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.
In May of 2023, as I entered an intersection, my 2016 Hybrid Kia Optima suddenly did not feel right and gave me a hybrid system warning error. I pulled to the side of the road and shut it down. I restarted the car. The error light remained on, but the car seemed to drive okay. I finished my short distance into work, and shut it down. I called the dealer and was asked to restart it to see if the hybrid warning light came back on. I restarted it after lunch, and no warning lights came on. The dealer had me bring it in to the service department. They had it for a week or two but could not repeat the problem. They updated the software and thought that might fix the issue. The car worked fine until September 2023 when it suddenly cut out on me as I was turning a corner in my development with the same hybrid system warning error. I was able to glide to the shoulder. I restarted it and drove home with the error warning light. This time the dealer had the car towed into their shop. They had the car for a few weeks but could not diagnose the issue and gave the car back to me with a -??trigger-?? system to monitor for codes. In about a week, the same warning light popped on my wife who pulled over and shut it off. She restarted the car and drove the remaining short distance to work with the hybrid system warning light on. Later that day, it restarted without the hybrid warning light coming on, and I drove it the short distance to the dealer. It took about another month until mid-November to diagnose the problem as a defective hybrid battery and order the under-warranty replacement. Here it is in mid-June 2024 and I am still waiting for a replacement hybrid battery. I no longer trust the car or Kia Corporate, and I haven't been able to get Kia Corporate to respond to me in over a month. Hopefully, no one else is involved in an accident due to this model car cutting out on them.
Car was at about 70,000 upon purchase. Once driving it regularly, I immediately noticed a faint knocking noise upon acceleration. Also, when coasting the speed adjusted on its own intermittently, both up & down, not by much but enough that I felt it on the gas pedal. Other times it fails to accelerate when pushing on the gas pedal. I have to release the pedal & try again, sometimes more than once before it finally accelerates. Despite doing regular oil changes, my engine burns through oil long before next oil change is due, so I have to add 1 - 2 quarts of oil in-between changes. I was barely at 80,000 miles when engine started seizing & the following day the check engine light came on. It had to be towed to be serviced. They said the fuel injector or pump (not sure which) was allowing fuel to flood my engine which caused its damage. Even with what the warranty covered I had to pay $500 out of pocket so there were a lot of repairs. I can get a detailed print out of service if needed. When I do oil changes there's oil under the oil pan somehow, but its not leaking because there is no oil where I park. As of lately, even though all fluids are good, when the car is idle with a/c on, the temperature starts to go up until the car is in motion again, then the temperature goes back down quickly. It has only overheated once, which was the first time I noticed the problem because I was parked at a gas station on a hot day checking my phone & the a/c started blowing warm & dash said, "engine overheated". Only happen the one time because I have been cautious about watching the temperature to avoid it happening again. I recently passed emissions & had AutoZone do code reader check & nothing came back. In order to figure out problem I'd have to get diagnostics test that requires I leave the car for at least 2 days so it hasn't been something I can manage yet. My car is available for inspection if needed & I'm happy to provide detailed print out of repairs if requested.
I was told that my engine had a recall on it so I had an upcoming appointment with Kia in like 2 weeks for them to check my engine but the car didn-??t make it. I was driving my car on interstate 20 my car had began to have a bad chemical smell and started smoking so I pulled over on the interstate and my car was in flames. Me and my daughter was in the car we could have lost our lives thank God we were able to make it out just in time. The fire department came and made a report on the incident. It wasn-??t any engine light on at the time. I have contacted Kia about the tragedy that has happened but nothing has been resolved yet.
I-??m having oil consumption problems. I had this car since 2022 every time I get an oil change and drive 1000 or less miles my oil light comes on when braking or turning vehicle. As well as a knocking sound and the car runs very rough. I put more oil in every time even getting oil change done before I-??m supposed to spending extra money and time just to ride in this car. I took it to serval shops no leak was spotted in fact they said my drain plug may need to be replaced. I changed the drain plug twice as that-??s not the issue but I-??m still having a low to no oil in vehicle. I also was told that i have a cloud of smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe when I hit the gas another problem. More recently after an oil change I-??ve noticed a small oil leak spots on the ground. This should be a recall as a lot of Kia owners are dealing with this issue. Help
- Carrboro, NC, USA
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My Kia Optima randomly stops working while driving. I get a notice that says, "HEV: Check Hybrid System. Stop Vehicle and Turn Off Engine." Also the gas pedal stops working, leaving me to try to coast to safety. The car essentially stops working in the middle of driving, without warning. Once this happened and blew out the spark plug, requiring a new one. Then, a day or two later, the car returns to normal. The Kia dealership could not reproduce the problem, nor could my service center. They say it's fine. I took my car in for previous recalls, and it is currently "up to date." This appears to be the same electrical issue as a recent recall for electrical failure, but the dealership told me the spark plug was fine and that I should change the battery. I did and this still happened. I do not feel safe driving this car, and Kia won't help me find the problem.
