2016 Kia Optima acceleration problems

Filed Jun 3, 2026 · Acceleration, Brakes · 166,834 miles · OH

The contact owned a 2016 KIAÂ OPTIMA. The contact stated that while driving at 30 MPH occupied with her husband the contact heard a noise coming from the rear of the vehicle and smoke coming from the rear of the vehicle as you looked in the drive side rear view mirror and while depressing the brake pedal attempting to come to a complete at the traffic light, the brakes failed to work a intended. No warning light illuminated. The contact mention she kept trying to depress the brake pedal, however the vehicle kept accelerating causing the vehicle to crash into a ditch, go around a telephone poll, crashing into a rock garden which allowing the vehicle to come to a complete stop. The vehicle was towed to a towing lot call interstate towing then the vehicle was then towed by insurance company to a collision center. No injuries were sustained. No medical attention. The fire department extinguished the fire. The contact stated a police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 166,834.

Filed Jul 13, 2025 · Acceleration, Electrical · OH

1) Rear passenger window failed a couple months ago. I believe it was regulator, not 100% sure. Cost me a couple hundred to fix. Now, few months later, the driver side rear window has failed. I rarely use the windows so I believe the failing parts are Kia known manufacturing defect. The dealer acknowledged that it’s a known problem with the vehicles like mine and even suggested the other one is going to fail soon. Now it has. If the dealership is aware then it’s likely a Kia flaw. If it’s a know manufacturing flaw, shouldn’t Kia should be fixing them instead of making customers spend upwards of $1k+ to fix both windows? 2) cruise control cuts off or doesn’t set and menus won’t go back to speedometer. While trying to set cruise control, it gets into the menu and won’t go back to the speedometer. Sometimes I have to pull over and stop to get the cruise control to work again. It gets stuck in the menu and can’t see the speedometer. Might get stuck on the trip screen, or the range. This has been happening since about 75k miles. It also doesn’t work with the pedal to set sometimes. Messing with it while driving can be a real hazard and sometimes I need to have cruise control to work. It’s deforming more than just inconvenient

Filed Nov 17, 2024 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · FL · crash · 1 injury

On [XXX] I was proceeding to come up to the stop sign when out of no where the car started rapidly accelerating and when I proceeded to step on the brakes it wouldn't stop it only sped up more. And caused a server accident that left me with serious injuries. And I cause of the defect they found me at fault said I failed to yield at a stop sign. The car never was fixed from the 2 times the motor has to be replaced by Galena Kia in fort Myers fl. They even caused the ac to go power retarded and wouldn't work half the time. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Sep 30, 2024 · Acceleration, Engine · PA

While driving the car will not accelerate past 49mph in turbo mode and 61mph in regular mode and rpm will not go above 1800. And it jerks and studders. Blinking check engine light and consumes a ridiculous amount of oil even though regular maintenance performed. I have read several engine issues with this model and cannot find recall info

Filed Jun 9, 2024 · Acceleration, Engine · AZ

Car was at about 70,000 upon purchase. Once driving it regularly, I immediately noticed a faint knocking noise upon acceleration. Also, when coasting the speed adjusted on its own intermittently, both up & down, not by much but enough that I felt it on the gas pedal. Other times it fails to accelerate when pushing on the gas pedal. I have to release the pedal & try again, sometimes more than once before it finally accelerates. Despite doing regular oil changes, my engine burns through oil long before next oil change is due, so I have to add 1 - 2 quarts of oil in-between changes. I was barely at 80,000 miles when engine started seizing & the following day the check engine light came on. It had to be towed to be serviced. They said the fuel injector or pump (not sure which) was allowing fuel to flood my engine which caused its damage. Even with what the warranty covered I had to pay $500 out of pocket so there were a lot of repairs. I can get a detailed print out of service if needed. When I do oil changes there's oil under the oil pan somehow, but its not leaking because there is no oil where I park. As of lately, even though all fluids are good, when the car is idle with a/c on, the temperature starts to go up until the car is in motion again, then the temperature goes back down quickly. It has only overheated once, which was the first time I noticed the problem because I was parked at a gas station on a hot day checking my phone & the a/c started blowing warm & dash said, "engine overheated". Only happen the one time because I have been cautious about watching the temperature to avoid it happening again. I recently passed emissions & had AutoZone do code reader check & nothing came back. In order to figure out problem I'd have to get diagnostics test that requires I leave the car for at least 2 days so it hasn't been something I can manage yet. My car is available for inspection if needed & I'm happy to provide detailed print out of repairs if requested.

