general problems of the 2018 Kia Motor Optima

While driving at night if the headlights will randomly turn completely off.

My grandson was driving home last night on our clay county west virginia narrow unlighted road when his 2018 kia Optima headlights went out completely. He wrote that he was scared but finally was able to get lights back on before running off the road. Also, several nights while car is locked with one in the car: the headlights came on. He had to unlock the car and start it up to finally get the headlights off. The lights were off when he first entered the house. I have a service call set up for 09-27-24 with dutch miller kia, but there is a $180. 96 + tax diagnostic charge and then the cost to repair the situation. I see there are many NHTSA complaints on your website for this problem. Kia apparently has not issued a statement or recall. Help!.

Headlights randomly turn off while driving. To get them back on you have to switch on and off before they turn back on. Very dangerous for my 17 yr old daughter driving down a highway at night. The lights will also turn on in the middle of the night and if we happen to notice, we have to go to the car and turn the lights on and off to get them fixed. There are numerous reports on this when google. I am not the only one. Really dangerous!.

When headlight switch is set to automatically come on, the light will sometimes randomly turn off. No warning or indicator on the dash appears showing that they are off. Technicians are unable to reproduce the issue in the shop. Have recommended replacing the entire headlight switch on the turn signal stick.

Kia Optima headlights turn off randomly while on automatic. This dangerous issue has been investigated on other kia models by the ntsb, which them prompted kia to issue a recall. I have found many, many posts on car and kia forums about headlights shutting off while driving at night with the kia Optima (as well as other kia items). It's very scary and very hazardous. This is a widespread issue.

The headlights on my 2018 kia Optima have been turning off and on randomly by themselves while in motion. Each time it's happened has been in different areas at different times of the night. The headlight switch is kept in the auto position most of the time. When the headlights turn off, the screen in the dash for the headlight function switches from auto to off by itself. Sometimes if the turn signal switch is jiggled the lights will come back on. Other times the headlight switch, located on the end of the turn signal switch, has to be turned to the on position to get the lights to turn on. The car has been in for service but each time the technician is unable to reproduce the fault. It is occurring more frequently and becoming a safety issue.

While driving, all lights (headlights, instrument, etc) would randomly go dark. Lighting usually restored after toggling the instrument control arm from on-to-off-on. Obviously super dangerous as driver can't see roadway and other drivers can't see the car.

Driving at night, was getting onto the freeway. Entrance to the freeway was on a curved street, as I was taking the turn leading into the freeway the lights turned off, then suddenly turned back on and then off again all while I was merging onto the freeway. I quickly took the light out of “auto” setting. Very scary as I almost got hit by the truckers already on the freeway. I’ve had issues with the blind spot warning as well. It fails all the time so of course I never put my trust on that. The lighting situation is very scary, as it was happening you could see the dashboard setting itself to auto and randomly going up and down the list of options as if it was being controlled by someone else. I could’ve caused an accident. Please check this issue.

When driving with headlights set to auto the headlights turn off whenever the blinker is used. I've found many complaints however my vehicle has not been inspected. This poses a hazard of driving at night with no headlights, then having to fiddle with the switch to turn them back on.

Problems: lights switch is in auto position and I have locked the vehicle. I noticed at least twice the exterior lights come on and stays on until I unlock start the vehicle and turn engine off. Additionally on June 3 2021 light switch in automatic position coming home at night the head lights turned themselves off the dashboard lights remained on. I was a half mile from home and able to get the vehicle home safely. Turned the headlights switch to manual to turn lights back on. No warning lights came on. Mechanic will look at vehicle later this week. I have no confidence the mechanic will be a to replicate the problem. That's their if can't be reproduced or the computer did notice, it didn't happen . The vehicle is available for inspection.

While driving at night lights went completely out on highway while in auto mode.

Trying to cut off and jerks when stopping vehicle.

My cars bulbs have been blowing on a regular basis for two years. . Some of the bulb connections are catching fire and exploding . Ive changed on numerous occasions but doesn’t matter even with new fittings…obviously an electric problem.