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 I was driving on the highway on 2/14/2011 a "check hybrid system" warning came on, check engine light, triangle hev light, a red battery light came on and car lost engine power. After my vehicle slowed traffic down due to not having power I was barely able to pull over to the side of the road by coasting the car to the shoulder. It would not accelerate what so ever not even with just the engine power. When I pulled over the big check hybrid system warning dissapeared and only the check engine light and triangle hev light stayed on. I had my children in the car and almost caused an accident. It was towed to my home and after I connected it to the wall plug for an hour the lights dissapeared. I'm afraid that if I take the car to the dealership that they wont be able to replicate this issue since the warning lights are no longer on and they tell me they cant find the issue and this happens again in the future. There are several forums where people have this same issue from 2014 hybrid models and up and has happened to them numerous times and the dealership tells them they cant duplicate the problem.
I leased a new #Kia #Optima #phev from you in July of 2018. In July of 2020, the charging cable lodged in the car and it took 4 hours for roadside assistance to remove it. On December 2, 2020, I got a check engine light and made an appointment for service, but before I could bring it on Dec 3, the check engine light became a turn engine off now light, and the car stopped dead in the middle of a busy highway with a wisp of smoke from under the hood, a dangerous situation. I had it towed to Kia of delray. It's still there, they haven't told me what's wrong. It is 2.5 years old with just over 18K miles on it. I leased the car when I lived in ca, and now live in fl, which is also a problem, as the dealership here just doesn't seem equipped to service a phev. The lease is scheduled to end in July 2021 but the manufacturer has refused to offer me an option to return the car early, yet it feels unsafe to continue to drive it (and it's not operational right now).
2018 Kia Optima ex. Sometimes hesitates when trying to start, until today. All lights on dash lit up but no ignition. I tried several times, then steering and brake pedal locked up and I heard clicking noise. Had someone jump my battery and the car started up, but when I turned it off, it would not start again. Nothing was left on all night, car was locked and unlocked with handle. I am contacting the dealer this afternoon to see how they handle this.
First off my car is fine. Again my car is fine no complaints. NHTSA has miss identified my 2018 Optima LX with 2.4L engine hybrid. NHTSA with this screw up has Ohio bmv thinking my car is hybrid and wants an extra $100 dollars as a fee for license because they think it is electric. Ohio bmv or apparently NHTSA dose not have a process to fix the problem or figure out my car is gasoline only. Ohio bmv will will only go on what NHTSA web site says. It apparently says my car could be a hybrid. As I say no problem with car but NHTSA has miss coded what my car is. Have not been able to get any help from Kia yet.
- Hillsboro, OH, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
3 times intermittently brake pedal on my 2018 Kia Optima froze and to it wont brake. No lights came on dashboard. I have only 22.000 miles on it. I took the car to nearest Kia dealer twice. According to them they are unable to duplicate the problem and computer not reading any error codes vehicle unsafe to drive
Randomly brake pedal on my Kia Optima freezes and im unable to apply and stop vehicle it happened twice once it happened on hwy and once on city street. Currently vehicle is in dealership since Jan 2nd and dealer stating they are unable to duplicate issue
While I was driving my vehicle on the streets; its an 2018 Kia Optima.on August 2,2019 my car engine caught on fire.people walking on the sidewalk and other drivers stop to alert me that they saw fire from the bottom of the car.then while driving I start to notice extreme smoke coming from the hood so much I couldnt no longer look where I was going.I panicked and mind was racing Q how could this happen I got this car new last year May 1,2018. When I jumped out to look at the hood I saw my engine engulfed with flames.nearby driver threw me a bottole of water, luckily I had just bought 24 case of water, another driver pulled over and was helping me pour water to reduce the damage of the fire.no engine light was on or any other warning lights before or after the fire and I had my recently oil change.
When I got in my car the check engine can on. I started driving my car to work, because I was not sure why this light came on because this was/is a new car. I have less than 19K miles on my car. As I attempted to get on the highway the car refused to speed up. The max that I could drive was 60 mph. I had to pull over to the side of the road because my car would not pick up speed. So I called the service department, who informed me that when I brought my car in for an oil change in January that they has place a saftey feature on my car to keep the engine from blowing up. According to the dealership, there is possibly something wrong with the engine, however, they are starting out by changing the wiring first. I can not explain how different this drives since the wires have been changed. It is the worst drive. The car is very loud it does not pick up speed when it should and it does not slow down as fast as it use to. Needless to say, I am having issues with this car and seemingly every time I take it in for repairs, the car gets worst. I will never ever buy a new/used Kia again.
This has occurred on 3 times so far. I was at a gas station filling up the tank, the key was in the ignition, the car was in park, the engine was running, and my car door was closed. When I finished getting gas, I tried to open the driver side door and it was locked. All doors were locked. I was 20 miles from home fortunately someone was at home to bring a spare key for me to open the trunk, push the rear passenger seats down and climb thru to the front to turn the ignition off and unlock the door. The same scenario occured this past week when I had gone outside to warm up my car by turning on the defrost for the front and back windows. Once again, the engine was running and I closed the doors. Once the car was warm, I tried to open the door and it was locked. I had to go in the house to get the other set of keys, open the trunk push the back seats down and climb thru the to the front, turn off the ignition and unlock the door. This last occurence was once again at a gas station, this time it was late at night, it was 20 degrees outside and had to wait for someone from my house bring the spare keys. The question I have for myself is, what am I going to do if no one is at my house to bring the extra key. Surely, I dont plan to bring two sets of keys with me. Everytime I've taken it to the kiaofdayton service center, I am told they cannot recreate the issue. I've taken it to the dealership twice. It's very frustrating. In every instance the car was in park, the engine was running, and the doors were unlocked when I had exited the vehicle. When I attempted to get back in, I could not because the doors had locked by themselves.
The vehicle is stationary. There is no emergency trunk release from the inside of the vehicle except from inside of the trunk. My keys were stuck inside the trunk there is no way to open it. The trunk release button from the driver side did not respond. The trunk release button from the trunk itself does not respond. The rear seats cannot fold from the inside either, because it can only be accessed from the trunk
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Sacramento, CA, USA