KIA Motors
reviews and complaints

I bought my KIA Optima in Nov. 2005. I have had more problems with this car than any other car I have ever owned. It started at 30, 000 miles with my water pump going out. At 60, 000 miles a front axle broke as well as my A/C going out and my clutch slipping. After having to replace the clutch and axle and condenser, my AC went out again. This time it was the compressor. Now it has gone out again! (I live in Houston where it is warm to hot about 70% of the time.) Mechanic says it is the evaporative coil. Cost to repair: $925!
Don't buy a KIA (or a Hyundai which is KIA's parent company). The money you save at the dealership you will spend at the mechanic's garage!

In June of 2011 My car a Kia optima started acting up. The throttle would not work and the car wouldn’t go anywhere. this intermittant problem persisted until I took the car to KIA of Des Moines to have it looked at. Ultimatly it cost me almost $400.00 to repair. I asked about the warranty and the dealer told me it was 2 months over the set warranty period.

I complained and aked them to help pay for a portion of the repairs considering the car only has 47, 000 miles on it. The dealer acted as though he didn’t care. Now they want over $800.00 in Preventative Maintenance work to “ensure” the rest of the warranty remains valid. I also own a Chevrolet and I spoke to them about the problem and they laughed and said they wold have at least help pay for a portion of the repairs, if this were a chevy.

Kia builds nice looking cars CHEAP! I consider them disposable cars and will never buy another one!

To Whom it may concern

it is obvious to me that Kia Motors Vereeniging does not need business; I tried twice to do business with them with no luck. The first time I went there the sales person did not even bother to get out of his chair to look at my car, and I waited almost a week to get a reply about a trade in value for my car. I had to phone him back and the sales person (Louis) gave me a very bad price, promised to phone around to see if he could get a better price. Today two weeks later I decided to go back to the dealership, and try another sales person. Well the guy came over and introduced himself, we walked over to the Kia Rio, at which time other prospective clients walked in, he left us standing there and continued with the other people. NOBODY else bothered to come and help us. I will drive to Johannesburg to do business although Vereeniging is closer.

Regards

Alan Langeveldt

Bought 2006 Kia Rio5 from Dealership. Rear center seat belt was locked in position and dealership had replaced before I drove off lot.
I use the rear space consistently, which requires the rear seats to be lowered into horizontal position. Every time the rear seat is lowered the rear center seat belt assembly locks in place and will not release, and I have had to go to the dealership to have the assembly fixed. The rear center belt has never been used, so it is a manufacturer's defect.

The car is now over 100, 000 miles and the dealership claims they cannot fix the assembly and I must have it replaced, which will cost me ober $500.00 since the warranty has expired. I have looked online, and the seat belts for this make/model car cost under $40.00. I am told that KIA is charging the $500.00 price for parts, not the dealership. KIA shoudl replace this belt at no cost since it has never worked correctly, even after replacement and being adjusted by the dealership.

Florida love bugs attacked my car in May 2011 when they were at their worse. I understand the problem with our love bugs in Florida, however, I could not get to cleaning the bugs off until 2-3 days afterwards. Most of them came off with a good car wash. There was a bug guard on the car also. I noticed about two weeks later paint peeling on the bumper, hood, side panels, the very top of the roof. Took the car into Orlando Kia West in Orlando, FL; service manager said it was NOT covered under warranty. I understood painting is not covered under the warranty. My complaint is that the car was NOT clear-coated properly or waxed. Called corporate office; met with Kia Regional Manager, same story. Was not happy with the answer I got, of course. It really is no big deal to them, but I did tell them, I will never, ever buy a Kia again and as soon as I can, will be trading the car in and will not be going to any Kia dealership. In order to repair all the paint peeling, it would cost approximately $3, 000. That is ridiculous for a brand spanking new car. I am sooooo disappointed. My next step is to contact the local TV station to see if they have done any investigations regarding this issue in the past. It would not have cost the dealership that much to fix the car and keep a happy customer. I hate brand new cars, but my circumstance had it that I had to purchase a new car. I had advised both manager's I had a Honda Civic in Florida for over 10 years, and did not wash the car as much as I wash this one and never, ever had paint peeling from the Honda. Go figure. Oh well, live and learn. My Kia will ONLY go back to a dealership for COVERED WARRANTY repairs. Good Luck to everyone.

