2019 Kia Forte: complete transmission failure

Filed Oct 5, 2025 · Transmission · RI

My daughter was driving on the highway. She was driving at 65 mph and then the car started to jolt a couple of times. She kept driving and then it started to feel sluggish and lost some power. Would not accelerate over 45 mph. She was almost rear ended several times and people continually swerving in and out around her as she couldn’t maintain the car at a normal pace. It eventually wouldn’t go over 35 mph. Extremely DANGEROUS speed on a highway commute. She was able to finally get off highway. The car stalled. No warning lights ever lit. She was close to home at this point. Drove it home with barely any power. Got it towed to the dealer and transmission was blown and they will not cover it because it’s past warranty of 5 yrs (2nd owner). The car is a 2019 with 53k miles. It should not need a new transmission. Apparently this car is now having many transmission issues. There was a service campaign issued by Kia back in 2018, 2020, and 2022 for this exact problem. Clearly there is an ongoing issue with their transmission. But since it is not a recall, the consumer has no way of know this until after it’s too late. When a transmission just shuts down without any warning, this is a MAJOR safety issue as you no longer are able to properly drive the vehicle. This should be a RECALL. Not an in-house technical bulletin announcement. There’s an abundance of safety concerns associated with this. Let’s not wait for somone to get killed in a car crash because it’s not being corrected by doing a recall on these transmissions that is a continual ongoing issue.

Filed Aug 6, 2024 · Engine, Transmission · CA

Have only 70000 miles on it and Kia refuses to replace the transmission that went out and they have lied to me repeatedly and need to be held accountable!

Filed Jul 17, 2024 · TX

On Saturday, July 13th, 2024 my engine light came on. I stopped, checked all my fluids and hoses and all were good. I took my car into the shop on 7/16 (I did not drive it after the 13th until I could get into the shop). They used their machine to check the codes and it is showing P0867 - Transmission Fluid Pressure code. This has never happened before and as I research it, thousands are having this problem which after the update that needs installed on the customers dime, if it does not fix the problem, we all need new transmissions. How is this not a federal recall on all 2019+ KIA Forte's. I did find the TSB for the update so hopefully the dealership will not charge for the update. This is a huge issue and KIA should be made to take care of the people who purchased their product, especially since they know about it and are acting like they do not see all of these cases of their defective products. Is this just being allowed to happen?

Filed Sep 7, 2023 · Transmission · 44,959 miles · FL

The contact owns a 2019 Kia Forte. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed with transmission failure. The contact was informed that the transmission needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact had previously received an unknown recall notification regarding the transmission. The transmission was not replaced; however, the transmission control module software was updated in January 2021. The contact stated that the failure had recurred. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 44,959.

Filed Apr 3, 2022 · Engine, Transmission · KY

The transmission failed while on the interstate/freeway while trying to merge into traffic. The vehicle lost power and would not accelerate even though the engine was revving up in RPMs. The vehicle is available. The transmission was replaced with a "Refurbished Transmission" through Warranty by KIA. Two days later the car began jerking and the check engine light came on. The vehicle was returned to the Dealership. The car was then returned to me, the owner, only to have the Check Engine light come back on, so the car was returned a third time for "Transmission" related issues. The vehicle in question has been at the dealership for over two months as the Dealership tells me that they are going "back and forth with KIA Techline" to figure out the issue. The initial Transmission failure was confirmed by the KIA Technicians and reproduced prior to the "Refurbished" transmission being put in. The vehicle and component have been inspected by the KIA Technicians who say they cannot solve the issue and are currently working with KIA Techline to solve the issue. The only prior symptoms were briefs moments of hesitation in acceleration from the vehicle when on the interstate/freeway. This series of events began at the beginning of December 2021 and the vehicle is still in the shop as of April 3, 2022.

Filed Mar 22, 2022 · Engine · OK

The transmission has had multiple catastrophic transmissions failures while driving. The transmission does not engage and the car cannot accelerate, which has created severe safety issues, especially on the freeway. We were almost hit by two semi-trucks this last time because the transmission would not engage and would only rev high while traveling on the turnpike in an 80 MPH zone and the car decelerated quickly due to lack of engagement and the RPM gauge just would redline with no movement to the wheels. This has happened several time before but this was the one that scared us the most...each event was scary. The first transmission failure happened at around 20K miles and if the transmission is replaced this time it would be the third replacement transmission within only 10K miles since the care only has 30K miles on it. I have talked with the dealership and Kia Consumer assistance multiple time with no resolutions. They are obviously aware of the issues with this transmission and just keep making promises that never happen and just keep us in a consistent state of a "runaround."

