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.
Four window regulators failed within a few days of each other. The first front widows failed at the beginning of December 2023 and the back two failed a week later. The back windows dropped down while I was driving. Thankfully, no children were in the backseat. There was no warning that this was going to occur. The regulators are independent of each other yet all four broke. The windows lost all power and could not be rolled up. I was not able to roll up any of my windows until I paid to have them fixed at a Kia dealership in April. This was a safety issue (theft, unpredictable windows falling, heat inside the car, extreme cold temperatures couldn't be blocked out, etc.) until they were fixed at a costly price-$2,168. Two Kia service advisors confirmed the four window regulators and/ or drums needed replaced. The service advisor was aware of the problem on other vehicles and was not surprised at that all four independent regulators broke. The four regulators have been fixed therefore I do not have the failed/broken part. I have my service record however. I contacted Kia headquarters to request a recall be made on their defective product but they were not responsive. I was given a case # but nothing else.
While driving on the highway, vehicle lost all electrical power. The engine stayed running, but I lost use of anything electrical including the power steering, headlights, and dashboard functions. Vehicle power resumed after about a minute and we made it home, but the vehicle would not start after this. After calling our KIA dealership they advised taking the vehicle in immediately via tow. After looking through the vehicle, it was found that a fuse inside of the battery harness had melted. This caused the battery cable to heat up to ~200 degrees. The cause is still unclear, but we worry about this happening in the future. We are still waiting for the cable to be replaced at this time.
I was driving home on i-91 S when my car started smoking from under the hood. There were no warning lights and the temperature gauge read normal with the lever at the center. I pulled off at the next Exit and parked in a parking lot. I popped the hood and found that a fire had started around the engine. The fire grew to the point that the whole front half of the car was burned before the fire department was able to put it out. The vehicle was assessed by my insurance, but I think the extent of that was to determine whether it was a total loss (which it obviously was).
My daughter and I were driving home from my brother's house, when we stopped by McDonald's to grab food, we noticed our car smoking really bad. I had her pull away from the drive-thru and into the empty parking lot. We got out just seconds before the car burst into flames from underneath the hood of the car.
- Olathe, KS, USA
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I was driving on the freeway and my car suddenly jolted, smoked started pouring from the hood, and then immediately caught fire once I pulled off the road within minutes. There were no warnings, no engine lights, nothing that pointed to an issue until this happened. I was at risk of getting hit by others in the freeway -?" I luckily was able to get to the side of the road and immediately called 911. Fire department came within minutes, and dowsed the car, which was fully engulfed in flames.
Car engine will randomly not start, resulting in safety issue of being stranded in inclement weather and/or unsafe areas. Vehicle has been seen by two separate dealers for Kia who despite multiple attempts at service (5+) have been unable to resolve the issue. 12-5-22 Vehicle Purchased 12-6 Contacted Dealer Jeff Wyler Kia to report car not starting. Jeff Wyler Kia staff advice to have car towed. Unable to find tow due to weather and towing trucks unavailable in area for less than $400 12-7: Dealer towed car, serviced and replaced battery 12-8 Car returned and operated to return to residence 12-9: Contacted Dealer Jeff Wyler Kia to report car not starting and dealer towed for further servicing. 12-10 thru 12-30-22: Car serviced at dealer with module stated as part needing to be replaced. Loaner car provided however, dealer service and sales departments wouldn-??t return calls or texts throughout most of servicing period. No receipt of work done on the car was provided upon return on 12-30 and no CarFax report is on file for this servicing or replacement. 01-05-23: Car does not start and issue continues with regularity. 01-11-23: Vehicle relocated to Chicago, Illinois area and new dealer service identified due to issues with Jeff Wyler Kia Service being unresponsive and issue not addressed. 01-16 to 01-20: Liberty Kia services car identifying issue with starter and arranges replacement ($1200) 01-31: Car does not start and issue continues with regularity. 02-06 to 02-10: Liberty Kia services car and is unable to replicate the issue. Returns vehicle. 02-14: Car does not start and issue continues with regularity. Liberty Kia adviser says via phone to try turning steering wheel to deactivate anti-theft measure in car. Works sometimes and other times not. 03-03: Kia 20000 service appointment and unable to replicate starting issue. 04-17 to 29-May: Ongoing starting issues - rescheduled appointments due to car not starting - finally towed June 1 to Liberty Kia
I purchased my car in September 2017 and in or around July 2022 my front passenger window would not open. In the next few months the back passenger windows and front driver-side window as well. After taking it to Benson Kia on 4/17/23 they told me that for 1 its a Good Will repair and only for the front windows on 4/22/23 I received a call saying that they declined the repair due to mileage on the car which is roughly around 94,000 miles. I will be lookin into getting an attorney for this issue since this is not normal wear and tear for this vehicle after 5 years and I have vehicles that are almost over 10 years older and are not having any issues of the sort. After research, I have found a class action lawsuit for the windows for 2016 and 2017 Optima and Sportage models on Carcomplaints.com