I have buy kia rondo since last 2 years. On february 2010 my car battery have to be replace. Since that time my car shows a dead problem especially in the morning. I have send to local service centre on 15.12.10 (Invoice no. [protected]) and they have replace few parts cost me around rm400. The problem still same until now and I have to pay for diagnosis and etc cost me few hundrads more. This is 7th times already I have to send to the service center just to solve the same problem. Now i'm waiting for korean technican came to malaysia to solve my problem. My advice to kia motors, you should provide complete tools, device and well train to local technican to handle your product. After sales service is the most important for car dealer. I dont know how I have to wait for your technican to seattle my problem.

The battery terminal connectors are made out of flimsy 1/16" stamped metal rather than what most manufacturer's use - heavy metal. When connected to a battery, corrosion is normal. This isn't a problem if there's a lot of metal in the connector - one simply brushes off the corrosion with a wire brush and reattaches the connector. With the Kia design, the connector isn't a solid clamp and is so thin that the corrosion destroys the connector. But - you cannot just replace the connector because they have designed the connector as an integral part of a WIRE HARNESS. If the crappy connector fails - and it will - you have to pay nearly $500 to replace the entire wire harness! I called Kia and they refused to make any allowance because the vehicle is out of warranty. The problem isn't that the part is poorly MANUFACTURED - I'm sure it's made exactly to specifications. The problem is that it is poorly DESIGNED. I'm okay with paying for parts that wear out in the normal course of use. I am NOT okay with paying for parts that wear out because the engineers were idiots and the company decided to back their idiots rather than their customers.

Dear Sir
My name is Tony Razzouk I bought the Kia Opirus model 2005 last year. I was very happy with it. but to my bad luck the engine heating meter dosen't measure the over heating in the engine. I am an ordinary employee the engine will cost a lot because of this heating meter. I am very sad this happened I like the car.
I am very very very upset so please with your new models make sure you add water meter level and over heating meter despite the engine is short of water so the driver is alerted about the heating so he can take action not like the one i have the radiator was taking air instead of water I measure the water thru the reservoir not thru the radiato thinking the water level is good with the proof of the heating meter in the car giving the sign of normal heating, but the fact is the radiator was short of water and driving long distances this way I lost my egine. again please adjust this I call it error.

My address: [protected]@gmail.com

take care and regards

Tony

I purchased the vehicle used from enterprise rent a car 01/12/2011. The car was still under manufacturer warranty. The car would just not start periodically and intermittenly. I took the vehicle to kia and they could not diagnose a problem. They told me to bring the car down once the car had the issue again. I could not do this since the car did not start. They kept it for 2.5 days to disgnose and test drive. They still could not diagnose a problem, even though this problem had occured several times. They would not offer any form of service. Since I work and need reliable transportation, I traded the car into centennial toyota where they paid me auction price for the car. However, they added on an 2500 to my loan to cover the gap between what the kia was worth and what I owed. I feel as though kia should pay this amount since I turned the car in due to mechanical failure that they could not fix. How do I go about bringing this to their attention and receive indemnification?

Kia auto sportof columbus has, is practiceing piss poor standards with both customer and employees just recently less then two month i was asked to remove my kufi for which i wear before my hired date 11months ago the company knew i was islamic. One of the two top sale person the company had 15 to 20 cars a month as a retalation for refuseing to remove what some out ignorant call a hat my kufi petty write - up began the first a new hire whom is on drugs sleeping with a sales mgr name bob claimed i said a bad word about her i got written up 2fnd a customer whom brought serval car fromback in feb 2011 own the dealership deposit i called an called no reponse sales mgr curse yell stateing byanymean dont care what you say get customer back in store with money or car called customer only said it s going to be a policie matter if you dont pay what you own customer call up in say am going to have them arrested i said no such thing i got writting up for doing what mgr told us to do 3rd another new hired stole a customer we explain to her what she did wrong next she claim we threaten her but only me got sent home with out pay all statement say no one did that to her at all but as a result am terminated from my job my career do to he says she say no facts but retalation now keep in mind ive sold over100 car for this company this is what i get poor practices from this company i deserve better like my job back i did nothing wrong they attempt to try to make a case of hostile but we have whats called customer survey 10 is the high score out of 178customer sold two gave bad scored due to the time they had to wait for finances to do paper work all was great and fine with me the sales person i love kia product love all of its customers but something needs to be done here at kia auto sport of columbus today try to call owner when i call they claim he not in at any of his five dealership it will be a great help for someone to get back with me today god bless and thank you

I received a message saying "congratulations! your cell number has won 497000 & a2011 kia rio car in kia motors uk promotion. email: [protected]@9. cn or call:+[protected] for claims sender kia motors". I would like to know if this is a joke or true? send an email on this address;[protected]@hotmail.com.

