Excessive shaking of engine, stalled out while driving on highway, knocking in the engine.
2015 Kia Optima acceleration complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 36 of 36, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The contact owns a 2015 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving approximately 70 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently decelerated to 60 MPH. The vehicle began to shudder and failed to accelerate above 20 MPH. The check engine warning light was illuminated and flashing. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The approximate failure mileage was 80,000.
The engine lost power taking off crossing a major roadway, resulting in a stall, vehicle had to be restarted in a panic. The knocking and loss of power put me and my passenger in danger of a side impact from cross traffic. The issue was reproduced by a dealer upon further inspection. The vehicle will be inspected by a service department at certified dealership. No warnings lights or fault warnings appeared related to this issue.
On 3/1/23 on my way home from my which the site was in Perth Amboy, NJ. At the North Somerset rest stop, just exited the I-76 westbound. I lost power around 65 mph. I didn't get any response from my brakes at first and nothing from my accelerator. Upon drifting and praying that I'd make it to the lot out of the main exiting lane. Upon pulling into a spot at the very farthest spot from the building, I noticed my check engine light is flashing. Press my brakes were working. Accelerator was hardly responding. I've worked on my car and my families cars, and cars most of my life. I had my code reader with me. Plugged it in and got the code that I've heard and read about. P1326 knock sensor. Knowing about this about Kia and Hyuandi, I knew my engine was dead. Thank God it didn't catch fire like some others have. I had it towed to Smail Kia in Greensburg, PA. That was the closest and NOT the dealer I bought it from. We bought it from Century 3 Kia West Mifflin, PA. After their promises that the engine would get replaced, lack of communication, many of my calls,voicemail, emails and showing up in person,(had to move 2 things that would've been in the way of the swapping of the engine) and a week later Kia denied my replacement due to "power adders". None of which I have, use or cause any issues. NO TESTING WAS DONE ON WHAT THEY THOUGHT WAS POWER ADDERS. HOWEVER, ALL OF THE TESTS THAT SHOW THEIR FAULTY ENGINE COMPONENTS AS PERR THE FEDERAL LAWSUITS AND RECALLS.....ALL FAILED! I can't drive the car. It's dangerous for myself and any other motorist. Could explode, catch fire or completely fail on ANY highway/roadway. I need my car for my career and above all, my life sustaining health and medical appointments Now I'm left with no vehicle. I still owe around a year- year and a half. As well as car insurance. Now what? Kia needs to do the right thing here, for myself and anyon else suffering from this horrific life changing nightmare.
The contact owns a 2015 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving at an undetermined speed, the vehicle failed to accelerate and stalled. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer where it was diagnosed that an engine replacement was needed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified and informed him that he had failed to complete the knock sensor detection system (KSDS) repair and provided no additional assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 106,000.
My car had started acting weird about 5 months after I got it, I believe Jan 2020. Only had it till Jan 2021 and they said my engine Barrings broke and it was going to cost me 10000. I didn’t have it. I was never informed about the recall. It messed up my whole credit and I still have not been able to get a car since. I moved and I was just now able to get the mail!
My check engine light came on Sunday January 23rd. Upon Contacting my local Kia Dealership, I was told that my vehicle has recall # SC212 at which time was advised to bring my vehicle into the Kia dealership for diagnosis. On Friday, January 28th I dropped my vehicle off at my local Kia dealership and within 3 hours received a call from my Service Advisor who stated the following issues were found: 1. Oil leak; REPLACED: Valve cover gasket, high pressure fuel line, and high-pressureSe fuel pump bolts. 2. Recall SC212; REPLACED: Multi-Fuse and Fuse Box Cover per campaign instructions. 3. Serpentine Belt; REPLACED: Drive Belt 4. Brake Pads; REPLACED: Front Brake Pads and Machined Rotors. 5. Brake Pads; REPLACED: Rear Brake Pads, in addition to Replacing both rear rotors. 6. REPLACED: Cabin Air Filter 7. REPLACED: Engine air filter 8. Oil and Filter Change; Performed LOF, set tire pressures, and topped off all fluids. Less than 72 hours after the above repairs were complete, and a hefty $1,500.00 repair bill, my check engine light is BACK ON! My vehicle lacks acceleration when depressing the gas pedal and I am fearful my vehicle may have the defective Theta II Engine in it. I am a single parent with a 7 year old child and this has caused us to not feel safe driving our vehicle, not to mention I have had to miss multiple days of work and my daughter has missed several days of school now because we do not have a safe vehicle to commute to school and work in. Also, when searching my vehicles VIN number, it says the recall was not fulfilled? VERY CONCERING! I have the vehicle diagnostic data in my UVO Services account, in addition to itemized repair bill from Kia.
