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.
Purchased this vehicle from CarMax on 7/2/22 with 32,888 miles. During the next 4 months, we had to add 5.5 quarts of oil as the oil light kept coming on. The car was virtually out of oil by the time the oil light came on. Researching on the internet showed that millions of Kia cars apparently have this issue due to defective engines. Took the car to Greenway Kia on November 28 with approximately 40,000 miles. They performed the required tests, which proved the engine was excessively burning oil. However, Kia denied the warranty claim due to a lack of historical oil change records, which obviously we can't produce since we aren't the original owner. Now I'm left with no recourse and a vehicle that isn't safe to drive. Given that most of the Kia engines of this vintage have this issue, they should be required to recall the vehicles rather than hide behind the small print in their warranty.
We own a 2018 Kia Sportage. We never had any problems with it, UNTIL NOW. I Drove it to work one morning, and was on the way home and suddenly without warning, no lights, or indicators came on, and the car started to shake, and lost full throttle response in the MIDDLE OF TRAFFIC. Immediately pulled over! Tried starting the car again, but the car was not cranking. We had to tow our car home, and was told our engine had to be replaced. We were checking out the engine, and notice there was a hole in it. Now keep in mind, we've never had any problems with our KIA until now. So it was odd. We checked the N.H.T.S.A and the KIA has 2 recalls, and we were not aware of them. We called the manufacturer to see if they called replaced the engine but they denied us. So we're stuck without a car.
9/15 car goes in limp mode on expressway. Get to towed to dealership. Get the car back on 9/17. Only make it about 20 miles, and the same thing happens again. I-??m able to make it back to the dealership the same day. On my way home. Pick up the car on 9/19. Happens again on 9/20. Now I am being told I need a full engine replacement. The dealership has no loaners to give out. They are expecting me to pay for a rental in hopes of getting reimbursed. I am a single mom. I work in sales and drive in my territory every single day I do not have the money to put out for the rental and now after researching, it could be months before I get the car back.
I was driving and the car and it just stopped. The oil light and engine light came on and now it-??s making a clicking noise, now. I am not driving the car but I was told that my car had no oil in it and investigation was conducted by a shop that confirmed that the last oil change was conducted as expected, on July 30, 2022. A professional mechanic advised me to contact you all and inform you all of what happen and that you all have made consumers aware of the possible issues that could occur and actually happened.
- Fort Worth, TX, USA
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My check engine light came on. I had the code diagnosis done and it came back P200A. When I try to accelerate, my car will not accelerate up hills or on the interstate. I-??ve noticed this happening occasionally before the check engine light came on but the car wouldn-??t do it when I took it to the dealer when it was still under warranty and since the check engine light wasn-??t on at the time, they said there was nothing they could do. I-??ve also noticed on occasion the car dashboard and radio will randomly flash when I am driving.
My car engine failed due to extreme oil consumption. It ran out of oil completely after 2K miles from my last synthetic oil change and damaged my 3rd cylinder. I have maintained the car perfectly and done all recommended repairs. My car only has 66K miles and already needs a new engine.
The contact owns a 2018 Kia Sportage. The contact stated that while driving a knocking noise was suddenly present coming from the engine and warning messages were present on the dashboard display before the vehicle stalled. Later while attempting the start the engine a burning odor and smoke were present coming from the engine compartment. The engine was turned off and the smoke dissipated. The cause of the failures was not determined. The local dealer and manufacturer were notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 86,000.
Vehicle engine accelerated and raced without warning with foot on brake. Has occurred on several occasions with different household operators. Vehicle has about 18,000 miles.
I was driving and the radio went out along with navigation screen, then power steering went out along with headlights, tail lights. Engine was still running but would not rev up. All kinds of warning lights went off, had a harder time steering vehicle out of the Road way. Engine eventually shut off. My dealer said my starter had a continuous draw on my battery and drained it. This was on 11/10/21. They replaced the starter and the battery. Got vehicle back on 11/10. Last night 11/18/21 I was driving my vehicle again at night and the same thing happened again, no lights, no power steering, no electronics in the vehicle worked. Got someone to jump My vehicle, we let it charge from the jumper and got the vehicle started again. Drove 4 miles down the road, same thing again. Had my wife come there and we again put jumper cables on for 20 minutes, was able to drive the vehicle home, did notice this time I had a check engine light. Have scheduled an appointment with my dealer again. I feel that on a dark country road with limited areas to pull over with no headlights or tail lights or 4 way flashers I could have easily been rear ended. I did have cars pass me and blow their horn at me, did finally make it to a cross road with a street light and got off the main road. The dealer has not set an appointment yet, vehicle would be available for inspection, if needed.
