general problems of the 2004 Kia Motor Optima

Cannot add fuel because the pump stops from filling up the tank. It took me about 7 times to get in $7 worth of gas. Even though this car only has 25,830 miles on it. It has hardly been used. We put gas in about every 3 or 4 weeks - not that often.

Driver's door locking system will not unlock, all others do. The door locks itself immediately as you try to unlock either with the key (outside) or pressing the central lock button (when inside). This would be a serious problem if the car was involved in an accident and/or fire was an issue. Right now it is inconvenient to climb over the center console. I see this is not the first complaint on this subject and the problem seems endemic to this car. The problem started intermittently from September 2016 and now is permanent as of November 30.

Drivers door lock will not open from inside at all & only 10%of the time from outside with key. Pulled fuse on actuators & lock continues to malfunction. Can not efficiently get in or out of the car. Have to slide over center to reach passenger door to get out. I am 6'4" so this is a real safety hazard.

Out of nowhere my daughter's car door would not open, trapping her inside. It won't open with the key or remote. I called kia and they said my warranty ran out and there is no recall despite this being a common issue-- a very dangerous safety issue I must say, since the driver and passengers could possibly be trapped and die in an emergency.

Sub frame rot leading to poor handling , tire wear, bad engine performance. The rotted supframe is separating from body, causing poor performance. The car is performing poorly at all speeds. Not safe. . .

The driver side door will not open. It shows that it's unlocked. I can use the key and continuously pull the handle from the outside and it was opening. Now it doesn't work at all. Took it to kia in holland they quoted me a minimum of $300 to fix the problem but told me they had no clue what it could be. I will not allow an ignorant person to touch my vehicle. I can at least tell you that it is the latch. I live in michigan. If I am hit on my passenger side and am in need of help I might as well close my eyes and die. No one would be able to get me out without having to drag me out of the window which they would have to break. This could easily be an issue that could result in death.

I have a 2004 kia Optima lx 4 door sadan, the fron't door on the driver side you can not lock and unlocke I have to leave the door panal off so if it gets locked, you have to take a screwdriver and push up the little rod that leads to the latch. Believe me I will never buy another kia Optima or any kind of a kia in my eyes they are junk junk. Especially when this junky car only has 87,000 miles.

I went to unlock my 2004 kia Optima and the drivers door would not unlock. Repeated attempts failed. I have read numerous forums and this is a reoccurring problem with this car! this is a safety issue and the car is only 10 years old! if an accident occurs, I would not be able to be rescued. Kia needs to address this problem.

My driver side locks will no longer unlock correctly. Sometimes if I jiggle everything together just so I can get it to unlock from the outside. However, once inside it is impossible to get the door open. This is a major issue, if I lock my car it takes me forever to get back in to it. I have to make sure that my children are standing out in the heat waiting on me and not baking in the car waiting for me. If I am in an area afterhours, I am more at risk of having something happen. In addition, if there is an accident or if I need to exit car quickly, it would be impossible as I have to climb out over the passenger side. I currently have a lot of shoulder and neck pain from lifting myself from one seat to another. I have looked up this problem online to see if there is something I can do and I am far from the only one that has experienced this exact issue. They have been offered no help outside of go to the dealer and get it fixed for $300 - $700. This is a faulty manufactured part, not just normal wear and tear. I replaced my brake pads a couple weeks back on the same car, that's normal wear and tear.

The NHTSA campaign number is 09v183000 and the component is suspension. I was told that the recall portion for my vehicle was performed but only as an inspection by glassman kia, southfield michigan, in July 2009. I experienced the actual corrosion of the front sub-frame but thank god I did not have a crash. I am told by kmc that there is a possibility they may not fix the car. I have an appointment at glassman tomorrow, July 17, 2014.

When I was getting off of work on the night of 7/12/2014, I went to my car to unlock my door with the key. My driver side door will not open. I had to get into the passenger seat, climb over the center counsel and into my driver seat. Once I got home, I could not open the drive side door from the inside. Therefore, I did the reverse above. This is the second time this incident had happen to me. I've taken this to the dealership on 9/25/12 and they had to replace the front door latch, which cost about $200. Reading the information on here this is a common problem on these cars. Kia must place a recall on this issue because this is a requiring problem that needs to be address ASAP!.

Driver side door does not open from inside, even when in 'unlock' position. I drove to work, having no problems opening the door to get into the car, nothing unusual happened during my 15 minute commute. I arrived at work, and was forced to exit the car through the passenger side door. The driver side door will now only open if you use the key and can randomly find the perfect timing of turning the key and pulling the door handle. It is nearly impossible to perform this maneuver from inside the vehicle. Having no ease of access from the driver side front seat of the vehicle poses an extreme safety concern to all those driving similar vehicles. Having performed just cursory research over the past two days, I have come across hundreds of similar accounts from other kia owners. This is obviously a manufacturing defect, and should be handled as a recall.

The door (drivers side) will not unlock. When you pull the handle to get out of the vehicle it locks and will not allow you to exit the vehicle which can be very dangerous during an emergency. I have searched the internet and this has been an ongoing issue in 2003 - 2005 kias. I can't believe there hasn't been a safety recall yet making kia fix this issue on all vehicles. Maybe it takes an accident and someone being trapped inside the vehicle and losing their life before this is repaired. I didn't find just a few issues when I looked online for the problem I am having, I found page after page of people complaining of the same issue on their kia.