The contact owns a 2015 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving at a slow speed while at a fuel station, the vehicle suddenly experienced unintended acceleration while the brake pedal was being pressed. During the failure, the RPM's suddenly increased although the accelerator pedal was not being depressed. The vehicle was turned off and restarted four times before the vehicle operated as normal. On a second occasion, the failure had reoccurred while driving approximately 35 MPH while slowing to approach a stoplight. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, but no information was available. The manufacturer was not yet notified. The failure mileage was 46,900
I was on the freeway and out of no where I couldn’t accelerate and immediately my car slowed down and I had to get over the car behind me had to slam on breaks and I was almost hit twice car then flashed to pull over and charge battery but it’s a brand new battery everything still turned on just couldn’t accelerate so it’s now towed to Kia dealership to get diagnostics done scariest driving moment ever
I was driving home from work and I noticed my vehicle having a hard time picking up speed and soon after it was a noticeable knocking noise coming from the engine. The RPM and dashboard gauges were very sporadic. I parked the car and popped the hood to find that there was somehow absolutely no oil, but no current sign of leaking from underneath. The car continues to knock when I start it up and am afraid of it overheating and it is currently parked. It smells definitely like burntness and when shifting into d3 and d it seems to be the most apparent that the engine could be having touble. Speeds and RPM gauge are most sporadic at high speeds and the exhaust pipe seems to have residue of some sort that isn't normal.
I was driving down the street came to a red light and when I tried to press the gas my wheels locked and the car wouldn't go. I had to push it down a hill and use neutral to get at least get the car off the main street and towed. The next day it was taken to kia and now they are telling me they can't help because I couldn't provide receipts of any maintenance that was done on the car over time.
My kia started out making a strange squealing noise, then it started loosing power. When I stop at a light or stop sign I push the gas peddle and it takes awhile to get up to even 35 MPH. I was told the turbo manifold was bad so I had one put on. The next day it started making a cha cha cha noise. I took it back and had to get another turbo, once again same thing. Kia dealers said turbo again. So I'm out labor and turbo cost once again. I have to work I need my car, I need it fixed now. I love the car but I am so sick of stressing over expenses, and loosing my job not able to get there. I just want it fixed correctly, or money to get a dependable vehicle. I've never had problems with my gmc,chevy and pontiac vehicles. I do love my kia but I will go back to the most reliable car. No power is dangerous when you need to take off but the car bogs down. So I you will I really need to find a mechanic that can tell me what exactly is wrong and fix it. Five mechanics apparently don't know either. I don't need my car to catch on fire. So please tell me some good news that I will have a dependable car soon.
The car sped is faster than what the speedometer day. The car jerks when you are sitting idle. The oil light keep coming on when the oil stick show that's its oil in there. Car don't pick up speed fast enough check engine light came on.