Kia knowing that they are selling nothing but junk to consumers are refusing to provide ANY Assistance to customers whom pay 25+K for their trash called vechicles. Kia has recalled my vechicle 2× now for Motor and ECU problems and now my vechicle is having electrical problems and had to be towed to a dealership to be looked at. This dealership is not looking to find out where the electrician problem is coming from and when I contact Kia America they are refusing any assistance to help me get their 25K piece of trash back on the road. When is the NTHSA going to do something and hold these car companies RESPONSIBLE FOR THE JUNK THEY ARE SELLING!!!
When you turn off the car via push button the car engine won-??t shut off. The computer system shuts down but the engine continues to run. I-??ve taken to the dealership three times to repair and it is still an issue. Engine isn-??t diesel-??ing as the gas pedal still works with the car off. When this happens the vehicles computer system itself is fully off. Kia roadside won-??t dispatch in this situation as they say -??they aren-??t mechanics-??. The only thing you can do to shut the car off no matter how many times you attempt to restart is to go inside the engine compartment and pull the fuel pump fuse and starve the engine. There is no difference in engine sound between the on and off computer state, car is quiet so it could be easily missed by someone not paying attention. The car doors will not lock in this situation. Originally when this happened the car would throw tons of codes (I have it on video) now after the supposed fix (aka the computer update for the recall that was supposed to fix my issue) it no longer throws any codes. Now when the issue happens the vehicle appears to actually shut down fully except you can hear the engine not shutting down but not a single code registers. Shifter is completely locked out in this situation and will not re-engage until the engine has been choked out.
Addendum to complaint on Kia motors, Kia America, citrus Kia, their sell of first a brand new 2015 Kia soul, now recalled 5 yrs later after we begged for help. We are 2 disabled person S who were duped by Kia and citrus, traded in going into further debt after getting no where with NHTSA, Kia etc. Kia motors traded and financed a brand new 2018 Kia Sportage only to have dangerous problems with it. Kia knowingly sold us 2 dangerous vehicle S, we had the knock sensor installed per the "upgrade", farce, should be recall. The car stalled in traffic and another dealership put in a wiring harness extension. We only have 13,000 miles on this car because we do not feel safe. The dealership did an oil change last year and day before yesterday. I received a text that our fuel needed additive. It is in " fair condition", recommend with every oil change. Not true, never recommended before and 13,000 miles. It should not need additive anywhere. See attached screenshot. I fully believe they are covering up even more as it relates to the problem ie settlement" seriously. Our car is worth nothing. I implore our new head of transportation to look into our complaints since 2015 to include the inquiry by senator marco rubio. Joseph and julie mraz ♿ Kia soul 2015 to Kia Sportage 2018. Black book value, resale value, insurance premium increase, how many times will Kia be allowed to steal from us ". this is dangerous on and off the road.
I bought this car in may of 2020 with 44K on the odometer. Three days later I was on a 3400 mile road trip on the highway when I started hearing knocking from the engine bay. I took it in and had them listen. They told me it was completely normal. The knock went away for about 400 miles then came back. I took it in to 4 different dealerships. I got told there had been a recall on the motor but that it had been fixed already. The day after I got home the car died at 30 mph on the way home from work and left me in the middle of a very busy intersection almost causing me to get hit. Took it in and it took them 4 days to find a bad fuse. The car over the next 3 months popped 12 fuses and kept dyeing on the road. Then I started having problems with it not turning over. Took it to a different dealership and they found a bad fuel pump and starter as well as a battery drain thats killed three batteries. Took the car to Kia 9 different times to get looked at.7 of those times they said there was nothing wrong with it. They said they knew about the drain but couldnt find it. Then they finally figured out the fuel pump was shorting out and causing the fuse to pop. They supposedly replaced the fuel pump in September of 2020 along with the injection pump. I was 50 miles from end of warranty the day after I get the car out of the shop it wont run for longer then 15 seconds. Not getting fuel.left me stranded on the side of the road 45 miles out of town. Im back to square 1 because half the time my car wont start. The motor is still knocking and has no power with my fuel mileage dropping down to 11mpg it started revving up and speed not changing, not shifting correctly or just not shifting. My new shop discovered the transmission is failing fast. Ive had this car 6 months and am still paying for it and I cant even drive it safely. Complete transmission failure at 64,456 miles.
