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.
2005 Kia Optima. Driver door won't unlock or open from inside or outside. I have to climb across the passenger seat to get in or out of the vehicle. This is a huge safety issue, not to mention what it is doing to my lower back. The dealer says they can fix it for about $400 plus about $105 in diagnostic fees. I should not be financially responsible for something that is obviously a serious problem with a lot of the Kia out there. There is a list of many owners who are having the same problem. Kia needs to step up and take care of it. In the event of an accident, I will not be able to exit the car quickly or safely. This problem needs to be addressed!
The contact owns a 2005 Kia Optima. The contact stated that the power locks malfunctioned, which caused the driver's side front door to lock. The door could not be reopened. The contact would enter the vehicle through the passenger side of the vehicle and climb over the center console. The dealer advised the contact that the vehicle could not be diagnosed because the driver side door would not open and suggested that the door be unassembled at the contacts expense. The contact stated the failure was a major safety issue because the door would not open in the event of a crash. The failure mileage was 89,703.
I can't open my door!! my drivers side door refuses to open, from inside or out! I try to unlock it from the outside and when I pull on the latch, it locks the door again, and it will not open from the inside, sometimes relocking the door on me. It was working just fine before then, and then all of sudden it started malfunctioning, nothing happened to make this happen. Only the drivers side door is affected. This is a safety hazard and I'm not the only one this has happened to, there needs to be a recall. I have been unable to get this corrected as of yet.
The contact owns a 2005 Kia Optima. The contact stated that the door locks became defective and would sporadically cause her to become locked inside or outside of the vehicle. The contact stated that she would often have to climb out of the windows to exit the vehicle. The vehicle was neither inspected nor repaired for the failure. The manufacturer was not notified. The current mileage was 89,677 and the failure mileage was approximately 59,000.
Drivers side door will not unlock from inside vehicle or outside. This is not only extremely inconvenient but also very unsafe. Last year the same issue happened on passenger side door, which I paid to have fixed and now the same issue is happening on drivers side. Kia should take responsibility for this defect.
- Milwaukee, WI, USA
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Driver door of Kia 2005 Optima will not open from the inside or outside at all. Have to climb over passenger seat to get to drivers seat. Called the dealership and was told that most likely the part that is bad is called the 'door checker' according to the Kia manuals. I have to get a new one. Called dealership there will be 2 hours of labor involved. The part wears out to the point where it tells the system that the door is not latched so it trips the auto lock feature to keep the door from swinging open. Apparently this is a dealer part only. Not covered under warranty. My car only has 41,000 miles on it.
The contact owns 2005 Kia Optima LX/ex. The drivers side door will not open with or without the key. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that there are no recalls or warranties and it would cost $400 to repair the failure. The manufacturer was contacted and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 73,000.
Driver side door will not unlock or open with a key or with the unlock switch. When I try to unlock the doors from the drivers side with the key. It will not unlock but the rest of the doors will. Normally I have to juggle and play with the key and the door will unlatch. Last night I stood outside for 15 minutes and the door would not open so I had to climb thru the passenger side. This problem is a hazard. In the case of an emergency I would be screwed. This problem occurred in early 2010. Once I unlocked it the first time I decided to just leave the door unlocked for easy entry but that leaves my car vulnerable for theft or items I may leave in it. There have been many instances where a passenger has unknowingly locked the door and I would have to climb thru the other side and jiggle the key all over again. Last night was the longest that I have ever had to play with the door and now I believe it will not open and I have no solution on how to open it since the company claims they never heard of this problem.
2006 Kia Optima driverside door locks not allowing drivers door to unlock, we called dealer and they say that they are willing look at the problem for a service fee and labor, we search on-line this is a problem that there are several people having.
2005 Kia Optima drivers door lock malfunctions. Door will not open from inside or out. This is a serious safety hazard. There are many internet reports and complaints about this issue. Kia will not recall or take care of this issue. NHTSA do something about it!
When I got home from work and attempted to open the drivers side door it just kept relocking, the lock doesn't open all the way it makes a noise and locks again. I had to climb over the middle console to get out of the car. I went around to the drivers side to see if I could open it from the outside, the key doesn't turn all the way, if the other doors are unlocked and you try to open from the drivers side it just clicks into the locked position. I am afraid that I will be in a position to have to exit the vehicle in a hurry and can't.
My 2005 Kia Optima driver side door will not unlock. It is impossible to unlock it either with a key from the outside, or from inside the vehicle. If I needed to get out of the car in an emergency, if would be difficult to do so since I have to climb over the console and enter and exit from the passenger side. This is the second time since owning the car that this has happened to me. I am tired of having to pay to have the same problem repaired. It happens all of a sudden without warning. I have taken it to the mechanic again to get it fixed.