I was headed from ohio to michigan and all of a sudden it won't let me accelerate anymore and I get this burning smell and then all the dash lights start flashing and then the car just completely stops I pop the hood open on the side of the road and it's leaking oil which is not my fault cause I just got the oil changed and then the car just refuses to start now I can get the lights on and stuff but as for the engine turning over it's just not gonna happen and I'm surprised kia hasn't had a recall on anything at all for these engines cause there are so many complaints about them
Vehicle stalled on the highway and locked the steering capability.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 kia optima. The contact stated that while turning into a parking lot, the vehicle suddenly accelerated and crashed into a wall of the parking lot. The contact was injured having whiplash; the right arm, chest area, and right shoulder were all bruised because of the seat belt. The contact mentioned that the steering wheel air bag deployed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The contact was driven to the hospital, treated and released. A police report was not filed but a security officer from the property took a report. The insurance company was informed. The dealer and the manufacturer had not been contacted as of yet. The failure mileage was 57,000.
If I push the proximity ignition button accidentlally the car will shut down, no brakes, not power steering. I am wondering if this should happen when I am travelling 70 MPH on the interstate. The dealer did not give me any satisfactioon..."told me not to push the button" and "trade it in on a 2019." some makes will not shut down if going over 5 pmh unless the button is pushed twice. Others, you must hold the button. I could not find anything in the manual and their customer service was no help. There have been deaths related to this problem according to some websites. I can't test the car myself. Was hoping the dealer would or tell me the situation with the button and speed. Can you help me?>.
On march 7th 2019, I was driving down the highway at approximately 60 miles an hour I felt a click, & my engine light my oil light and my battery light illuminated. My car did not shut off but gas was not able to flow into the engine therefore I was coasting down the highway. I was able to get off on to the exit ramp I pulled over to the side, then I was able to shut my car off. I then began to restart the car, & it did restart I proceeded to put it in drive move forward, but the three lights illuminated once again. This was in the middle of the intersection. I shut the car off again, then, proceeded to restart the car, it restarted and I was able to drive the rest of the way to work, which was a very short distance. Later that day I downloaded the uvo app it did a diagnostic test and found nothing wrong with the vehicle., this test was wrong, something went wrong & is wrong. According to past recalls, the engine has seized and similar reports have been made. I found this extremely scary because of the fact I was driving down the highway in medium traffic, my engine stopped the lights came on and I did not know what was going to happen. Luckily I was still able to move the steering wheel enough to get off on the exit ramp and to pull to the side. I recently bought this vehicle and I've only had it for 6 months. I have had the oil changed only at the dealership, and any other services have done by the dealer ship. I am afraid to drive the car because of what happened, and what I have read from the past experiences of kia optima owners this has happened to.
I was driving the road when out of the sudden the engine stops and sometimes turns on on itself,its seems like the engine locks and the cars stops suddenly.it also happens and I turn on intersections,when I accelerate to gain speed it turns off and I have to put the car on neutral and turn it on. On all of these occasions my family traveling with me.
I noticed that while driving my car it would first make a noise and then right after it would stall and sputter/ jerking like it wants to cut off. I took my car to a kia dealership first in alexandria,va where they only did my oil change and nothing else because they said that it would take a while for them to look at my car and they didn't have a loaner for me, so I then took my car to the falls church, va location and I explained to them what was happening with my car and for about six months I was bringing my car back and forth there for oil changes because they wanted to see if it would still have the same issues and no matter how many oil changes they done my car would still do the same thing. My car was close to the maximum miles for where it would still be covered under my warranty to get fixed and I told them that I wanted to get the issue fixed before my warrant runs out. So finally they keep my car sitting in the shop for 1 month without anyone looking at it and come to find out the guy that was going to be working on my car no longer works there, I would call them to check on the status of my car and most times I could never reach anyone and they didn't call me to keep me up to date on the progress, so after about 1 1/2 month they call me and tell me that they can not fix my car due to lack of maintenance and up keep by me and even though it's covered under warranty, my car only had 57,000 miles on it and it will cost me $5000 + to get my car fixed. I'm still driving my car and still having the same issues, I'm very upset because it's like kia doesn't even care and seems like the people at the dealership wanted me to keep coming back and forth so that I can get close to the miles to where it wouldn't be under warranty so they wouldn't have to fix it. My car isn't fixed and I don't have the money to get it fixed, I'm hoping for a miracle.