The contact owned a 2018 Kia Sportage. The contact stated that while approaching a school zone and entering the school lot at about 5 mph, there was grey smoke coming from under the hood. The contact exit his child from the vehicle and parked the vehicle to inspect it that was when the hood was opened. The contact discovered that the vehicle had caught fire. The fire department was contacted. A police report was filed. No injuries were sustained. The fire department extinguished the flames. The vehicle was a total loss. The vehicle was towed to an impound lot. A dealer was not contacted. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact mentioned NHTSA campaign number: 18V907000 (fuel system, gasoline, engine) as a possible solution to the failure however the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 60,000.
While merging (accelerating) onto the interstate highway the engine abruptly shut off and my 2018 Kia Sportage 2.4L rolled to a stop in the merge lane. I restarted the vehicle to move it to off the road to a safer location and the engine seemed to be limiting the vehicle power. The check engine light flashed. I later found out that the engine was putting out a trouble code P1326 which I understand from a code search may be related to excessive engine vibration issues. I am taking the vehicle to the Kia dealer for analysis. My understanding is that (Hyundai motor group) who are the parent company of Kia motors have a recall for replacement of the 2018 2.4L Hyundai engines but not yet for the Kia engines, though these engines are manufactured nearly identically.
For the past year or so, I've been experiencing an unknown issue. I'll be driving along, steadily and all of a sudden my engine and RPM gauge will rev up and then go back to normal. My speed doesn't change, no lights go on, just the rev-ing sound and the gauge goes up. It's very alarming to me. I've checked with Kia and they're aware of the issue but state that there is currently no recall or alert as to what exactly the problem is or how to solve it. Dealer said they had never had any other complaints about this. Also reported accelerates slowly when setting at a stop light. They cannot find anything wrong,
Addendum # 2 from original complaint and response through senator marco rubio office. 1st addendum dated August 9 2019. Husband arrived at courtesy Kia and as expected, no loaner vehicle. Finally I reached the sales manager and explained how disgusting it would be for a disabled man who is paying for a defective car and promised a loaner to have to call uber. He agreed to loan one under "test drive" guise. Friday 9,2019 heard nothing about our car. We called at 4:30. Fernando stated that they had it in back and did not know what was wrong with it. Saturday 10,2019..1:45, jenny the service advisor called and stated that our car was ready " we put a ksds wiring harness". no further explanation. Not even via email. The service ticket on states...engine noise pass, put wiring harness jumper. I looked at the protocol on NHTSA site. It states clearly. The car must be hooked up to internet everyday and a 21 step procedure to check for engine noise. On the service ticket, mileage was identical in and out. How do you really test a car without driving it. This was a rush job on their part... employees pretending to not know about this massive defect. The 26 page document attached speaks volumes. We asked for a photo of the wiring harness that was damaged. They refused, they also stated that it is being sent back to the manufacturer. Meanwhile...two disabled persons get to drive in fear, live in fear and pay for a defective engine/car and was scammed by citrus Kia, Kia motors, Kia America. Attorneys general, states attorneys, senators, please hold Kia accountable. Please make them actually show up in front of congress ♿ plant city....per the document. Everyday doesn't mean, day and half.
Addendum to the complaint dated January through senator marco rubio office. I received a letter from NHTSA dot that the investigation is open as to the "software upgrade", should be labeled recall and into the "theta engine", see attached. As I write this, my disabled husband is in a tow truck with the driver because he went to the dollar general store, turned the corner onto a busy highway and the car limp mode light came on, car shut down dangerously slow. Luckily he was not rear-ended. This is pathetic for Kia motors, Kia America to get away with this. These vehicles need to be bought back. They have no clue what is really happening. We took our car in a couple of months ago to courtesy Kia for an oil change. They said all was good. Clearly it is not ! Kia did us, two disabled americans wrong. Soul 1st, scammed into going more in depth because soul was bad... knowing there is a major defect. That is deceptive trade practice. Plain and simple and dealer's are complicit. Please get these cars off of the rode. It has been noted on forums that Kia is putting used motors. Please do something. We are not safe, our grandchildren are not safe. States attorneys, attorney general's, senators, etc. Help all of us. We lost our home to toxic drywall, now this. Plant city. ♿
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Franklin, TN, USA