I have had multiple issues with my 2012 Kia Optima hybrid for the past 3-4 years. The transmission has been replaced at 74K mi. Numerous occasions car lost power on the highway. Taken car in to Kia dealer each time and they could not duplicate the problem. My car stalled out 1 month ago on the freeway and towed to the dealer. Now at 125K mi dealer is telling me my engine is seized, hybrid battery and regular battery are dead. And also replaced the emc for $2500 prior to figuring out the engine/battery's were dead.

- Sacramento, CA, USA

Until now (only 84K miles), my 2012 Kia Optima hybrid has been a great car. When leaving a driveway going about 15mph, a light tapping began when the gas engine started. A sound it was not making when driving under electric power (before the engine started). The sound quickly grew to a loud knocking, accompanied by a noticeable loss of power and throttle response. The check engine light never turned on, even after the engine blew up. All signs are pointing to a manufacturing defect, similar, if not the same as the one regarding metal filings being left on the block. This is the same engine model and year that triggered over.5M cars being recalled. Now the same issues are happening with this model, which for some reason wasn't included. A modern and well-serviced car should last more than 84K miles. This will be a safety hazard until all models containing these engines are repaired.

- Ripon, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. While driving 65 mph with the cruise control engaged, the vehicle began to decelerate and made an abnormal noise. The contact was able to park on the side of the road and turn off the vehicle. The contact stated that the check engine warning indicator was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer and manufacturer were not notified. The failure mileage was 138,000.

- Humble, TX, USA

I have a 2012 Kia Optima hybrid at 80, xxx, and have always kept up with the scheduled services/maintenance. I barely drive my car nowadays, and just ride my bicycle to take public transportation that is 1-mile away. My wife and I were driving on the freeway, going 65mph, 47-miles into our drive, our car started jerking. We have about 3-4 miles left to our destination. When you pressed on the gas, it sounded like it was just accelerating and not shifting to the next gear. There were no warning lights or notification as to why that was happening. We exited from the freeway and stopped at a local plaza to try and reset the car, and gave the car about 20-mins before driving again. When we tried driving about the last 10-mins, even at 20mph, it was still jerking and still sounded like it wasn't shifting to the next gear, and still no warning lights. We ended up towing our car back home because we didn't want to risk getting stuck on the freeway at 1-2am. Unfortunately, I am the 2nd owner, however, I do have extended warranty, so I hope this issue is not that serious. I will definitely contact Kia and raise this concern because it is a safety hazard.

- South San Francisco, CA, USA

My 2012 Kia Optima on multiple occasions has shut off while the vehicle was in motion. While driving, as I decrease my speed, suddenly the car will experience jerking and then suddenly shut off. This has occur while driving on the freeway and traffic has slowed down to 10 mph or less and while approaching a light or crossing and intersection and traffic is slowing down. While the car is at steady speed, at 20 - 40 mph the car jerks as I'm trying to maintain with the flow of traffic. My car has had routine maintenance and mechanics have been unable to identify or remedy the issue. My last two incidents were 8/21/19 freeway while in the fast lane next to the carpool lane and now 8/29 on city street. I also experienced this on March 3,2019 (had a fuel pump replacement which still did not remedy the issue)

- Downey, CA, USA

I was driving yesterday and as I came to a red light the car died and all the dash lights came on, I was able to start it back and had no problems. Tonight I was in the interstate at about 70-75 mph car lost power and engine made terrible knocking sound.

- Calhoun, GA, USA

Upon acceleration the motor seized and started smoking. I had to quickly apply the brakes and get off the interstate due to an 18 wheeler being right behind me.

- Morganton, GA, USA

On Aug 2nd I was driving thru Utah on my way to tn. I car starting having some sputtering/hesitation issues when going from a complete stop. I there was no warring on my instrumental panel. All electronics (ac, radio, etc) were working fine. I continued on and shortly there after my car started not accelerating at all while driving down a major freeway. I had no power at all. Still no warring on the panel. I managed to get off the freeway and barely made it to a side street near a gas station. I was almost hit due to the fact I couldn't accelerate my car. I preliminary inspection of the car by a mechanic reveled that I had a blown motor. I got it towed from the mech shop to the dealership, and began working with Kia Consumer Affairs. At present I am being told that this is a maintenance issue and not part of Kia's motor issues. However I always get my oil changed with full synthetic oil and a Kia oil filter. This is done about every 5K miles. Additionally I had Kia do the 90K mile recommended service on the car. This is not a maintenance issue and so far Kia has refused to fix or acknowledge their poor manufacturing of this turbo gdi motor.

- Cleveland, TN, USA

We were driving down the highway and the car started acting funny. It said to pull over and stop driving. It was a very hot and humid day and we thought the motor was just hot. We started going again and it seemed okay. We made it to our destination okay we drove going home the engine started acting up we didn't make it home we had to get a tow truck, the motor had died..

- Ellwood City, PA, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. While driving 55 mph, the check engine warning indicator illuminated and the vehicle started to decelerate before it began to resume normal driving. The failure continued to persist throughout the duration of the drive. The vehicle was included in NHTSA campaign number: 17V224000 (engine and engine cooling). The contact called valley hi Toyota (14612 valley center dr, victorville, ca 92395, (760) 241-6484), but the dealer had yet to respond despite numerous attempts to have the vehicle serviced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and stated that the contact would have to pay to have his vehicle towed and serviced at the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 120,000.