We recieved a sms on our fone from kia motors uk which states congratulatins! your cell number has won 497, 000 pounds & a 2011 kia rio car in kia motors uk promotion. email:[protected]@9. cn or call:+[protected] for claims.
They asked us to fill some forms and to open up a bank account of our choice in which they can trasfer the money. they are telling us to tranfer 750 fijian dollars for the bank charges. the bank was natwest investment bank pic, united kindom. they are saying that after we trasfer the amount to them on the addreses below:
1. receiver name. saimeen jacobs

2. receiver address. 47 robb's loan, edinburgh eh1 3dg, london, united kingdom
3. amount to be send: 150 gbp equivalent to $500:00fjd
4. text question to be used. what for.
5. answer. present

1. receiver name. ravi kingston

2. receiver address.26 creek road, edinburgh eh1 3dg, london, united kingdom
3. amount to be send: 100 gbp equivalent to $250:00fjd
4. text question to be used. favourite colour.
5. answer. blue
They are saying that they are the accounts officer and after they recieve the money they will trasfer the won amount on my new opened bank account in 48hours.
I just wanted to know that is that true or not. please reply on the email:pranita. [protected]@yahoo.com or + [protected] & + [protected].

On July 22, 2011, I made a contracted purchase of a 2012 KIA Sedona with a trade-in of a 2009 Blk Mitsubishi Lancer payoff amount of $16, 800.85. The drive out cost of the Sedona was$30, 000.00 that was overnight shipped from Warner Robins Credit Union to Hollywood KIA.
On July 30, 2011, my regularly scheduled monthly payment allotment to my MMCA account was received and posted toward the balance of the Lancer, thereby, decreasing the payoff amount from that on July 22, 2011.
On August 9, 2011, Hollywood KIA through automated contact, accessed my MMCA account and received the lesser payoff amount than the purchase contract on July 22, 2011.
On August 10, 2011, I made contact with Hollywood KIA: Joe Levy, General Manager and Joann, Accounting Manager, asking them to abide by the purchase contract and return my $424.82. They refused and insisted on writing a new purchase contract that would have given Hollywood KIA more money for the same vehicle we already had a contract on; they had already received the $30, 000.00 for and, I was already driving.
I refused to renegotiate an already contracted and paid for deal. I am seeking assistance in this matter to retrieve my $424.82 plus assessed punitive damages of $2, 000.00. Hollywood KIA willfully and unlawfully took use of my monies and breached the terms of the purchase contract we made on July 22, 2011.
Thank you for your assistance in resolving this breach of contract.
Calvin Walker
786.319.8118

to whom it may concern, please help me, my identity
Name: samarinti Antonius
email: [protected]@yahoo.com
my car engine number : MJJJB5583BK000232
type car : pride -rio hatchback
date of purchasing: 13 may 2011

here are my complains: when i buy this car, i hear sounds in the engine when i slowly raise my brake pedal in order to move (its automatic car), so i complain to the show room address as shown above, more than 5times, but the sounds doesn't go away... so i make them to write down my complains because i want them to responsible on 20 june 2011 until today they didnt give a call or something to inform me (Im being neglected by them ) almost 1 mount 1week already!, so just now I go there again, and curiously check my complains form which everytime I check to showroom, they will fill a form... but so funny ... they didn't write down my complains all, just write a little (they cover up ) and only once, ... actually I went to them more than 5times... so unprofesionally manage... I'm so afraid that they don't care about me... (your product KIA), please help me... I'm optimist that one day KIA motors will be booming in Indonesia... I have proof a photo and my receipt complain.. if you want to check...