Airbag light stays on and the front passenger door won't open or close.

When unlocking drivers side door, says its unlocked but wont open. When inside of car if u lock door u cannot get out using drivers door. Its dangerous. And it is embarrassing climbing over to passenger side to get out.

Driver door fails to open. When will something be done about this? there are complaints everywhere online about this exact issue on this exact model and other years too. I can't get in or out of my car through the driver door. This is a huge safety concern!.

Drivers side locking and not releasing. Numerous incidents where the drivers side door locks and will not release. (using the key on the outside or the pad on the inside door) I have repeatedly had to climb out the back door because the plastic pieces that were used when making the car are worn out and not allowing the lock to unlock. If there was an accident I would not be able to get out on the drivers side. I believe this is a manufactures defect. I am hoping that a recall or a silent recall will be issued for this since I am not able to open the door to get the door panel off to fix it.

It started with doors will lock and unlock automatically while driving, this has been going on since 2012, then the passenger door will not unlock at times since 2012. Then on 2-28-15, the driver's side door will not unlock. I had to climb through the back seat and the console to get to the driver seat. Then on the 3-02-2015, the driver's door, the passenger door and the rear back door completely refused to unlock. This is very scary, in fact, I almost broke my right foot while climbing into the driver seat from the back seat through the console, because my right leg was caught on the passenger seat head rest.

The lock to the driver's side door will not disengage. I put the key in, but the door will not open. I have to enter the car from the passenger side. From what I have read online, this is not the first time this issue has been brought to the forefront for this company to deal with. However, there have been no recalls placed on this vehicle. Are we supposed to wait to see who dies first before the company is forced to do a recall? if I knew this was a problem with this particular vehicle, I never would have bought it. This is very dangerous. At the time, this is my only means of transportation. It is paid off, and I cannot afford another one. I can't trade it in knowing that the next person would inherit this problem. I, for one, could not live with myself if a person died as a result of not being able to get out in the event of an emergency. Just replace the defective parts on this vehicle. It is a great car, but the defective actuator that prevents the driver's side door from opening overshadows the that fact. I would never recommend any of my family members, friends, CO-workers, or anyone else buy this car (or any other kia) until this problem is fixed. The transportation safety board needs to step in fast. We as consumers are doing our part by reporting these issues, please do yours by protecting the public from this safety hazard. Thank you.

The drivers door will not open either from the inside or the outside. The door remains locked as the button and key do not fully unlock it. Using both button and key at the same time, I was able to unlock the door and open it. Dissassembly of the door and latch located the problem to be the door latch mechanism. The door latch is designed to fail as evidenced by the number of complaints listing this part. The lever that is moved into place when the door is unlocked is blocked by the cam that it interfaces with because the cam has rotated beyond the point that it should. This has the potential to trap someone in the car if it should fail at the wrong time.

On my 2004 kia Optima when I unlock the doors with the key all doors unlock except the drivers door real big safety concern, if I get stuck in my car during an accident an cannot get out I will sue Kia Motor company for not issusing a safety recall, I have also notice a lot of postings based upon this issue on fixya. Com for the 2003-2006 kia Optima need attention ASAP.

We just purchased is car last Saturday and went to the store and locked the doors then when we went to unlock the doors with the key on the driver side the driver door would not unlock. I would turn the key and pull the handle and the doors would lock back. I had to get in and back out through the passanger side. When I got home my son finally got it to unlock and open and everytime we would lock it it would not unlock or open. We just have to keep working with it until it fianlly unlocks and the door opens. So now I am afraid to lock it. I read online of many reports of this same problem and it would really be nice to get a recall for it.

Drivers side door will not open with the power lock or by key, I have been getting in and out of my car by using the passenger front door. My husband found a way to unlock my driver side door, now I can not lock my car again.

Kia Optima problem model years affected: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013 the driver front door lock on my 2004 kia Optima started giving me problems. If I am in the car and locked the door, I could not unlock it. If I was outside and try to use the key to unlock the doors, it would not unlock. If I tried to use the key, it felt like something was jamming, and the actuator would automatically relock. I took the car to the local kia dealership and the shop told me that it was a faulty door lock actuator. The mechanic did not open the door but said that this was a common problem. They estimated cost is $300+ including labor to repair. As an interim solution, the mechanic told us to "turn the key and pull the handle simultaneously". The trick worked about 30% of the time. It still does not solve the fact that once you're inside, you have to crawl out through the passenger side to exit or go dukes of hazard on it.

The driver side door will not unlock with the key or inside switch. All the other doors will unlock except the driver door. After turning the key for about 10 mins up to a day or a week it will sometimes unlock, but only using the key. This is a very bad safety hazard. It looks as if the plastic part inside the door that controls the locking is broken . There were no accidents that made this occur . I have talked to kia on several occasions about the matter and this is one feature that the customer does not need to pay for. This is a defective part and can trap someone in a car . You have to crawl through passenger door to even to get in and drive. Shameful on kia . Seems like its going to take some one burning or have a fatality for kia to do a recall on this , but all about money when they pride on safety.

I have a 2004 kia Optima with a belt that squeaks rather loudly. I took it back to the dealer. They said it was not covered under warranty and would cost $120. 00 to replace it if I wanted to, but it was not dangerous. My problem was that I had just bought the car and it made this awful sound. I even contacted kia's complaint department, but nothing was ever done. This is my first and last kia. This just didn't happen once, but squeaks on a regular basis.