2016 Kia Optima Electrical System
Owner-reported problems and safety issues filed with NHTSA. Review common failures, severity levels, and complaint trends over time.
Complaint Timeline
Chronological view of owner reports
Odometer Fraud. The contact purchased a 2016 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while attempting to register the vehicle, it was discovered that there was a mileage discrepancy. The vehicle was a dealer sale. At the time of purchase, the vehicle mileage was 56,276. and at the time of registration, it was discovered that the mileage was 114,000.
3 of windows do not roll up.
Window regulator assembly failed twice within 20k miles. Attached is the first repair. Dealership only repaired motor but not full assembly and it failed again.
our ac keeps blowing relays. every month. and they other day we have to force power bank to the blower motor just to get it to work. half the inside and sometimes the even the outside lights works.
Every window regulator is broken, 2 of them in the middle of the highway and the other 2 when I parked the car.
All four of my window regulators/and or motors have died within months of each other. First it was my back two, now my front two have gone and don’t stay up. I don’t have children nor frequent passengers. I find it mind boggling that all four of my windows have to be repaired. It is completely unsafe that my windows just drop at any given moment, especially if it’s pouring raining or even at night when it’s locked my personal stuff isn’t safe inside.
First my driver side back window wouldn’t roll up or down. It just sags and falls down everytime I drive so I duck taped it until I could afford to get it fixed. Now a month later, the passenger back seat is doing this exact same thing. There is over 100 articles of people talking about this exact problem with 2016-2017 Kia Optimas and I read apparently Kia is even aware as they sent out an alert to dealerships about it or something along those lines? Well that’s all great and dandy but what about the people who already have the car and are dealing with the problems? I have 2 kids under 2 and it’s a tough financial time. Even with the duct tape, it doesn’t always hold and the window will fall down on the highway and my son starts screaming crying cause its loud and the hard wind hits his face. This should be resolved. It shouldn’t take more than like 5 people complaining about the same thing for it to be deeply looked into and fixed. There’s well over 100 people talking about online like I said.
I was driving at night lights turned on of course then all of sudden they turned off I couldn't see i had to slam my brakes on almost crashed and this is the 3 time this has happened I usually don't drive at night so I didn't notice this problem as a problem I was thinking maybe it was the street lights were to bright and caused them to turn off but on a very dark street with no lights and it happened again then I realized this is a serious problem but this has happened the times I have drove at night. This is very dangerous for this to happen it is going to cause someone to lose their life if it hasn't happened already. This really needs to be looked into a recall for this issue. Please fix
2016 KIA OPTIMA HAS AN ISSUE WITH THE VEHICLE HEADLIGHTS. THEY ARE TURNING OFF BY THEMSELVES WHILE DRIVING. TODAY WAS A CLOSE ONE FOR ME, IT WAS 9:10PM AND I WAS GOING ABOUT 50MPH AND ALL THE SUDDEN MY LIGHTS WENT OUT AND I HAD TO BREAK RAPIDLY, I COULDN'T SEE ANYTHING IN FRONT OF ME. THIS HAS BEEN AN ONGOING ISSUE WITH THIS CAR, AND IT SEEMS TO BE A COMMON ISSUE FOR OTHER OWNERS. I ASKED MY LOCAL DEALERSHIP ABOUT FIXING THE HEADLIGHTS, THEY TOLD ME IT WAS GOING TO COST $400 AND THEY ARE AWARE OF THIS BEING A DEFECTIVE ISSUE WITH OTHER OWNERS. I AM NOT GOING TO PAY FOR SOMETHING THAT IS A MANUFACTURER DEFECT. PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THIS ISSUE, EVERY EFFORTS SHOULD BE MADE TO MAKE THIS A NATIONAL RECALL ISSUE.
3RD WINDOW MOTOR THAT HAS FAILED IN JUST A FEW MONTHS! FIRST MY BACK TWO WINDOW MOTORS AND HOUSINGS NEEDED TO BE REPLACED AND NOW MY FRONT DRIVER SIDE WINDOW IS DOWN AND WILL NOT ROLL UP. ON THE WAY TO WORK THIS MORNING IT STOPPED WORKING AND NOW MY CAR IS SITTING OUTSIDE AT WORK UNSECURED. KIA CONTACTED ME REGARDING MY LAST COMPLAINT AND IS WORKING TO SEE IF I CAN BE REIMBURSED FOR THE SECOND WINDOW. I AM WAITING FOR A RESPONSE NOW TO MY EMAIL AND CALL THIS MORNING REGARDING THIS THIRD WINDOW.
ALL 4 OF MY WINDOWS WILL NOT GO UP OR DOWN. THIS HAPPENED WITHIN WEEKS OF EACH OTHER. THERE IS NO CHEAP SOLUTION. KIA WANTS $150 DEPOSIT AND I WAS QUOTED $225 PER WINDOW. THIS IS INSANE. I AM DRIVING A CAR WHERE THE WINDOWS ARE ALL WEDGED UP WHICH IS A SAFETY HAZARD. I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE WITH THIS PROBLEM. ARE THERE ANY RECALLS FOR THIS?
FOURTH WINDOW REGULATOR TO STOP WORKING IN THE PAST YEAR. THE WINDOW ROLLED DOWN AND WOULD NOT ROLL UP.
