We purchased a brand new 2018 Kia Optima EX hybrid less than a month ago and have only 500 miles on it. We were 50 miles from home and were enjoying a wonderful day at Hill Air Force Base in Layton, UT. After the show, when I got in the car and started it, the oil light came on. My husband is disabled so he waited at the gate for me to pick him up. I put the car in Reverse to go pick him up and ask him to look at it. When I backed out of my parking spot, the light went off. I thought maybe it just hadn't gone off after I started it. After I picked him up I noticed the oil light was on again, but before my husband could look at the dash, it was gone again. Then as we were driving it went on again and he saw the light this time, but it went out again. We thought it might be a faulty sensor or something. So we got on the interstate and as soon as we got in traffic the oil light came on, the car started shaking, the engine started making "metal on metal" type noises, and the gauge that shows the mpg you are getting went from 50mpg down to 0. I took the first exit and went into the first parking lot I could find. We checked the oil and the oil looked good. When we started the car everything seemed okay so we pulled out of the parking spot but the noise started again. This time we weren't going to take a chance so we called roadside assistance. We turned the car off and waited for the tow truck. When he got there he asked what was wrong and we told him what had happened. He did an inspection of the car and was writing the VIN number down when we all heard the metal on metal noise again. I looked at my husband and the tow truck driver and said "did the car just start by itself?". And yes, it turned on by itself. The driver put it onto the flatbed and we took it to Young KIA in Layton, UT (2 miles away). The first business day, the dealership called my husband and said that there were considerable amounts of metal fragments in the oil. He had called KIA and they approved a total engine replacement. I am still waiting for the "case manager" to be assigned to me. I wanted them to replace the entire car, but the customer service person could not help me (and was kinda rude) - I had to wait for a case manager. When we went to clean out the car today, one of the service reps told us that Kia is aware of the problem and that there were 200,000 engines that may have this same problem and that Kia would probably replace the engine, guarantee it for 15 years and unlimited mileage. I don't know if this is true or not as I haven't heard from the case manager yet (2 days after my initial call). But how do I know the new engine won't have the same issue - or, if they replace it with a new car totally, would that have one of the 200,000 engines in it! Anyone else have this problem?
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
We purchased a brand new 2018 Kia Optima EX hybrid less than a month ago and have only 500 miles on it. We were 50 miles from home and were enjoying a wonderful day at Hill Air Force Base in Layton, UT. After the show, when I got in the car and started it, the oil light came on. My husband is disabled so he waited at the gate for me to pick him up. I put the car in Reverse to go pick him up and ask him to look at it. When I backed out of my parking spot, the light went off. I thought maybe it just hadn't gone off after I started it. After I picked him up I noticed the oil light was on again, but before my husband could look at the dash, it was gone again. Then as we were driving it went on again and he saw the light this time, but it went out again. We thought it might be a faulty sensor or something. So we got on the interstate and as soon as we got in traffic the oil light came on, the car started shaking, the engine started making "metal on metal" type noises, and the gauge that shows the mpg you are getting went from 50mpg down to 0. I took the first exit and went into the first parking lot I could find. We checked the oil and the oil looked good. When we started the car everything seemed okay so we pulled out of the parking spot but the noise started again. This time we weren't going to take a chance so we called roadside assistance. We turned the car off and waited for the tow truck. When he got there he asked what was wrong and we told him what had happened. He did an inspection of the car and was writing the VIN number down when we all heard the metal on metal noise again. I looked at my husband and the tow truck driver and said "did the car just start by itself?". And yes, it turned on by itself. The driver put it onto the flatbed and we took it to Young KIA in Layton, UT (2 miles away). The first business day, the dealership called my husband and said that there were considerable amounts of metal fragments in the oil. He had called KIA and they approved a total engine replacement. I am still waiting for the "case manager" to be assigned to me. I wanted them to replace the entire car, but the customer service person could not help me (and was kinda rude) - I had to wait for a case manager. When we went to clean out the car today, one of the service reps told us that Kia is aware of the problem and that there were 200,000 engines that may have this same problem and that Kia would probably replace the engine, guarantee it for 15 years and unlimited mileage. I don't know if this is true or not as I haven't heard from the case manager yet (2 days after my initial call). But how do I know the new engine won't have the same issue - or, if they replace it with a new car totally, would that have one of the 200,000 engines in it! Anyone else have this problem?
- Leonard V., Sandy, US