Filed Jan 10, 2024 · Acceleration, Engine · CO

While we were driving home (3 people in my car), with no notice, my car lost complete acceleration and broke down while we were on the highway. We hardly had notice to understand what was happening, let alone the other cars/people behind us on the highway where we almost got hit before being able to pull over to the side of the highway. We then had to wait for a tow-truck, again, on the shoulder of a very busy highway. Later, I came to find out that this was "sudden and unexpected engine failure" that occurs in multiple models of Kia and Hyundai that was included in the Hyundai and Kia Engine Litigation, Case No. 8:17-cv-00838, and Hyundai and Kia Engine Litigation II, No. 8:18-cv-02223-JLS-JDE, New Theta II Class Action Lawsuit. Unfortunately, this was the first time I had heard of this, as I'd never received any recalls or notices for my car around this, even though my car is a part of this. As I am in contact with Kia Customer Care attempting to resolve this issue - which has been an awful experience so far - they have informed me that the RECALL CAMPAIGN PI1802B - PI1802 ECU UPGRADE - is a "product improvement" instead of a safety issue, in which I COMPLETELY disagree! This put the 3 people inside my car at the time of the engine failure in danger on the highway with zero notice except for when it happened, as well as the other people/cars on the highway surrounding my car. Clearly this has been a much wider issue for Kia and Hyundai that has called for class action lawsuits, and my experience has been terrible so far trying to get this resolved. I'm extremely unhappy with their customer service and "help" this far, and even more upset that this did cause safety issues that it feels they don't care at all about correcting or taking care of their customers.

Filed Nov 24, 2023 · Acceleration, Engine · OH

When accelerating the car will randomly loose all power from the engine. The electrical systems will stay on but the car RPMs will drop to zero. The accelerator will not provide acceleration when being pressed. The car has to be turned off and then turned back on for power to be restored. The check engine light, the oil light and another warning light will come on.

Filed Nov 12, 2023 · Acceleration, Engine · KS

Driving 80 miles an hour several hours from home on a major interstate and my car shut off. Pulled over on side of interstate and check engine light came on and car won’t accelerate and is making a knocking noise

Filed Oct 31, 2023 · Acceleration, Engine · 139,302 miles · GA

It started shaking really bad out of no where , then wasn’t going faster than 80 then down to 65 but wouldn’t go more than 80 with my foot all the way on the gas. As soon as I made it to work tonight the car cut off. I got a jump the car was still shaking & wouldn’t stay on if I let my foot off of the gas. I started it again without the cables but it cut right back off. I saw on cars.com it’s a recall for the similar thing, number Sc172. I have been having fuel leaks for a while and had my knock sensor replaced from a previous recall. Now I have no way home.

Filed Mar 31, 2023 · Acceleration, Engine · FL

On 2/24 I was driving on Ben Hill Griffin Parkway, I was in the middle lane going thru an intersection, when suddenly while attempting to accelerate to go thru the light, all of my dash lights came on and the gas petal stopped working completely. I had cars in front, behind and on sides of me and I was unable to move out of the way. I attempted to restart the car to no avail. This could have been an incredibly deadly and dangerous situation and was extremely scary. With help I was able to move my car out of the way, call a tow truck and have it taken to the nearest Kia Dealership (Galeana Kia, 14483 Tamiami Trail, Ft. Myers) who advised they would evaluate the car and get back to me the next day. Tuesday I got word that my engine had seized and there was less than 1 qt of oil in it. I couldn't believe this as I just had an oil change 6 weeks prior. The service advisor, Jeff, said when an engine seizes they report it to Kia to see if they will replace but that Kia tech team advised they were declining replacing my engine as I didn't take my car to Kia for service and there weren't enough carfax reports to show proper care. This made no sense as I get my oil changed every 5k and use syntenic oil. I proceeded to send many oil change receipts only for them then tell me "it's owners responsibility to check oil between oil changes" and they aren't going to assist in any way. Sharing this story with others led me to learn that Kia is supposed to warranty these engines to 150k due to this being a known issue and multiple class action lawsuits about the engines burning oil and seizing while driving. I was in the middle of an intersection, that could have cost me my life! I called Kia Corp and they told me to work with dealership and they couldn't do anything for me. This after just replacing 4 window regulators where the regulator dies and your windows fall down (another safety hazard.) I appreciate you looking into and addressing this safety injustice for me.