IN JUNE 2020 AFTER ORDERING FOOD AT A FAST FOOD DRIVE THROUGH MY DRIVER SIDE WINDOW WOULD ROLL BACK UP. I DIDN'T THINK MUCH THOUGHT MAYBE THE WINDOW WAS OFF TRACK. ABOUT A WEEK OR SO LATER WHILE DRIVING ON A LOCAL STREET IN MY TOWN MY DRIVER SIDE BACK PASSENGER WINDOW SLID DOWN I BEGAN HEARING AND FEELING WIND COME THROUGH THE WINDOW I CALLED MY DAD WHO LIVES IN MIAMI HE TOLD ME TO PUT A FLAT HEAD SCREWDRIVER DOWN IN THE WINDOW TO KEEP THE WINDOW FROM SLIDING DOWN AND POSSIBLE BREAKING AND TO CALL THE DEALERSHIP. I CALLED THE KIA DEALERSHIP I WAS TOLD TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT TO HAVE THE WINDOWS LOOKED AT. (WHICH I DID) A COUPLE DAYS LATER WHILE PICKING MY DAUGHTER UP FROM WORK I WAS BACKED INTO A PARKING SPOT. I ROLLED THE BACK PASSENGER SIDE WINDOW DOWN TO LET HER KNOW I WAS THERE SINCE SHE WAS MORE TO THE BACK SIDE OF THE CAR THEN THE FRONT AND ALL BEHOLD THE WINDOW WOULD NOT GO BACK UP. I CALLED KIA 1ST THING THE NEXT MORNING AND WAS TOLD MY CAR HAD A RECALL FOR THE ELECTRICAL BUT THEY COULD NOT DO ANYTHING ABOUT MY WINDOWS UNLESS I PAID OUT OF POCKET BECAUSE THE RECALL DID NOT COVER THE WINDOWS. I'M UPSET BECAUSE I DO NOT HAVE MONEY TO FIX 3 WINDOWS HAD I NOT HAD THAT ELECTRICAL PROBLEM MY WINDOWS WOULD STILL BE WORKING.
THE WIRING IN THIS VEHICLE IS SOY-BASED AND IS ATTRACTIVE TO RODENTS. I HAVE EXPERIENCED RODENT DAMAGE TWICE NOW TOTALING ABOUT $3000 IN DAMAGES. I HAVE CONTACTED KIA AND THEY SUGGESTED MAKING A CLAIM ON INSURANCE. THE FIRST TIME DAMAGE OCCURRED WAS IN 11/2019 WE MADE A CLAIM ON INSURANCE. THIS TIME WE WILL PAY OUT OF POCKET BECAUSE OF THE FEAR INSURANCE MIGHT DROP US FOR MAKING CONTINUED CLAIMS. THIS SEEMS TO BE A KNOWN FACT ABOUT THE SOY-BASED WIRING, YET KIA IS NOT WILLING TO ASSIST.
THREE OUT OF FOUR WINDOWS HAVE STOPPED WORKING. IT STARTED WITH THE REAR PASSENGER WINDOW ABOUT 6 MONTHS AGO, THEN THE REAR DRIVER 3 MONTHS AGO, AND NOW THE FRONT PASSENGER ABOUT A MONTH AGO. DID SOME RESEARCH TO FIND IT'S A PRETTY COMMON PROBLEM ON KIA'S FOR THE REGULATORS TO BREAK. I DIDN'T HAVE THE MONEY AT THE TIME TO FIX THE FIRST ONE, WAS SAVING UP AND THEN SECOND ONE STOPPED WORKING. DEFINITELY DIDN'T HAVE MONEY FOR TWO, WHEN THIRD QUIT. NOW JUST WAITING FOR THE LAST ONE TO KEEL OVER. I DON'T KNOW THE EXACT PROBLEM, BUT I DON'T HAVE MONEY TO FIX ALL FOUR WINDOWS AT ONE TIME ON A CAR THAT'S ONLY FOUR YEARS OLD.
MY REAR DRIVER'S SIDE WINDOW STARTED FALLING DOWN ALL OF A SUDDEN. I HAD TO REPLACE THE REGULATOR AND THE MOTOR. NOW, JUST A FEW MONTHS LATER, THE PASSENGER REAR WINDOW IS DOING THE SAME THING. THIS SEEMS LIKE A DEFECT. I NEVER HAD TO REPLACE A WINDOW MOTOR IN MY 1997 TOYOTA 4RUNNER THAT I JUST TRADED IN IN JULY OF 2018.
I AM HAVING AN ISSUE WITH THE SECOND WINDOW MOTOR ON THIS VEHICLE. FROM READING REVIEWS, IT'S A COMMON PROBLEM.
TL* THE CONTACT OWNED A 2016 KIA OPTIMA. APPROXIMATELY TEN MINUTES AFTER THE CONTACT TURNED OFF THE ENGINE AND EXITED THE VEHICLE, FLAMES IGNITED INSIDE THE VEHICLE. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT WAS CALLED TO THE SCENE AND EXTINGUISHED THE FLAMES. THE VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED AND TOWED TO AN UNDISCLOSED LOCATION. THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE WAS NOT DETERMINED. THE DEALER AND MANUFACTURER WERE NOT MADE AWARE OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 29,000. *JS
TL* THE CONTACT OWNED A 2016 KIA OPTIMA. AFTER PARKING THE VEHICLE IN THE DRIVEWAY FOR 15 HOURS, THE VEHICLE CAUGHT FIRE AND EXPLODED. THE VEHICLE WAS DESTROYED. THE ORIGIN OF THE FIRE WAS BELIEVED TO BE DUE TO AN ELECTRICAL FAILURE. THE FIRE DEPARTMENT EXTINGUISHED THE FIRE AND A FIRE REPORT WAS FILED. THERE WERE NO INJURIES. THE MANUFACTURER WAS NOTIFIED OF THE FAILURE. THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 10,700. UPDATED 03/17/17*LJ UPDATED 08/29/2017*JS
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Quick Summary
The 2016 Kia Optima has 19 Electrical System complaints on file. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.