Filed Feb 22, 2022 · Transmission · TX

Driving along the highway and transmission failure occurred, causing engine RPM to jump sky high and rapid deceleration without warning or brake lights. Luckily we were not hit by any other cars and were able to pull get off the highway onto the service road. Check engine light came on and the car wouldn't move. Turned the car off and back on after a few minutes and the transmission wouldn't move forward without massive RPM and no faster than 12mph or so. This is the SECOND time this has happened. I didn't report the first time because figured it was a one-off occurrence. The first time we had 26,000 miles on the car, this time, the new transmission went out after only 8,000 miles. All services have been performed by the Kia dealer directly. Car is back at Kia dealer for the transmission replacement again. No confidence in keeping the car given they replaced it with the same transmission that had problems twice!

Filed May 18, 2021 · Transmission · VA

In May 2020, transmission started bouncing up and down on the highway. Then the transmission started skipping. When I came to a stop and tried to start again, there was almost no power going to the transmission. It created an extremely dangerous situation while trying to drive through an intersection with oncoming cars. The dealership replaced the transmission. in May 2021 356 days after the the second transmission was installed, it happened again and created another extremely dangerous situation when I tried to pull out into traffic and had no power. Kia is again going to replace the transmission but is going to use the same one that was installed originally and the replacement one. I think there should be an investigation into the transmission kia is using.

Filed May 18, 2021 · Transmission · LA

My car is a 2019. Pretty much brand new car. I got a voluntary emissions recall notice in the mail in December 2020. The notice said something about a computer software update but I wasn't have any problems with my car at that time and I've been working non stop on the front lines since the Covid pandemic started. Well little did I know that while driving home from work one evening in April my whole car would break down! According to the dealership/service dept it needs a whole new transmission! Now I am stuck paying for a rental out of pocket or hitch hiking to work. The service dept has had my car for 3 weeks now. :( I believe the recall notice should say MANDATORY or worded saying "your car will break down on you"!

Filed Oct 23, 2020 · Transmission · 10,403 miles · MA

I was driving north on ma 495 north near haverhill ma when all of a sudden my car was over-revving and no power was getting to the wheels. I had to pull over on a busy highway. I was lucky I made it to a rest stop. I talked to the tech at kia and they are aware of this problem being a "common thing" and I need a new transmission. Thankfully it is under warranty still. I feel kia's complete disregard for customer safety in this matter is appalling. Loss of power like that can cause a major crash and potential loss of life. If they are aware of the problem they should do a recall on the vehicles and replace every transmission.

Filed Jul 31, 2020 · Transmission · 1 miles · TX

Ivt transmission failure. Car has about 27k miles, purchased at 22k used. After driving off the highway from 70mph to a near stop at the feeder road stop sign, the car would barely move, seems like the gear ratio did not adjust back down. Then noticed severe jerks when transmission tries to change the gear rations, and RPM would shoot up erratically. Took it to the nearest kia dealer, had to wait about 10 days for an appointment. They confirmed a transmission failure and replaced transmission in about 5 days.. Not sure how long this will last. Definitely a scary and safety issue and needs a closer look at the design

Filed Apr 11, 2020 · Transmission · 8,865 miles · IL

I had taken the car to the dealership because I felt it struggling to accelerate and overall being "jerky" driving 30-40mph on a city street with minimal hills. Dealership found nothing wrong as no codes were showing any errors. No more than 2-3 weeks later, transmission died while driving 70mph on a highway with only 8,800 miles on the vehicle. I could not accelerate the car without the RPM hitting the red line even though I was barely pressing on the gas. I'm lucky I didn't get rammed by the truck that was coming behind me as I quickly engaged my emergency warning lights and pulled over when a safe opportunity arose. I bought this car brand new (no prior owners). I did some research, and unfortunately this does not seem to be the first complaint of transmission failure in this model.