Without warning the engine overheated while driving in the highway. The engine made a loud noise and began smoking... the vehicle became immobilized I pulled off to the side of the road and opened the hood. There was so much smoke. The car turned on afterwards but the engine did not start. Within seconds the battery shutdown.

- Pittsgrove, NJ, USA

The hybrid system broke down at 85K. Was replaced by Kia after threatening legal action. At 103K. We never missed maintenance or a oil change. The engine through a rod on a 5 lane interstate doing 65mph, blowing and destroying the engine. Putting my family of 5 at serious risk. Kia wants 4500K or 8000K to replace the faulty engine. Optima engines were recalled for this exact reason. The Optima hybrid engines were not recalled despite suffering the same failures as normal optima engines. Joining the class action.

- Seneca, SC, USA

I literally just had my engine replaced (blew in August at 85K miles, dealership had my car for six months while I waited on an engine, cost $7K). I got my car back in mid-February. On March 25th, I was at a stop light, and when I accelerated, the car lagged and lurched forward. This continued any time I shifted into D or R, or came to a complete stop. I was out of town and the car was parked for two weeks. My partner drove it yesterday (4/11/19), checked fluids, and observed the lurch. As he was arriving home, the car lurched to a stop and gave a "hybrid system warning! safely stop and do not drive! we dropped it at the dealership. I bought the car for $9K, sunk another $7K into the car, and am now expected to pay $5K more on a transmission that didn't have any issues before. Kia has already stated that repairs at their dealerships aren't being performed correctly. This is getting ridiculous. I had to vdeal with massive economic hardship over the six months I didn't have a car, and now its going to start all over again and I will be $20K in the hole on this car. This is not how good, safe vehicles are built.

- Ventura, CA, USA

I was driving to drop off a friend and jumped on the highway. Everything was fine until I stopped at a stoplight coming off the highway and heard a knocking sound. I never got a check engine light or anything still to this day. I had it taken to the nearest Kia dealership and they said 3 connecting rods are out and it has a cracked block. They quoted me $7600 to fix it. Its been 6 months and I havent been able to do anything with with. My insurance said they cant do anything and I had an extended warranty but I went over the mileage. I have gap insurance but the insurance company wont do anything about it. I know the other optimas are having the exact same issues but Kia hasbt released a recall for the hybrids.

- Nampa, ID, USA

The orange square wrench light on the dashboard came on but as soon as the car was turned off would go away. No trouble codes showed up. It happened 3 times in a week so once it popped on, went to the dealership to diagnose while it was still running. While driving there, the car had very little power-making the left turn into the dealership (crossing heavy oncoming traffic) was scary since the gas pedal was to the floor and the vehicle was barely moving. The dealership said the drive motor temp sensor in the hybrid system was going out and the car was in safe mode and had code P0A2B in the history. Because I am the 2nd owner of the car, Kia will not cover the repair under warranty even though the car is under 100,000 miles. They designed this part so the sensor cannot be replaced-the entire drive motor must be replaced at a cost of $6251. This is absolutely ridiculous that a customer can be left footing the bill for a faulty and unsafe design. This is not something that a owner has any control over.

- Marshville, NC, USA

Over the last month, I have been experiencing many transmission issues where the my 2012 Kia Optima hybrid is hard shifting between gears 2-3 and 5-6; same when down shifting. I have had to break extra long because of the downshifting, the car 'lurches' forward, and I fail to get sufficient power in the proper gear when I accelerate.

- Omaha, NE, USA

Approaching a stop light, the automatic transmission started downshifting. As it went through each gear there was a short pause followed by a jerking car motion. Accelerating through the intersection, the engine started to rev like the clutch was out on the transmission. As I was on a busy state highway, this put me in danger of being hit. I managed to pull my car onto a side street, and the transmission continued to behave in this manner. There were no warning lights on the dash, or any sort of indication there was a problem with the car. I put the shifter into manual mode, and found that I could control the gear shifts well enough to get the car to the dealer. After 3 days at the dealer, they tried a reset to the relearn system and updates to the ECM/ECU as suggested by Kia. The problem remained. Now they are talking about replacing the transmission, but Kia cannot tell them when the transmissions will be available. The dealer has another car that has already been waiting for more than 3 weeks to have the transmission replaced. Failing transmissions are a serious safety issue, and when drivers have no warning that the system is failing it makes it even worse. The lack of available transmissions would indicate to me that they have a known problem that should be investigated.

- Brush Prairie, WA, USA

We first took it to edwards Kia in council bluffs, ia on 2/11/15. When I originally took it to them, the service engine light had just come on and the car had just started doing the lunging and hesitating when shifting in lower gears. It was as if the accelerator was sticking. They downloaded a couple updates and turned the service engine light off. They advised the light came on because of the update that was needed and said that the shifting /idling issue was better. As soon as I drove it, I noticed it was still doing the same thing. On 2/23/15 I took it back in and they advised that there were two parts to the download and that they had put the second part on and thought it was better. They also gave me a Kia tech support sheet on how to address the problem. This included warming the car up for 10-15 minutes, driving with the eco on the start of the trip, and to depress the accelerator 10 % more. They advised that was the nature of the hybrid vehicle in the cold weather but it didn't do it the year before. We then took the car to H&H Kia in omaha, ne on 3/3/15 and the car is still there 7 weeks later. They have replaced the transmission twice with remanufactured transmissions. I am not sure why they wouldn't put a new one in since the car only has $19,663 miles on it. The have replaced the generator now and still hasn't fixed the problem. The car still isn't showing any codes on the computer and they are waiting for the Kia "experts" to arrive. I have not had my car for 8 weeks and they want me to take the car home until the experts arrive but I do not feel safe with it lunging and shifting erratic like it is.

- Carter Lake, IA, USA

While trying to accelerate, the car randomly has a 2-3 second delay before action. When the problem occurs, the car will coast out into traffic, which may be moving at high speeds. This leaves me exposed to getting hit on a frequent, but irregular basis, and I am afraid to drive the vehicle. The car can also have jerky motions and lunges when accelerating from a stop on an incline, posing a danger to pedestrians and cars nearby.

- Georgetown, TX, USA

This car severely hesitates/stalls after coming to a stop at intersections (red lights, stop signs, yield signs, and etc). Car hesitates/stalls for 2-3 seconds before accelerating while at a dead stop. This has causes several near accidents and scares to my family, friends, and myself. This morning, I pushed the gas pedal to the floor and the car did not accelerate/respond until 2-3 seconds later. This is serious and dangerous problem, while pulling out into traffic incoming cars can close the safety gap quickly in 2-3 seconds. Cold weather causes the car to hesitate/stall more often than warmer weather. I urge the federal government to step in and force Kia to find solution to this problem before this issue cause a fatality. Fuel economy is another issue in this car (hybrid), I typically don't get the estimated 35 mpg/city that the dealership sold me on, it is usually 28-30 mpg/city.

- Fayetteville , NC, USA