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.
I purchased my car brand new from the Kia dealership and it has need the same repair on the same part 3 times (the clutch). The transmission in the 2006 Kia Optima is a vehicle defect.
Auto lock issue. At 118,000 miles my auto locks started to automatically lock when I tried to unlocked them, essentially trapping me in the vehicle. As soon as I click unlock they immediately relook. If this isn't a safety issue in need of a recall I don't know what is. I've looked into the problem on other forums and it seems quite common. Yikes! please get this recall done!
"first" time problem happened was July 3, 2016 with my 2006 Kia Optima. I was sb on hwy I25 in cs, co. Speedometer read 25mph as I was coming off the on-ramp. I accelerated to 40mph into flow of traffic. I felt a lurch & the vehicle automatically accelerated. Speed went from 40mph to about 60 mph without depressing accelerator. Breaking did not slow it down. I felt car was going out of control. My passenger reached over & turned ignition switch off & on quickly, to decelerate & accelerate. This helped car slow down when key was turned off to the first click & helped maintain an adjusted speed as traffic was in-front & in-back. We kept doing this until car slowed down enough to pull over to right shoulder. Key was completely turned off & car was at a complete stop. Car was towed to mechanics. Diagnostic was performed using engine analyzer. It was road tested multiple times & didn't it duplicate my experience. This happened again Sept.10, 2016 as I, again, entered hwy I25 so.I was driving alone. My speedometer was 40 mph, in heavy hwy traffic. I once again "felt" lurch of car. This time it "stuck" at 40 mph. It didn't slow down when I braked, it continued at 40 mph. I continued to brake & speed did slow a bit. My foot was totally down on break when it was still auto accelerating at the hwy exit ramp; now slowed to 26 mph as I continued holding brake down. Finally speed was down to 23mph as I drove into a parking lot (no cars were moving in & out at the time). I turned the key off completely; my foot was still on the brake & the car came to a lurching haul at that time in the middle of the parking lot. I waited about a minute & then started the engine again with my foot on the brake. I was able to pull into a parking slot. I started it & very slowly drove home, but not on the hwy. I maintained speed of 25-30mph. It was only about 1K between the 2 incidents.
"takata recall" on or about October 16, 2015 I could not get out of my drivers side door...I was locked in. I am unable to unlock the door from the inside, or from the outside with my key. The door will not open and I have to climb across to the passenger side to get in and out. I don't know if it happened while I was driving down the road, or when I stopped.
- Kansas City, KS, USA
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Airbag- we started the car up and the airbag light came on and has not went off (other than when the car is shut down). After research discovered that an airbag failure was part of a recall for this model, but only for Optima's manufactured from Sept 2005 forward. This one was manufactured a few weeks prior, yet has the same problem. After a google search, the issue can be found on Optima's with a manufacture date as far back as April of 2005. The recall needs to be expanded to all 2006 models. Driver door locks- when the door is locked, it will not unlock without a lot of playing with the fob or using key and 'getting lucky' to grab the handle at the correct time while doing so, otherwise it locks back immediately upon pulling the handle. This is a safety issue on 2 levels. 1-if for whatever reason your travels take you through rough neighborhoods, the ability to lock the doors could save your life if you come across the wrong people. However, you can not lock them because if you have an accident and the car catches on fire or you need to escape the vehicle quickly, the door will not unlock so you can open it leaving you trapped in the vehicle. After performing a search on google, this issue seems to be with the lock actuator and is effecting Optima's dating back to the 2002-2003 models. Both of these issues seriously need to be dealt with by Kia. Either issue is setting up a scenario that will result in the death of the driver, if a severe accident occurs.
The sun visor does not stay up. The sun visor on the driver side is vision impairment. The switch for the both seats does not work. The wheel bearing is bad. The tire pressure wheel sensor and the transmission speed adjustment sensor are bad on this 2006 Kia Optima, constantly bulbs for taillight blow.
2006 Kia Optima. Consumer writes in regards to a telephone request for the financial assistance and filing an injunction to recover damages for false odometer readings and/or fraud the odometer moved slow. The consumer stated the dealer used a hand held device and stated nothing indicated a malfunction.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Cookstown, NJ, USA