Bulletins
| Bulletin | Bulletin date | Replacement Bulletin | Item no. | Summary | Added |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - GEAR POSITION INDICATION (PRNDL) | |||||
| PS205 | 02/01/2012 | 10043657 | Kia: optima dashboard shifter position indicator. *kb | 04/18/2012 | |
| POWER TRAIN - AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION - LEVER AND LINKAGE - COLUMN SHIFT | |||||
| PS205 | 02/01/2012 | 10043657 | Kia: optima dashboard shifter position indicator. *kb | 04/18/2012 | |
Consumer Complaints
| Fail date | miles | occurences | Purchase date |
|---|---|---|---|
| POWER TRAIN | |||
| 11/16/2011 | 500 | ||
| First thing car was not shifting gears. dealer replaced transmission. second occurence pulled out and car lost power was able to pull off road turn ignition off and restarted car was ok. dealer replaced engine control module. next occurence nov 2012 car did same thing restarted was ok engine light went off after 2 days. now jan 2013 cold morning started driving engine had no power. i got to a open road slowly pushed accelerator to floor with no response. car is now in dealership i'm waiting for my phone call. | |||
| 09/11/2012 | 16000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns a 2012 kia optima. the contact stated that while driving 70 mph, there was a grinding noise coming from the front driver's side of the vehicle. the vehicle was taken to the dealer and after inspection, they informed her that the front axle shaft detached from the transmission. the technicians removed and replaced the right axle shaft, and also reassembled and re-tested the vehicle. the contact stated that the failure recurred twice. the manufacturer was not notified. the failure mileage was 16,000. kmj | |||
| 09/11/2012 | 16000 | ||
| Tl-the contact owns 2012 kia optima. the contact stated while driving 70 mph there was a grinding noise coming from the front driver side of the vehicle. the vehicle was taken to the dealer and after inspection informed her the front axle shaft came out of the transmission. they removed and replaced the right side axle shaft, reassemble and re-test. this failure occurred twice since the purchase of the vehicle. this was covered under the warranty. the manufacturer was not notified. the failure mileage was 16,000. mw | |||
| 12/10/2012 | 12620 | 1 | |
| After warming up engine i drove onto the road and onto a freeway entrance ram a quarter mile from my home. while entering the freeway, the car lost power, ie no throttle response, car would not go faster than 60 mph. rpm was peaking over 3,000 rpm (higher than normal). i put the auto/manual floor-shift into manual and the dash showed 4th gear. i shifted back and forth between auto and manual with the same results several times, 4th gear, over 3,000 rpm, loss of power (no throttle response), max speed 60 mph. i nearly got rear ended, cars were dodging me. i was about to pull off the road and everything returned to normal. i read a similar report a few months ago from another new owner of an optima and the dealership couldn't find anything wrong. i now have read lots of warranty-denied horror stories with kia. this seems like a transmission problem. i imagine it could be a computer problem as there are lots of computers in these new cars. i can't find any tsb's listed for transmission related problems, but am wondering how many others have this elusive condition? *tr | |||
| 09/13/2012 | 1350 | 1 | |
| While driving approximately 25mph i heard a loud 'bang'. shortly thereafter, my optima would periodically shift gears very roughly on downshifts. there was also a 'clanking' noise present on the rough downshifts or when the optima was shifted into reverse. upshifts while accelerating seemed to function normally. i immediately brought the car to the dealership where it was purchased. the dealership determined a bolt had snapped on the transmission mount causing the transmission to knock into the engine when it shifted. it was the belief of the dealership that the bolt had been under torqued when it was assembled in the factory. the subframe and a dented piece of the exhaust had to be replaced. this seems very dangerous to me, especially had it occurred on an expressway at a high rate of speed. *tr | |||
| 09/13/2012 | 1350 | ||
| While driving approximately 25mph i heard a loud 'bang'. shortly thereafter, my optima would periodically shift gears very roughly on downshifts. there was also a 'clanking' noice present on the rough downshifts or when the optima was shifted into reverse. upshifts while accelerating seemed to function normally. i immediately brought the car to the dealership where it was purchased. the dealership determined a bolt had snapped on the transmission mount causing the transmission to knock into the engine when it shifted. it was the belief of the dealership that the bolt had been under torqued when it was assembled in the factory. the subframe and a dented piece of the exhaust had to be replaced. this seems very dangerous to me, especially had it occurred on an expressway at a high rate of speed. | |||
| 12/23/2011 | 400 | ||
| Tl* the contact owns a 2012 kia optima. the contact stated that when the accelerator pedal was depressed the rpms revved abnormally high but the vehicle failed to accelerate properly. the vehicle was taken to the dealer. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 400 and the current mileage was 10,500. | |||
| 12/23/2011 | 400 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2012 kia optima. the contact stated that when the accelerator pedal was depressed the rpms revved abnormally high but the vehicle failed to accelerate properly. the vehicle was taken to the dealer. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 400 and the current mileage was 10,500. pmb | |||
| 12/23/2011 | 400 | ||
| Tl- the contact owns a 2012 kia optima. the contact when the accelerator pedal was depressed the rpms revved abnormally high but the vehicle failed to accelerate properly. the vehicle was taken to the dealer. the manufacturer was made aware of the failure. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 400 and the current mileage was 10,500. rds | |||
| 08/08/2012 | 13800 | 1 | |
| Was sitting at light and went to take off car felt like it didn't want to shift into gear and had a loud rough grinding noise, all lights on the dashboard came one. brake light, check engine light, coolant, etc and none of the gauges were working. i stopped at the store and went to leave the car would start up but wouldn't go into gear, it was stuck in park. i had to get it towed to the dealership to have it looked at. i had just had this same problem 1 week ago where all the lights were on and the gauges weren't working and the dealership had supposedly replaced the fuse panel box but that apparently didn't fix the problem. i think that it's a computer or engine issue. *tr | |||