online....a possible flicker of the oil light before finding out about the oil deficiency. It concerns me that others said that this led to their car faltering and/or freezing up while driving. That is certainly a safety risk for the drivers/passengers and other motorists. Some people indicated that their engine was ruined and needed to be replaced. was the Valvoline mechanic that told me today that there was an issue with these engines causing high oil consumption. have not yet had the engine inspected. I just emailed the Kia dealership to inform them and ask about a possible repair. Last year was the first of two instances where I experienced the low oil level. The first time, I had noticed the oil warning light flicker when I rounded a corner a few times during a week or so. I then took it in for an oil change. Today, I noticed one flicker and went right to Valvoline and there was almost not oil remaining. My second issue of concern is that my headlights have randomly turned off when I am driving at night. The first time I thought that I might have accidently touched the switch. However, it has happened two more times that I am aware of and I am sure that I did not touch the switch. I'm not sure if the headlights would have gone back on on their own because I turned the switch from on to off and back again and the lights went back on. There might have been more instances which I have not bee aware of. I just sent an email to Kia about both of these issues. This is item has not been inspected.
- San Diego, CA, USA
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On Sept. 21, 2021, my Kia Optima Hybrid ex shut down and would not start. I took it to King of Hybrid EV Auto Repair where they ran a diagnostic test and found that there was an issue with the Hybrid System affecting the transmission and the High-voltage system. I paid $3,000 out-of-pocket. On October 26, 2022, while driving 75mph on Hwy 15 to Las Vegas, my car randomly shut down. The dash warning lights read "STOP VEHICLE TO CHARGE BATTERY". I was in an unsafe position with cars speeding past me. I was afraid that I would be rear-ended by another car. I had to have my car towed. I believe that these cars have issues with faulty high voltage systems and transmissions. Please investigate. Thank you.
On Sept. 21, 2021, my Kia Optima Hybrid ex shut down and would not start. I took it to King of Hybrid EV Auto Repair where they ran a diagnostic test and found that there was an issue with the Hybrid System affecting the transmission and the High-voltage system. I paid $3,000 out-of-pocket. On October 26, 2022, while driving 75mph on Hwy 15 to Las Vegas, my car randomly shut down. The dash warning lights read "STOP VEHICLE TO CHARGE BATTERY". I was in an unsafe position with cars speeding past me. I was afraid that I would be rear-ended by another car. I had to have my car towed. I believe that these cars have issues with faulty high voltage systems and transmissions. Please investigate. Thank you.
Complete power window failure (driver and 2 rear windows). Estimated repair cost is $2,084.90. This model has a history of power window defects that Kia Motors is well aware of. Over time, this defect becomes increasingly severe until you have a complete without warning failure like in my case. Kia Motors refuses to acknowledge problems and stated there is no recall by NHTSA. I want a full reimbursement for my out of pocket payment for untimely repair cost.
Was driving my car and it just lost all power and cut off. It will not start now. It only has 1 click. The car has used a lot of oil since I've owed it. I do regular oil change and the oil lights still go off and on. I researched why it had power failure and replaced the starter but that didn't work. I started looking into the engines for 2016 kias n found out some have a recall. I hope my car falls in that recall bc I need it fixed. my car gave no warning signs that anything was wrong. just cut off all of the sudden and will not start. had to have it towed to my home
I have a 2016 Kia Optima within the 2nd year all my window motors fail within a 6 month timeframe. My car in the 4th year started to burn oil quickly the oil light would not appear until I begin to hear a knocking sound. Also, in the 4th year of having my car there has been cracking in my passenger side (I think it is where the airbag is located). All of the areas could put my life in some type of danger or a family member if KIA doesn't see fit to remedy these areas. In 2018, my warranty was out and I didn't know until I received my bill the service person didn't advise me of this issue. So, I ended up paying $700 for a battery installment when I advised him that it was the issue, he insisted I get a diagnosis done.
My name is E........ M........ and I'm writing this email/complaint in hopes it can be resolved or you can pass this email along to the appropriate person or persons to have this matter looked into. We purchased a used 2016 Kia Optima a few years back and have had nothing but trouble, from electrical issues, recalls, transmission issues, oil consumption, and smoke coming through the air vents!!!! and there's more, the last time we had an issue and took it to a dealer for problems shifting, hard shifts, loss of power, and smoking, we were told the dealer could not duplicate the problems while driving it and that was that, not a damn thing fixed because apparently everyone is stupid or blind and I was more than pissed. On 7/13/22 the car has been at the dealer again (for almost two weeks now, but they were so busy they just got to it today) so the car is there for the same exact things listed before only this time they state the turbo turbine is bad and it's gonna be $4000 to fix it. First off NO, and secondly NO, I will not let this happen! BTW, please pay close attention to the part of smoke coming through the air vents!!!! Currently, the car is at a KIA dealer still, the general manager was to call me on the 14th and NEVER DID today is the 19th, I called today and they are acting like they don't even know me. NO warning lamps, the car can be completely out of oil, and still no engine or oil light will come on. The fact that this car has smoke coming through the air vents is of most concern, I need help dealing with this issue and will contact a lawyer if needed or if you advise me to. BTW I emailed all head people at Kia corporate and NO response from them as well. Thank you The consumer stated the general manager has the approval to move forward with the repairs and would like to rescind the complaint.