- Oakhill, CA, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. The contact received notification of NHTSA campaign numbers: 18V363000 (air bags) and 18V907000 (fuel system, gasoline, engine). The contact stated that the manufacturer exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair as the recall notice was received over a year ago. Gervais Kia (6 industrial ave, lowell, MA 01851, (978) 454-1202) was contacted and confirmed that the parts were not available for the recall remedy. The manufacturer was contacted several times and was unable to confirm when the parts were to become available. While driving 20 mph, the contact noticed an abnormal clicking noise coming from the steering wheel and the engine stalled. The contact had to veer to the shoulder of the road to turn the vehicle off and back on in order for the vehicle to resume normal operation. All the warning indicators illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the same dealer who confirmed that parts were unavailable. The dealer updated the engine module software, but the failure recurred. The manufacturer was contacted and provided case number: 13157669. The failure mileage was approximately 80,000. VIN tool confirms parts not available.

- Lowell, MA, USA

While driving on the highway my 2012 Kia Optima hybrid slowed down to 45mph and engine started to make noises. This came with no mechanical warning, no "check engine soon" or other warning lights, and had been driving perfectly before it was parked. Checked oil and oil level was perfect. Called mechanic and he asked me to take a close look at oil. Oil had small shiny metal shavings on stick that transferred to fingers when rubbed. Had car towed over 30 miles to nearest Kia dealership. Car was diagnosed with "engine failure" due to rod end bearings. I am the 2nd owner of this car the I bought from a master mechanic at a Lexus dealership. We are very meticulous and take very good care of our vehicles. This is not a owner problem. Dealership wants $10,000 for a new motor, $4,000 for a used (although there are none currently B/C there is a shortage), or $6,000 to rebuild current motor. Service manager was "surprised" to hear about the metal flakes as they didn't see that during the diagnoses. Both Kia dealer and Kia Corp are standing behind the no recall on hybrids. Said although the engine is the same, they were made in different factories, but could have shared the same parts. Service manager stated, "you have a lot of miles on this car"......146K.......I mean, if I can not trust to get 150K out of a Kia why would I ever want to purchase one again"?" I asked him to explain how this could happen and his response was, "it is a mechanical piece of equipment". Kia needs to stop putting blame on its owners and take responsibility of their faultily engines for the hybrids as they have on the non-hybrid models. There are too many other complains having the same results and stories for this to be an owner problem. It has been a month now, and no one is budging.

- Bahama, NC, USA

I have a 2012 Kia Optima hybrid. Drove great at first now the car is off and on.. while driving the car lunges often and as others have said there is a delay 2 second from pressing the gas to the car actually accelerating. The car also loses power when driving on the highway. I've noticed the engine will not charge the hybrid battery when it is getting low and the car become immobilized unable to accelerate. I have had dash lights only appear once and when the car was taken to the dealership they were unable to find the cause. This issue is extremely dangerous to myself and others. Attached are a few pictures you can see the hybrid battery had 1 bar it appears to be charging but then goes to 0 bars because the battery is trying to power the car while only the engine should.

- Phoenix, AZ, USA

Car makes a humming noise when going 20 to 40 mph

- Beaverton, OR, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. While driving with the accelerator pedal depressed, the vehicle decelerated on its own. When the accelerator pedal was released and depressed again, the vehicle would accelerate normally. In addition, when accelerating from a stop, the vehicle started to rattle, the oil warning indicator flickered, and the rear brake lights would remain illuminated when the vehicle was turned off. The vehicle was taken to atlanta West Kia (located at 1301 thornton rd, lithia spring, ga 30122, (678) 715-5399) where it was diagnosed that the high pressure fuel pump failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The manufacturer was not notifed. The approximate failure mileage was 166,000.

- Douglasville, GA, USA

My car stopped running at a large intersection. I had it towed to the my ase certified mechanic shop whom I had used before. The lead technician said the variable valve timing solenoid is full of metal and it sounds like motor is froze up. The car will not run.

- Palm Beach Gardens, FL, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. While driving through an intersection, the vehicle shut off without warning. The vehicle was unable to restart. Myrtle beach Kia (4811 us-501, myrtle beach, SC 29579, 843-444-8000) diagnosed that the motor seized. The vehicle was not repaired yet. The vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 17V224000 (engine and engine cooling), although the failure was similar. The manufacturer was notified and did not assist. The failure mileage was not available.

- Holden Beach, NC, USA

Driving on the interstate going about 80mph. The engine seized and all the warning lights came on in the dashboard. Car lost power and had to coast to the shoulder of the road and use the emergency break to stop. Tried to restart the car right after heard clicking noises like the car was trying to turn over. After waiting about 20mins I tried restarting again its started without issue. And I continued to drive to my destination. The next day driving on the interstate again I tried accelerating to about 60mph and the engine stalled and I heard knocking noises coming from it immediately. Pulled over and got it towed from there. Prior to this I never experienced any engine issues and never had the engine lights come on. Car only has 44K miles.

- Hanover, MD, USA

Stationary at stop light and engine light came on, then all the lights on the console came on and car died. Immediately white smoke came from under the hood on all sides of the car with a chemical burning smell. Smoke continued from under the hood approximately 3-5 minutes.

- Laguna Niguel, CA, USA

Have to put oil in my car every 300 miles. Car is burning oil extremely fast. Afraid that the engine may seize while driving. Has been that way every since my purchase in April of 2018.

- Gardena, CA, USA