Starting approx. July 28, the front passenger lock began acting up, giving a lot of resistance when trying to turn the key to lock or unlock the door. Then yesterday, about eight days later, the problem moved to the drivers side door where now I cannot open the door from the inside or the outside at all. When I open from the outside, it just re-locks the door without opening the door. On the inside, there is absolutely no response. I have read other people with the same problem and it seems to be a wide-spread problem for Kia cars. This can be a real safety hazard in that if for some reason I needed to exit the car quickly, I would be stuck inside. Right now my only way of entering or exiting the vehicle is climbing in from the passenger side or through the window. I have am waiting for an opening at the Kia dealer, but they are busy (likely with other vehicles with the same problem) and I have read the repair costs for this are extremely high. With this being such a wide-spread issue and with the potential safety and hazard ramifications, it seems that Kia should be doing a re-call to repair all these parts that are wearing out after only 50,000-70,000 miles--while other cars seem to have no issues at all. This is an unfair situation to put everyone in who has to get this fixed, at great cost, and seems to almost be a planned failure (as wide-spread as it is among many models) to keep their service departments busy.
Drivers side door will not open. After being locked I cannot open the drivers side door from the inside, and in order to open it from the outside, I have to turn the key in the lock and pull the handle at the same time. This works about 30% of the time. Otherwise, if I just turn the key and then pull on the door handle I hear the car door relock before I can open it.
Driver side door intermittently would not unlock, eventually after continuing to try and unlock it the door would unlock (happened for about 8 months), now the drivers side door will not unlock from either inside or outside the car. Can not get the door open at all.
The contact owns a 2005 Kia Optima. The doors automatically locked when the engine was off. The drivers side door locked and would not unlock manually or with the remote. The driver had to get out on the passenger side of the vehicle. The passenger side and rear doors will open but not the drivers side door. All four doors will lock after you get out of the vehicle even if the keys are in the vehicle. The contact had to have a police officer open the door with a slim jim. The failure mileage was 89,000. The current mileage was 89,100.
I was leaving for some time off of work to go back to Wisconsin and all of a sudden the driver door locked on me and I could not get it open. I took it to a dealer and they had to take the door off to fix it. Then it only remains fixed for about 3-4 times and it locks on me again and then I have to climb over the console and go through the passenger side. I was told that it is over 60,000 miles and I would have to pay to have it fixed and then I was also told that it would probably happen again. Common sense tells me that if it will happen again don't you think that it is a defect of some sort and the company Kia should be looking at a recall. What is it going to take? a nice law suit. I took my car where I get my oil changed and they again opened the driver door so to unlock the door so it could be opened. Well, again it unlocked for 3-4 times and locked up again, so now I am out money and the [xxx] door still does not unlock so I can use the driver's side door. This presents a real safety issue! can someone please do something about this. Information redacted pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
Car driver door locks and cannot be unlocked from inside or out. In the event of accident or vehicular fire, driver would be trapped in vehicle, especially if unable to crawl out through other doors. This failure occurred without any warning or symptoms. This is an equipment design flaw and according to internet data and personal contacts, is common for this vehicle make-regardless of model of vehicle. This failure has not resulted in my harm and I do not feel that someone should have to die before your Agency issues a recall. However, I am sure that someone has already been harmed due to this faulty equipment based upon the sheer numbers of people who are experiencing the same problem.
Both low beam headlights blow out simultaneously. When this happened, high beams (separate bulbs and switch) would only work sporadically (switched 'on', nothing. Switched again, may come 'on', turned 'off' then 'on' may or may not come on). Dealer states 'it happens, they burn out', yet said the battery needed to be replaced.(?) non warranty, so you pay. Another complaint on the same car year/make/model, same issue, has already been filed with you. In addition, 'google' search shows many entries for this same problem on Kia and Hyundai vehicles (same manufacturer) over many models/years. Signs point to possible defective charging of battery by vehicle's electrical system (maybe why they replaced the battery at the same time). Battery was previously fine. I've had many electrical problems with the car, things stop working, then work on their own (power window won't work, sticks part open. Switch does nothing. Then suddenly later window lowers/raises without switch being touched. Trunk suddenly pops open). Definite electrical problem on these make of vehicles over many years which neither manufacturer is going to address themselves. Unless you do something, many will be paying for service caused by their negligence.. also, seat belt does not retract all the time. My vehicle was purchased new.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Covington, WA, USA