I cannot understand how a company with this many complaints on the internet and the bbb is still doing business. The scam they are doing is called the3 bait and switch, which is illegal in the united states. The salesman that I had Nelson was terrible he took me on a test drive in a toyota and the car was shaking and the radio did not work. I told him that I was not intersted in this car, he said he had a nissan that was in my price range. I agrred to purchase the nissan and he said he would be able to deliver the next day. When I called the dealership the next morning he told me that the car was in another state and that he had to pick it up. Well after 3 days he said I would have to change cars back to the toyota and that it was going to cost me 499 dollars for some kinf od charge and 1000 dollars for taxes and tags when in va it cost about 490 dollars for this. This man then had the nerve to call me back and say can we do something about this car. I learned later that they had already reported this loan on my credit report. I will be contacting locl police to file complaint

I purchased a 2010 Forte in April of 2010. The paint was chipping away on the bottom panels and on the left back door panel (this was starting to rust from the time I first contacted my dealer to the time some one agreed to look at it). After the District Manager looked at my car she okayed it to be repainted. However, she only looked at the left side (the worst side) and only approved that side to be repainted. She now declines to repaint the other side saying that it was only approved as a measure of "goodwill". I have had this car less than a year and the paint should not be coming off. Kia is claiming that it is only a regional problem because of the treatment Pennsylvania is putting on the roads.

The gear shift lever broke on the 2005 kia sorento at 55k miles.there is a thin plastic about 4 mm thick, which is depressed to change the gears, you have to buy the whole piece about $400.00 from kia and a mechanic has to change it.All the other car lever I have seen are made of heavy metals, I have never seen something so poor quality.I think kia need to replace this at no cost to consumers.

E-Mail: [protected]@gmail.com

I complaint earlier on 21 June 2010 to your kind company after too many local complaints to Kia Motors Egypt that the AC if my Kia Carens car is not working. One of the reasons that encuraged me to buy this car was my idea that the car has a very good AC, unfortunately, this turned out to be totally untrue and the maintenance is really horrible. I am suffering ever since I bought the car which I really regret. I will advise every one I know about the bad experience I have with Kia Motors Egypt and the repeat ignorance to my very valid complaints. the car is still warranted and every time I go to the maintenance they promise that they will fix the problem. this never becomes true and I am still suffering as well as my family members when we use the car. The car is currently in the maintenance in Kia Motors Egypt Abu Rawas, kindly take any professional steps if possible to advise them to handle my case more efficiently, the agent name is Ashraf Hussein. I will also seek any other legal way to reserve my rights and to prove that this problem is a living problem although the car is a brand new (first hand). Thanks in advance. the car chassis number is 7297487, the motor number is 603706 and the plate number is 917wft. My name is Mahmoud Marzouk, my cell phone number [protected] and my email is [protected]@hotmail.com

Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing to you to complain about a serious problem in Atlaskhodro Tehran, (disorder and inattention to customer).I have purchased a sorento EX3300 cc, model 2008, vin no: KNEJC525885822935 for my wife about 50 days ago.I changed Oxygen sensors (they completely stopped working) in agency no.642 Shiraz on 29 may 2011 but Atlas khodro did not accept guaranty and charged me money because having problem with that agency.The agency manager payed half of the money to respecting me and I payed the rest. I made a call to Atlas khodro On 25 June 2011 and explained that to one of their staff in C.R.M ward (Mrs, Saboohi) and in addition requested her the car's gauranty card and guide book and wanted her to solve lake of new engine number with car's sale-deed.She told me that the problems would be fixed but in fact nothing has happened.I telepaoned many times but she was not at her office, I left her massages but she did not reply.I telephoned there and spoke with Mr, Modarresi the manager of Atlaskhodro on 6 July 2011 and explained the situation to him but he did not pay any attention to my matter and refer me to Mrs, Saboohi but she was not at her office again.5 days have now passed and I have not received any communication from your agency in Iran at all.
In addition my car needs to mend and change knock sensor, left and catolisor converter bank 2 that I visited agency no.643 on 29 June to fix that but they have not spare.12 days have passed but the spares have not arrived from Tehran yet.I called this morning to Shiraz agency and they told me that the spares would arrive from Tehran 10 days later.This situation is causing many problems for me during this very hot weather.It is affecting my work and my life.Naturally I am very concerned about this.
I would be very grateful if you would attend to my matters as soon as possible.Thank you for your co-operating in advance.
I look forward to your reply.

Yours faithfully
Shahram