I purchased my 2017 Kia Sportage new with 0 miles. Since day one I have had multiple electronic related issues with this automobile. The speedometer sometimes doesn't display speeds, the Bluetooth connection turns on and off randomly. The air conditioning system sporadically works. If the air conditioning is turned on it will blow hot air and then sporadically turn on and off by itself. I have noticed that the Bluetooth connection turns off when the air conditioning system turns on. I have called Kia customer service and they deny any problems with my Kia or any other 2017 Kia sportage, yet I located a technical service bulletin from KIA issued in 2019 that calls for the replacement of the entire air conditioner system. When I spoke to Kia about the technical service bulletin, they claimed that individual dealers are allowed to issue those bulletins without KIAs knowledge. I have brought my Kia to the local dealer several times and they claimed that there is nothing wrong with the air conditioning system or the electric systems
1/2/2023 -?" My car turned on with zero issues. When I went to pull out of my parking space, the car stalled and tuned off. Right before it turned off, the check engine light and oil light flickered. I waited 5 minutes and turned the car on. It turned on with none of the warning lights flickering or staying on. I pulled the car back into the parking space and the engine had a clicking noise. My husband popped the hood and checked the oil and it seemed low. We went in our other vehicle and purchased oil. We inserted 1QT of oil and turned the car on. It turned on with zero issues but the engine had a clicking noise. We called the Kia dealership but it was too late to take the vehicle to them so decided we would do it the next day. 1/3/2023 -?" We called Roadside and the car was flat bedded to the Kia dealership. We spoke with the Advisor NICK and he asked for us to give him to Friday 1/6/2023 to look at the car and he would call us back. So we waited to Friday to 1/6/23 to speak to Nick. 1/6/2023 -?" Nick called us and told us the car might possibly need a new engine. Did not tell us how they came to the determination or what was wrong with the car and engine. He just said that the dealership needed to talk to Kia Corporate and Kia engineers for the next course of action and that he would call us back on Wednesday 1/10/2023. So, we wait again patiently til 1/10/2023. 1/10/2023 - Nick calls us and we demand to know what is wrong with the vehicle and that we need a loaner. We can not be without the car. He tells us that they do not have a loaner and that they are a small dealership. He told us the techs ran a BCD test on the car and that it failed it twice. That they were waiting to speak to Kia Corp and the engineers again for the next course of action. He said the car had low oil. How could that be we asked -?" it was only 2K miles in from the last oil change. No answers provided.
The contact owns a 2017 Kia Sportage. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and unoccupied it spontaneously caught fire. The front windshield burst and the front of the vehicle melted. The check engine warning indicator light was illuminated. There were no reported injuries. The fire department extinguished the fire. There was no police report filed, injuries, or air bag deployment. The vehicle was towed to the contact residents. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was contacted but no additional assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000.
I was driving up to Vermont for an event. I stopped at a Dunkin Donuts drive through and noticed smoke coming from the hood of my car. I quickly pulled forward into the nearest parking spot and the car started smoking in and burst into flames. I had 20-30 seconds to get out of the car. I could have been killed.
On 7/22/2020 I brought my Sportage to Fuccillo Associats of Florida Inc. 202 Tamiami Trail, Port Charlotte Fl. 33953. At that time they took it upon themselves to change a window regulator drum gear on the driver's side. This was covered under warranty, even though the warranty was expired already. Part number 82473-D3000FFF. Then on 11/16/2021 the second regulator drum gear failed in the rear passenger behind drivers seat. The window fell and could not be closed. This was repaired at my expense at $458 at 75,000 miles. Now as of July 1st the third window regulator drum gear failed on the passenger rear side. Now the window is inoperable and falls down. I alerted Kia to this issue and they attempted to change me a diagnostic fee and a $450 replacement fee in a part they know is defective and has been a problem for them all across the country. Look on your own site and you will see many many complaints of windows that just fell and the window regulator will not bring the window back up. This window drum gear is defective and should nave been part of a national recall on all 4 windows as they were probably manufactured out of material that would not stand up to normal wear and tear.
Engine seized twice randomly while driving. Turned car off and back on and it ran without issue. (May 21 2022 and June 30 2022). Had the recall addressed on july 9 and July 12 my check engine light came on. It was towed to Kia and they called the following day saying they-??re replacing the engine under the extended warranty.
After purchase the car only a year. The rod was thrown and punched a hole i. The engine block and began to smoke. I jumped out and the car wouldn-??t start or nothing. Car was towed home and to several locations to look at and fix the car. When all along there was a safety recall. When I attempted to file a complaint the Kia class action suit was denied. Now this is on my credit due to having no other choice then to voluntarily repo the car.
My vehicle was stolen in the middle of the day while locked through the rear window. There is now $8,000 worth of damage to it including the windows, ignition, body. I have since learned that there is a flaw in the way that Kia designed the vehicle that makes is extremely easy to steal.
Check engine light came on after I exit the ramp getting onto I-75. The vehicle started to stall. The vehicle started making a jerking move as though it was loosing power. I had to pull over in the side of the highway. I turned off the vehicle for about 5 minutes and turned it back on. I pull back onto the highway and noticed that when I press the gas it started repeating the same as I stated before and it wouldn-??t accelerate pass 65 mph. When you slow down to about 20 mph and press the gas it stalls really bad as though it-??s about to cut off. The acceleration hands jumps back and forth between 1 and 2 when pulling off.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Sutherland Springs, TX, USA