Car was stolen off of the street. No alarm went off, keys were with my person. Back window was busted on the ground and all that was left. From video evidence, we can see that all it takes to steal a Kia is a screwdriver and a usb cord. Kia-??s stolen are driven recklessly and harmfully to pedestrians (see #kiaboyz on tik tok or instagram). Problem has NOT been acknowledged by Kia or Hyundai. Insurance providers are aware of the situation.
#1Headlights & break lights going out often. Bulbs can-??t be replaced anymore due to wiring burnt ( 1 headlight ) Took it in and they didn-??t even look at it. Have do Documents to back that up #2 Engine light coming on, diagnostic testing indicated spark plugs need to be replaced. Had to do this two times with oil on plugs Took it in and they NEVER look at the spark plugs #3 car burning excessive amount of oil anywhere from 1 quart a week to 3 1/2 quarts after driving 600 miles. Took it into the shop for oil consumption testing only to be told that their warranty would not cover it and it needs a new engine. I have a 10 year or 100,000 mile warranty on my car! and at the present time I only have 88496 miles on my car I have documentation to back up my claim, I have been a loyal Kia owner for 18 years and they have absolutely treated me horrible in regards to this saying that it was lack of maintenance and they never checked the issues that led up to their findings. They indicated that there was sludge in my engine but could never prove or show me anything that they did to document the sludge and trying to blame it on me. This car is a safety hazard as I am aware of mini other Kia optima-??s dad have either caught fire or repaired to have their motors replaced due to the same issues. Anything you can do to help me with this issue ! I-??m 60 years old and know how to take care of my car
All four of my window regulators/and or motors have died within months of each other. First it was my back two, now my front two have gone and don-??t stay up. I don-??t have children nor frequent passengers. I find it mind boggling that all four of my windows have to be repaired. It is completely unsafe that my windows just drop at any given moment, especially if it-??s pouring raining or even at night when it-??s locked my personal stuff isn-??t safe inside.
First my driver side back window wouldn-??t roll up or down. It just sags and falls down everytime I drive so I duck taped it until I could afford to get it fixed. Now a month later, the passenger back seat is doing this exact same thing. There is over 100 articles of people talking about this exact problem with 2016-2017 Kia Optimas and I read apparently Kia is even aware as they sent out an alert to dealerships about it or something along those lines" Well that-??s all great and dandy but what about the people who already have the car and are dealing with the problems" I have 2 kids under 2 and it-??s a tough financial time. Even with the duct tape, it doesn-??t always hold and the window will fall down on the highway and my son starts screaming crying cause its loud and the hard wind hits his face. This should be resolved. It shouldn-??t take more than like 5 people complaining about the same thing for it to be deeply looked into and fixed. There-??s well over 100 people talking about online like I said.
Air bag light came on after I also began having issues with blind spot detection warning lights. ABS lights on as well. Took vehicle to Kia Dealer in Gainesville GA and they told me it was the left rear wheel sensor. Wanted $800 to repair ( no longer under warranty). Took vehicle to my mechanic, who ordered the part and replaced sensor. ABS lights & BSD lights went off for almost 2 weeks, then came back on. Air bag light has not gone off.
I was driving the car on the high way when I suddenly heard a strange noise from the engine with a shake in the car then the car completely switched to the hybrid engine from the gas one. The hybrid battery was depleted within a minute or two but I was able to put the car on the side of the high was before it completely stopped moving. After that whenever I press on the gas pedal nothing happened there was zero propulsion. I took the car for inspection the hybrid battery was depleted so it got replaced but then the engine itself isn't working and apparently there is a metallic parts in the oil My car is available for inspection if needed It was definitely unsafe to break down in the middle of the highway I believe the normal non hybrid car had a recall issue with the engine and the hybrid has the exact gas engine the 2.4L one The car wasn't inspected yet by the dealership as it is hard to get an appointment The car had 2 codes before breaking they were P0014 and P0420 they appeared approximately 2 weeks before the incident
I was driving at night lights turned on of course then all of sudden they turned off I couldn't see i had to slam my brakes on almost crashed and this is the 3 time this has happened I usually don't drive at night so I didn't notice this problem as a problem I was thinking maybe it was the street lights were to bright and caused them to turn off but on a very dark street with no lights and it happened again then I realized this is a serious problem but this has happened the times I have drove at night. This is very dangerous for this to happen it is going to cause someone to lose their life if it hasn't happened already. This really needs to be looked into a recall for this issue. Please fix
Since purchasing this car I-??ve had to have electrical repairs done every year. If it-??s not the seat it-??s the window. If it-??s not the window it-??s the dash. A couple of days ago my husband said he noticed that the oil in the car was running low really fast. We had just done an oil change on the car not even 30 days prior to this. We were driving late at night back from a work trip when al of a sudden the check engine light came on and the motor started to shake and a thudding noise was getting louder. We were able to pull over and saw that there was literally no oil in the car. No warning nothing. Again we had just had an oil change not even 30 days prior. My father had to come tow us home an hour and a half away because he was worried with the sounds it was making that it might blow. There was smoke coming from the exhaust and the motor was shaking like it had no control. I-??ve read multiple issues just like this one and of course my car just passed warranty. I-??m not even done paying the car off. This should be an issue Kia has to fix by now with so many similar complaints. It-??s dangerous and fraud. I-??m just lucky the car was able to pull over safely as my husband and our 8 month old were in the car with me. Please help get this fixed. I-??m now out of a car that-??s only 5 years old and not paid off.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Goldenrod, FL, USA