When accelerating the car will randomly loose all power from the engine. The electrical systems will stay on but the car RPMs will drop to zero. The accelerator will not provide acceleration when being pressed. The car has to be turned off and then turned back on for power to be restored. The check engine light, the oil light and another warning light will come on.
It started shaking really bad out of no where, then wasn-??t going faster than 80 then down to 65 but wouldn-??t go more than 80 with my foot all the way on the gas. As soon as I made it to work tonight the car cut off. I got a jump the car was still shaking & wouldn-??t stay on if I let my foot off of the gas. I started it again without the cables but it cut right back off. I saw on cars.com it-??s a recall for the similar thing, number Sc172. I have been having fuel leaks for a while and had my knock sensor replaced from a previous recall. Now I have no way home.
I have a 2016kia optima EX and I had a problem with it. I used to take it to the Kia dealership for oil change and services. So recently I have done the transmission fluid and oil change.! After that I have weird transmission problems like it finding hard to accelerate and even when I am changing the gear from park to drive or reverse it makes weird noise like clutching. I spoke with the dealership and they say we have changed the transmission fluid then it shouldn-??t be the problem.! They don-??t even find the exact problem.! I have been spending a lot on my car. Kia is messing up with the recalls.!
The engine was has blown twice the first day 95000 miles and again at under 6000 miles. And there is still a bad knock and major vibration and ticking noise coming from the car. We told the car we no longer have faith in this car and didn't want it no more and all he did was see if he could get us another loan to trade it in. We're now scared to really ride in to and can't get no one to help us on this my man is about to lose his job over this car
After purchasing the car, the first time I went to fill up the car with fuel I set the fuel nozzle to auto stop. When it clicked off, I pulled the handle out and quite a bit fuel gurgled back out of the fuel tank, like it was over full. I took the car back to the dealership and they checked lines and said it was fine. I took one of the people from KIA with me to show them what it does, and sure enough, did it again. They still say nothing is wrong with the fuel system. It is still a problem, I just am unable to fill up my car all the way.
My 2016 Kia Optima has been consuming oil every 1.5months. I have multiple times had to replace my oil because my oil light kept coming on. I-??ve checked it every single time and it is barely anything there. I have my breaks mess up and not work as properly with my safety and others being comprised. I have brought this up to my Kia dealership but they have just brushed it off and charged me for an oil change. I have seen and heard many cases like mine and it has happened worse to them to the point where the car stops in the middle of the highway. My car has been checked by others and they have all noticed the same thing - the oil levels extremely low only after 1 and a half months or way prior to when my next oil change should be made. Having this happen is expensive and life threatening when the brakes don-??t work as they should or when my could possibly bust. I have received no help and would like to make this known.
Crack in dash along outline of airbag. Burns oil so it has to be refilled monthly Now mechanic says compression and combustion are problems Can-??t get into Kia until February when warranty will probably be expired
5/9/23 appointment for 4 recalls -completed 2 and ask if we could bring back next day to finish and we said no because granddaughter in school so service manager said important to get it back in and finish and sent granddaughter home with car 5 days later while driving car caught on fire and lost brakes and transmission and swerved into vacant parking lot smoke and flames coming into car and girls had to jump while car was still moving both girls checked on sight for smoke inhalation. 15 year old had to go to emergency room for road rash and nerve issues. we have documents,911 tapes, videos, text, ,,witnesses, pictures. very negligent on service dept. for sending car out without completing issues. we came ready to leave it but they sent it out.
On July 4th, my vehicle lost engine power and flashed a quick prompt of "engine warning" before turning off completely, smoke from under the hood which resulted in a fire. I was able to extinguish it fortunately. I have since discovered there are three open recalls, which I received no notification about. I frequently check for recalls and all sites say there are none.
