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.
Brake pedal stopper breaking apart causing the ESC indicator to come on and loosing acceleration while driving. I contacted dealer and no recall on th.is issue.
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving on the highway, the vehicle failed to accelerate above 45 mph. There was white smoke beginning to come from underneath the hood of the vehicle and the exhaust. The contact stated that it had gotten to the point where they would have to add oil to their vehicle every 100 miles. The check oil warning light would illuminate intermittently. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer (valley hi Kia 14644 valley center dr, victorville, ca 92395; 877-305-9865). The vehicle had too high levels of the oil. The contact took the vehicle to a certified mechanic who changed the oil and changed the crank sensor. The contact was told that rod barring material was found in their oil. The vehicle had not been repaired and the failures persist today. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 129,000.
Tha car shut down in the middle of the road would not start all lights came on and could not steer gave the car gas on gas pedal nor could I brake to get out of the road. Has been towed to demontrond Kia to see if under warranty for repairs almost lost my life on highway
Car will not start up. When turning key I hear clicking noise from under the god from fuse box and thinking it's starter relay but I replaced it and still nothing eventually by keep trying turning key to start for 18 minutes it starts up finally. No clue what it could be. Maybe starter solenoid
- Akron, OH, USA
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The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima hybrid. The contact stated that the vehicle experienced electrical failure and unintended acceleration. The contact stated that the vehicle accelerated and decelerated independently. The contact stated that there was an intermittent failure with headlamps. The contact also stated that the vehicle lunged forward while driving. The vehicle was taken to power Kia dealer, (3705 market St ne, salem, or 97301, (503) 585-7333) and was informed that the battery needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired however, the unintended acceleration recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the same dealer and informed that the headlamps light switch caused the battery to drain. The battery was replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The failure recurred. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to the same dealer four times. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 77,874.
Issue started 2 months ago. Noticed that vehicle acceleration is sluggish. Sometimes I have to take foot off the acceleration pedal then depress it again in order for vehicle to accelerate. Acceleration is unreliable and dangerous. Electronic stability sensor also started lighting up and cruise control became inoperable. Also noticed that my tail lights lit up on its own (and did not turn off) while vehicle is parked and fob not near vehicle, draining the battery. Police came by in the middle of the night to report that my tail lights were on. Tail light did not turn off when pressing the fob unlock/lock button. Had to restart the engine, drive around the block then turn off engine before the tail lights came off... but it turned back on again on its own that same night (in the middle of the night) and had to repeat the process. My battery was drained and had to replace it 3 days ago. I thought it was a battery problem (and was informed by dealer that it was probably a battery related issue) but problem persisted. Read reviews and this seems to be a running complaint with issues on brake pedal stopper or brake sensor stopper. Will bring vehicle to dealer in the morning.
Vehicle's ABS brake activate randomly illuminating the ABS brake signal on dashboard, while in motion and without touching the brakes. This causes the vehicle to decelerate and has made the vehicle come to a near complete stop. Even if the gas pedal is pressed to accelerate the vehicle will not increase speed, only decrease. The issue happens 8/10 times while making turns and approx 5/10 while driving straight on freeway. This happened on 11/08/2019 in the evening, I immediately took my vehicle back to Kia and they claimed to have driven my car for 20 miles and didn't see or experience any issues. My car is a 2012 and only has 58, 388 miles. I demanded they keep looking but they caught an attitude like I made the scenario up and any stated that I should drive the car with their mechanic as they "cannot replicate my driving", like I'm driving in the [xxx] indy 500. Since it is now Sunday, and the dealer is closed it will be sitting in their service center Monday morning! parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. When the contact's wife started the vehicle, the "hybrid system warning safety stop and do not drive" message appeared on the instrument panel. Also, when the accelerator pedal was depressed, an abnormal noise was heard and the vehicle would not accelerate more than 10 mph. The vehicle was taken to san francisco Honda new & used sales (1595 van ness ave, san francisco, ca 94109, (415) 687-0174) to be diagnosed, but the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 89,979.
I have a 2012 Kia Optima hybrid at 80, xxx, and have always kept up with the scheduled services/maintenance. I barely drive my car nowadays, and just ride my bicycle to take public transportation that is 1-mile away. My wife and I were driving on the freeway, going 65mph, 47-miles into our drive, our car started jerking. We have about 3-4 miles left to our destination. When you pressed on the gas, it sounded like it was just accelerating and not shifting to the next gear. There were no warning lights or notification as to why that was happening. We exited from the freeway and stopped at a local plaza to try and reset the car, and gave the car about 20-mins before driving again. When we tried driving about the last 10-mins, even at 20mph, it was still jerking and still sounded like it wasn't shifting to the next gear, and still no warning lights. We ended up towing our car back home because we didn't want to risk getting stuck on the freeway at 1-2am. Unfortunately, I am the 2nd owner, however, I do have extended warranty, so I hope this issue is not that serious. I will definitely contact Kia and raise this concern because it is a safety hazard.
I have a 2012 Kia Optima hybrid. Drove great at first now the car is off and on.. while driving the car lunges often and as others have said there is a delay 2 second from pressing the gas to the car actually accelerating. The car also loses power when driving on the highway. I've noticed the engine will not charge the hybrid battery when it is getting low and the car become immobilized unable to accelerate. I have had dash lights only appear once and when the car was taken to the dealership they were unable to find the cause. This issue is extremely dangerous to myself and others. Attached are a few pictures you can see the hybrid battery had 1 bar it appears to be charging but then goes to 0 bars because the battery is trying to power the car while only the engine should.
