2016 KIA OPTIMA Complaints

While driving vehicle on the freeway there is a sudden lots of power. Excited freeway and tried driving slowly on streets. Check engine light came on. Vehicle knocks and losses power during acceleration and while driving at speed. Problem diagnosed as bad knock sensor. Had knock sensor replaced in November, 22. Two days ago exact same problem. Mechanic believes that it's engine malfunction. How's it's covered by Kia recall, otherwise recommends engine replacement, but cautions used engine might have similar malfunction.

1 month after purchasing the car we noticed it was having oil consumption Problems. In December of 2022 we took the car in and were told by the kia dealership that the rings in the car were no good but when the issue was reported to our extended warranty the denied the repairs trying to say it is something else. This cars engines should have recalls on its engine just like all the other cars. We owe 20000.00 on a car that's engine is no good.

My 2016 kia is using a lot of oil I get a oil change and 100,000 miles later my oil light comes on and I have to put more oil in the car. I’m told to check my oil every week an to get an oil changed every 150,000 miles. All my spark plugs have blown (I was told it’s due to oil starvation) an my car started shaking real bad as I was driving. I was told to get spark plugs changed in order to get an oil changed and sometimes turned away twice because I had no oil in the car. Its not keeping enough oil in the car to keep it running smoothly which could cause a fire or even engine failure. I also noticed that there’s a lot of smoke coming out of exhaust pipe when the car starts up in the back an that could be a problem one Macanic said. I was told to change my pvc valve to help with the increased oil consumption this didn’t help but it was clogged up glad i changed it. This kia is starting to be to much money with me having to keep a 5 gallon oil bottle to ensure im never out of oil. Still making payments and keeping the thought in my mind that this kia could possibly break down with my child in the car. I need help with this fix I like the style an the look but the everyday drive and problems I can pass off on a Kia.

I had a catastrophic engineer failure that was reporting a DTC to replace the spark plug/ignition coil. This failure is miss mapped and had no previous Indicator warning the customer of a engine failure that would potentially leave the customer in an unsafe condition stranded. I had to have my vehicle towed in for service and the dealer informed that the vehicle needed a new intake valve. The intake valve failure at 118k miles is a little outside of warranty but still considerably young for an engine. There could be a number of reasons for this failure, material quality could make the valve brittle, manufacturing so the retainers could not seat properly in the spring. All the reasons are not customer induced nor at the stage in engine life that would be appropriate. After reviewing the Kia main social media account and talking to several dealers this type of failure is not uncommon for this product line as early as 30k miles. I believe that the volume of failure is large enough population that Kia should investigate 1) the mapping of DTCs/Indicator warning to the customer and 2) the actual engine failure population is large enough it should be reviewed by the government.

The contact owns a 2016 Kia Optima. The contact stated that the oil warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic and the contact was informed that there was no oil in the engine; oil was added. The contact stated that several weeks later, the oil warning light illuminated again. The vehicle was taken back to the independent mechanic and the contact was informed that there was no oil in the engine. The mechanic found no oil leaks nor the cause of the failure. The dealer was contacted and stated that there was no recall on the VIN for the failure. The manufacturer was contacted and confirmed that there was no recall on the VIN for the failure. The failure mileage was 62,000.

The contact owns a 2016 Kia Optima. The contact stated while driving 74 MPH, the vehicle made abnormal metallic banging sounds. There was no warning light illuminated. Additionally, the vehicle began to lose motive power. The contact veered to the side of the road and added engine oil to the vehicle. The contact drove to a nearby parking lot and parked the vehicle. The contact's friend, a certified mechanic, diagnosed that there were metal shavings in the oil, which led to engine failure. The dealer and the manufacturer were notified of the failure and informed the contact that they could not assist as he failed to complete the Knock Sensor Detection System (KSDS) software update. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 73,000.

*The vehicle is burning oil at a very speedy rate....much quicker than normal. Perhaps more than a quart per 1000 miles. The car is available for inspection. *Today was the second time that I was surprised to find that there was not enough oil to even register on the dip stick. I don't yet know if there was any permanent damage to the engine. My experience seems to be very similar to many other people who have posted online....a possible flicker of the oil light before finding out about the oil deficiency. It concerns me that others said that this led to their car faltering and/or freezing up while driving. That is certainly a safety risk for the drivers/passengers and other motorists. Some people indicated that their engine was ruined and needed to be replaced. *It was the Valvoline mechanic that told me today that there was an issue with these engines causing high oil consumption. *I have not yet had the engine inspected. I just emailed the Kia dealership to inform them and ask about a possible repair. Last year was the first of two instances where I experienced the low oil level. The first time, I had noticed the oil warning light flicker when I rounded a corner a few times during a week or so. I then took it in for an oil change. Today, I noticed one flicker and went right to Valvoline and there was almost not oil remaining. My second issue of concern is that my headlights have randomly turned off when I am driving at night. The first time I thought that I might have accidently touched the switch. However, it has happened two more times that I am aware of and I am sure that I did not touch the switch. I'm not sure if the headlights would have gone back on on their own because I turned the switch from on to off and back again and the lights went back on. There might have been more instances which I have not bee aware of. I just sent an email to Kia about both of these issues. This is item has not been inspected.

I was driving my car and it just slowed down on the freeway and wouldn’t go pass 60mph I went to my nearest autozone And received code p1326 I was told it was the knock sensor and got it changed. I checked my oil and noticed it was low even tho I got an oil change not even a month before. however the problem didn’t change. I decided to go to the internet and notice many other kia have had these problems and have received a recall

Code P1326 (Knock Sensor Detection System) appeared on scanner after knocking and jerking randomly occurred one night. When researched was performed on if there have been recalls in the past, saw there was a recall for Knock Sensor Detection System back in 2021. Recall issues don’t appear to be fixed with the KSDS despite prior recalls on this part.

We purchased the car used (private party) in July. Afterward, we noticed it was using oil rapidly. We checked & refilled the oil several times. We also noticed a slight ticking sound when the car was running, but we did not think it was a problem. The day of the incident, the oil had been checked & topped off. Our college-age daughter was driving the car 70mph on I-75 north when she noticed a sound of high revving rpms while on cruise control. It continued to get louder over the next 2 minutes & became very concerning. She exited the freeway. The oil & engine lights came on at the beginning of the ramp. She was able to continue coasting through the light & into a parking lot, though the engine had limited power. Smoke filled the cabin & a strong smell, so she immediately exited the car. Smoke also came from the hood. The car could have caught on fire at this point, but we are glad it did not & our daughter's life was not harmed. We are thankful she exited the freeway when she did or she could have gotten into a wreck. These safety issues have occurred to some owners of this vehicle upon engine seizure. We had the car towed to Kia of Grand Blanc, MI. Upon inspection, they determined the engine had seized. They never opened the engine to look inside, only hooked up it for error code diagnostics. There was no record of the KSDS product improvement update being performed prior to the incident, so Kia Corporate has refused to replace the engine. Not the original owner of the car, we never received notification regarding this update. We had no way of knowing about it since we did not take it to a Kia dealership for maintenance (not required per the Magnussen-Moss Act (1975)). Prior maintenance was regularly completed at a local repair shop, & the previous owner provided us with all the records they had. The vehicle has not yet been inspected by anyone other than Kia. We are requesting an NHTSA inspection asap to pursue a covered engine and/or recall. Please contact us.