1. The engine seized and went into Limp Mode. I was driving and randomly the power to my vehicle was low and had to drive slowly to my house (1 mile) going 20mph. It is available for inspection upon request. 2. I was driving off the highway going 40mph off the ramp at the time with cars in front and behind. I was truly scared and worried that I would end up in an accident due to the vehicles performance. 3. KIA Dealership confirmed the issue is the engine, but is trying to blame me for the issue due to oil issue with the car. This doesn't make sense as I have had the car serviced at 79k miles for an oil change, and the dealership is saying that there wasn't oil in the vehicle. The vehicle was at 82k miles at the time of this incident. How did the car go through all the oil in 3k miles" On top of that, the oil light never went off once, as a consumer I should be able to rely on the vehicle to tell me when issues are coming up so I can do this to fix said issue. 4. If KIA Dealership counts as manufacturer, then yes, if not, then no. 5. No, the first issue of warning lamp was when the Check Engine Light started flashing the same time my car seized and went into Limp Mode. With all this happening, KIA is saying that it is not their responsibility and not covered under the warranty of the engine of the vehicle and want me to pay $13k for a new engine. This is ridiculous. The car is worth the same as a new engine"
I submitted a report on this already but haven't had any response and it's a huge safety concern. I see 388 others have reported issues with this vehicle as well and most seem to pertain to the engine like mine so not sure how many need to file before a recall or Kia is held accountable for making an engine that burns oil and locks while driving. I've received zero support from them and they are denying replacing engine which had an oil change 6 weeks prior and only 109k miles on it. With all the complaints and prior class action suit which requires them to cover engine up to 150k I'm very confused how they can deny this and how this vehicle with these engines are safe for the road.
On 2/24 I was driving on Ben Hill Griffin Parkway, I was in the middle lane going thru an intersection, when suddenly while attempting to accelerate to go thru the light, all of my dash lights came on and the gas petal stopped working completely. I had cars in front, behind and on sides of me and I was unable to move out of the way. I attempted to restart the car to no avail. This could have been an incredibly deadly and dangerous situation and was extremely scary. With help I was able to move my car out of the way, call a tow truck and have it taken to the nearest Kia Dealership (Galeana Kia, 14483 Tamiami Trail, Ft. Myers) who advised they would evaluate the car and get back to me the next day. Tuesday I got word that my engine had seized and there was less than 1 qt of oil in it. I couldn't believe this as I just had an oil change 6 weeks prior. The service advisor, Jeff, said when an engine seizes they report it to Kia to see if they will replace but that Kia tech team advised they were declining replacing my engine as I didn't take my car to Kia for service and there weren't enough carfax reports to show proper care. This made no sense as I get my oil changed every 5k and use syntenic oil. I proceeded to send many oil change receipts only for them then tell me "it's owners responsibility to check oil between oil changes" and they aren't going to assist in any way. Sharing this story with others led me to learn that Kia is supposed to warranty these engines to 150k due to this being a known issue and multiple class action lawsuits about the engines burning oil and seizing while driving. I was in the middle of an intersection, that could have cost me my life! I called Kia Corp and they told me to work with dealership and they couldn't do anything for me. This after just replacing 4 window regulators where the regulator dies and your windows fall down (another safety hazard.) I appreciate you looking into and addressing this safety injustice for me.
I purchased a 2016 Kia Optima LX in 2021, and have been having issues with excessive oil consumption and cylinder misfires. I get regular oil changes and have to top it off every week after, if I forget to check, it will be completely dry. This is hazardous and unsafe to drive not knowing when it will be completely dry to cause serious problems. I've taken it to a Kia dealership and all they did was reset the ECU/EUC (whatever). Now, I've been told at my place for oil changes they can't service the vehicle until the issue has been fixed because it is too dangerous to be driving with the car burning too much oil. My car is at the dealership now to get combustion cleaning done. I had a 2013 Kia Optima in 2018 (and not knowing this issue about the oil consumption even after regular oil changes) the engine seized on that car while on the highway. The car lost power and would not start back up. On both cars, the warning light for oil never comes/came on. After purchasing my current vehicle (2016 Kia Optima), the car gave me trouble every 3 months and the car only had 65,000 miles on it. These vehicles are not safe and are a safety hazard. These vehicles need to be recalled for their engines. IT IS NOT SAFE AND GETS COSTLY to keep having to keep the oil in. It barely reaches 1000 miles and it consumed almost half of the oil after an oil change.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Bear, DE, USA