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. While driving with the accelerator pedal depressed, the vehicle decelerated on its own. When the accelerator pedal was released and depressed again, the vehicle would accelerate normally. In addition, when accelerating from a stop, the vehicle started to rattle, the oil warning indicator flickered, and the rear brake lights would remain illuminated when the vehicle was turned off. The vehicle was taken to atlanta West Kia (located at 1301 thornton rd, lithia spring, ga 30122, (678) 715-5399) where it was diagnosed that the high pressure fuel pump failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notifed. The approximate failure mileage was 166,000.
Takata recall, I was driving my vehicle and when I went to speed up the engine seized, causing me to pull over in the break down lane on the highway and turn the vehicle off completely and when I tried to turn the vehicle back on it would not fully turn back on, all the lights in the vehicle started flickering, I tried jumping my car and it did not work I had to get it towed to the nearest Kia dealer
I was driving on the highway and while doing 70 mph the vehicle suddenly decelerated and and could not accelerate. My traction control light came on and off. A couple of miles it did it again. I then placed my foot under the brake pedal and my car drove fine. After inspecting my car I noticed that the brake stopper was worn. I did some research and found out that while you are accelerating and the brake stopper is bad, it can cause your car to go into a safety mode because it thinks you are braking and accelerating at the same time. This affects the power and can cause a rear end collision.
On January 24, 2019, my car had to be towed to shakers Kia in watertown ct again. I had been in ct visiting family when I got stuck there due to car issues. I dropped my car off December 7, 2018 for an engine replacement due to a recall and I got it back December 31, 2018. I drove my car home to nc on January 4, 2019 and came back 2 weeks later for my son's surgery scheduled for January 23. On January 22, three weeks after I got my car back, my check engine light came on and my car went into limp mode while driving and had to be towed to shakers Kia. They texted me at 9:08am January 23 with a link to a video saying my car was ready. I picked it up around 5pm after my son's surgery. I didn't have the car 4 hours when it did the same thing again and had to be towed. Shakers told me that I was gonna be responsible for replacing my throttle body because I still have old components from my old engine and my throttle body was part of that. I didn't understand how I have old components if my engine was replaced, so I called Kia headquarters. Shakers replaced my throttle body, no cost to me. Well, when I picked my car up on January 30, I asked about the fuel leak recall and if my car was inspected as Kia told shakers to check mines even though my VIN number wasn't included because my car needed to be checked because my engine was replaced due to the recall. I was told by the technician hector that my car was fine and it didn't need to be inspected because he was very confident in his work. He stated that people were having engine fires because mechanics don't know what they're doing and are installing the engines wrong. My car doesn't run the same after having my engine replaced. It runs and idles rough. I put in numerous calls to Kia about issues with my car and I'm told over and over again that my case manager will call me but it's been weeks and she hasn't called yet.
'takata recall' I'm currently buying a Kia Optima 2012 and everything was working fine and had maintenance up to date at Kia of orange. Then I did full service which I payed 600$ or so and after the car started giving me problems, I went to my friends house and my boyfriend got off to get tools from the house it took him ten minutes to come back. The car was on and I was windows up and ac on when he came out he saw fire under the front left light. It got on fire and we were scare for our life's and we manage to run around and find anything that will help we had water and it wouldn't turn off, we didn't know it was electrical so it was melting plastic until we manage to find a fire extinguisher while I was calling 911 we thought the car was going to blow up. Second of all we fix it insurance cover. We call Kia they told us our insurance had to pay it. So we did next I took it to get maintenance update and oil change, we took for a drive to chino hills California and then the car turn off by it self on the freeway I was 65 speed limit and my steering wheel got hard and all the lights were on. I could of lost my life. I manage to move it slowly to the side and it was on fire when I open the hood something was burning again. A sheriff help us turn it off with his fire extinguisher. The engine had blew up a wrot blew maybe because of no oil or idk I'm not mechanic that's why I take it to Kia. I believe they didn't do their job right and my insurance doesn't wanna cover it, now I'm careless and I have a daughter to feed and I need help to get this out there if anybody has the same issue please make this go viral. Highway 91 East
I first noticed a problem with my vehicle when the cruise control would randomly disengage while going down the interstate. Then a couple of weeks later I was making a left turn across a two lanes of traffic on a city street. When I first pushed the accelerator the car started to go and then suddenly I lost all acceleration. I let my foot off the accelerator and then pushed back down and was able to go. This was a very dangerous situation as I was stuck in the middle of two lanes of traffic for several extra seconds longer than necessary. A similar situation happened a couple of more time and when I parked the vehicle at home I noticed that brake light was staying on after I got out of the car. I took the car to the local Kia dealership and they replaced the brake sensor which fixed all of the above problems. I would like to not that Hyundai issued a recall on the nearly identical sonata for this same issue and did so years ago and yet nothing for the Optima.
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. While driving downhill with the brake pedal depressed, the vehicle abruptly accelerated. There were no warning indicators illuminated. The contact was able to engage the emergency brake, but the vehicle decelerated and returned to normal after the accelerator pedal was applied with caution. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer or local mechanic for diagnostic testing. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 23,538. Updated 10/25/17 consumer stated: While driving down hill, with brake pedal depressed, getting ready to stop at stop sign, the vehicle accelerated unexpectedly to a speed of 30 to 35 mph. I did not engage the emergency brake. I did shift the vehicle from drive to neutral. Engine continued to race uncontrollably. I tapped the accelerator pedal with my foot at which time the engine returned to normal. This was the third time this type of incident had occured. I did take the vehicle to the dealer for diagnostic test on Aug.11,2017. No problems were found. Updated 10/3/18
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. While driving approximately 65 mph, the vehicle would surge and then slow down. The failure recurred numerous times without warning. The vehicle was taken to an unknown independent mechanic, but the cause of the failure could not be determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was not taken to a dealer. The VIN was included in NHTSA campaign number: 17V224000 (engine and engine cooling). The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 115,000.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Altamonte Springs, FL, USA