Bought a brand-new 2015 kia optima in february 2016 - 2.5 years and 34,000 miles in, it died on me while going 70mph on i85n in atlanta in morning rush hour. No prior problems with the car and no warning signs whatsoever - I went to change lanes and accelerate around a slow-moving vehicle and all of a sudden my gas pedal no longer worked and all of the lights on my dash lit up - the engine was dead and I was coasting. Could not get off to the right side of the road due to traffic, so had to put it as far to the left as I could, which ended up halfway in the hov lane - extremely dangerous. Would not restart, had to get it towed to the dealership. Luckily all of my services and oil changes had been done at the dealership I had bought the car from (rick case kia in gwinnett, ga). So they had no way to try to wiggle around the warranty. I am seeing this exact issue being described at the exact mileage range for dozens and dozens of 2015 kia optimas on carcomplaints.com. It appears that kia and the dealerships are getting around paying for what obviously is an engine defect by asking that the drivers prove they had the oil changed by producing receipts for every service. When/if they can't, kia is negating the warranty and asking the driver's to pay $7k-8k for a new engine. It's despicable. My dealership couldn't get around the warranty since I had done every recommended service and oil change at the dealership where I bought the car. This am they informed me that the engine has been approved and will be replaced (not before trying to milk money out of me by trying to blame the issue on a faulty battery first, which wasn't covered by the warranty). Kia issued a recall for this same issue on their 2011-2014 and 2016 optimas, and excluded the 2015 models. It's painfully obvious that the 2015 optimas are also defective, and a recall should be issued.
My vehicle is randomly displaying 'goodbye' on the dashboard and is shutting off while driving. This started from nowhere with no warning lights or warning signals. I've only had this vehicle for 6 months and it has less that 30,000 miles on it. There are no open recalls on the vehicle, however I'll read about similar issue with the same make and model. I maintain my vehicle according to how kia suggests. This is extremely dangerous as I am sometimes heading to work, going about 65 miles or more or the highway and the car just stops. It is now beginning to shut off immediately after cranking, and a noise is coming from under the hood, which sounds like metal in the engine. I have refrained from driving the vehicle completely, due to fear or loss of life. The sudden stopping of the vehicle has happened while I was driving on the city streets going about 30-40 MPH, as well as on the highway going about 65 MPH.
Tl* the contact owned a 2015 kia optima. While attempting to drive the vehicle, it accelerated without warning. As a result, the contact crashed into a guide wire and a tree. The contact sustained bruises to the left arm and lower back that required medical attention. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an insurance collision center. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 38,000. The VIN was not available.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 kia optima. While driving 3 MPH, the vehicle accelerated rapidly on its own and crashed into a brick porch. The air bags did not deploy. A police report was filed and there were no injuries. The vehicle was towed to a repair shop. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The failure mileage was 20,000.
Recurring, intermittent lack of engine response to pressing the accelerator; particularly noticeable when attempting to turn left at a break in oncoming traffic. Engine acts as if stalling, then recovers after a second or two delay. Kia dealer service advises that this is a characteristic of the vehicle and not adjustment is possible to fix the problem. Vehicle may be stationary or moving a less than 5 MPH when this occurs. Problem is intermittent and not apparently related to fuel or climatic conditions. Results in driver uncertainty in any given turning situation whether there is sufficient time to make the turn; several near crash episodes have occurred where lack of engine response to power demand caused the vehicle to slow rather then accelerate. Condition occurs most frequently during city driving, but may also occur at highway turning situations where the vehicle has stopped before attempting a turn.
Tl* the contact owns a 2015 kia optima. The contact stated that the vehicle hesitated to accelerate and the engine RPM's increased. The failure occurred on numerous occasions. The vehicle was taken to a dealer on several occasions but the failure was unable to be replicated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was not available.
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