Exterior Lighting Problems of Kia Motor Optima - part 2

Headlights are dangerously dim. Won’t pass inspection and I’ve changed bulbs multiple times.

See all problems of the 2013 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

Rear outer tail lamp combination assemblies (not the inner lights on the trunk lid) have failed virginia state safety inspection due to accumulation of moisture and standing water in both left and right outer tail lamps, causing leds in the tail lamp assembly to burn out and not illuminate. There have already been multiple technical service bulletins (tsbs) on the matter (I. E. Kia TSB ps364, kia TSB bod143, kia TSB bod172), and the cause outlined in these tsbs has been a defect in design leading to a gap between the tail lamp housing gasket and the vehicle body allowing water intrusion. Kia has neglected to inspect, fix, or add additional gaskets per their instructions during eligible warranty periods, and extended warranties refuse to fix the issue as they classify it as water intrusion. This pins the financial burden to fix the safety issue on the customer/driver, as kia dealers have quoted $1,232. 46 for replacement of these tail lamps. What component or system failed or malfunctioned, and is it available for inspection upon request? components: rear outer tail lamp combination assemblies (both left and right) (not the lamps on the trunk lid). Inspection availability: limited due to significant time pressure and inconvenience (since the tail lamps have caused the vehicle to fail virginia state safety inspection, the car needs to be fixed ASAP to resume commute to work, etc. ) how was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? lower visibility for others, may result in incident. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? confirmed by kia dealer themselves. Also, multiple customer complaints on internet, as well as tsbs. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? kia dealer did not inspect during warranty. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? no and unknown.

See all problems of the 2015 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

The headlights fail to light up safely and can cause serious injuries or even death. You are unable to see 10 foot in front of the car on deem and bright lights you can only see 15 feet at the max.

See all problems of the 2011 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

The afls forces the low beam headlights too low when passengers are in the back seat (see attachment for full details).

See all problems of the 2019 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

The low beam (driving) lights are incredibly poor, almost non-existant. In order to actually see the road at night you need to use high beams, which is a problem for the drivers in front of you and on the other side of the road. It seems this is a widely know issue with this vehicle as I find multiple postings about it online. This has been going on for some time, and replacing the bulb does no good. I've gone to the dealership about it and they offer to "adjust" it at no charge, but there is no change and since they don't charge me for it there's no service ticket, which means there's no record.

See all problems of the 2014 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

I was making a right hand turn and I noticed my turn signal was flashing very fast. So I pulled over once I had the opportunity to. I turned on my signal and checked to see if they were working and found my rear to be out. Went to the parts store purchased new bulbs and drove home. My husband changed the bulbs on both sides and it still did the same thing I checked the bulbs and they were the correct ones so we swapped it and still not working. Has a electrical issue in the tail light assembly.

I was driving at night when both of my lower beam headlights went out at the exact same time. My high beams work but not the low beams and it wasn't a blown fuse. Also, my engine has been consuming 2 quarts of oil every 1,000 miles since it hit roughly 58,000 miles. The excessive oil consumption started about 2,000 miles before my next oil change was due. The oil indicator light never came on to indicate my engine was low on oil. The oil indicator light flashed on and off one time as I was slowing down to turn which is what prompted me to check my oil because I knew something wasn't right that the oil indicator only flashed but didn't stay on.

See all problems of the 2016 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

Kia Optima hybrids from 2014-2016 and most likely the two previous model years all have defective taillights. I know this because I've had two Optimas and I've had to replace 9 taillights in 4 years. The kia dealer service department told me that that was quite typical of these cars. The light assemblies are not water tight and they fill with moisture on rainy days. This eventually causes the led ribbons to fail and then the light has to be replaced. Kia will replace them under warranty for the first 60,000 miles but after that the car owner is on the hook for a part that costs approximately $500. A taillight that will not light up is obviously a safety problem. Kia should be forced to replace these pieces for free for as long as these cars exist. I tried to attach two photos but the system wouldn't allow me to continue until I removed them.

The chrome finish on the inside of the low beam headlight reflectors has disintegrated resulting in very dim, almost unusable headlight light output. The dealer states while the manufacturer has a tsp and warranty extension (wty014) on korean-built Optimas for this my it does not apply to american-built Optimas - despite the headlight being manufactured in korea on the us models and it having the exact same issue. This extension should apply to all Optimas during the covered my that have this issue.

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.

See all problems of the 2018 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

The issue is with the front turn signal harness. After, changing the right side turn signal bulb twice I brought my kia to west hills kia in bremerton, wa…the technician informed me that the front turn signal harness was not the correct harness for this type of vehicle. The service person at west hills suggested that I contact kia corporation. I had emailed vice president mr. Shamit choksey, kia corporation for the above issue.

I own a 2013 kia Optima. The low-beam headlight was not providing proper illumination while driving at night, making it difficult to see the roadway. Took the vehicle to the local dealer, the mechanic was able to see the failure, but stated that my car was made in the us. So the recall that is out for dimming headlights from cars made in south korea does not apply to my car. Stated it would cost $720 per headlight assembly plus labor. The car was not repaired. The manufacturer should cover cars made in the us also if the ones in south korea have the same problem and are being fixed.

Headlights will randomly turn off when set on automatic lights. Turn signal might be part of the issue. Headlights will turn off when driving on winding road or randomly when you turn on the turning signal. I was driving rounding on the hillside when my headlights randomly turned off. So scary because I could have driven off the cliff. No specific dates because it happens consistently. I will enter the most recent but it goes back about 2years. I should add for safety sake, that it also happened when I was driving on a relatively straight-smooth road.

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.

1. Headlights randomly fail and yes. 2. Headlights will completely go out at night while driving. Not being able to see in the dark while driving can be fatal to me, my family, and any nearby innocent bystanders. 3. No. 4. No. 5. No warnings at all and it started almost 2 weeks ago.

See all problems of the 2017 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

My oil light would flash on when coming to a stop. I was notified my car was low on oil my last oil change. However I was not made aware as to how much. About 2000 miles afterwards when checking the oil it looked to be empty. The oil light would again flash on when coming to a stop but then go back off seconds later. The dipstick was dry. I added the appropriate amount of oil to show in the safe zone on dipstick and again about 1500 miles later the oil light is flashing on when turning/stopping. Separately, the headlights have randomly turned off while driving at night and set on auto on multiple occasions.

My paint has been chipping really bad. Also I had a few recalls taken care of at modesto kia once I got my vehicle back and drove it back home (about an hour and a half away) I started smelling something burning, I looked under the hood and couldn't find anything wrong so then a few days later I smelled the same thing but this time I heard a loud pop I got out and noticed my fog light had shattered, and the housing is completely burned. So now my fog lights won't work and I have to make sure the fog lights are turned off because I don't want there to be power going to the loose wires, the head lights get extremely hot to the touch the fog light got so hot it burned a hole through the bumper. Then about two weeks ago the airbag light turned on and it won't turn off, I did some research and found out that when the air bag light is on there is a huge chance the airbags won't deploy. I have a baby so I really hope that isn't the case, because if a hair on his head gets harmed because of kia I will be suing.

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.

I have been driving at night going 70 mph on major rural freeway, as well as 55 mph on a two lane rural country road when the auto headights went completely dark, including all the interior lights. I could see nothing in the dark at those speeds . . . Not even the road. The first time this happened, I panicked because I could not see the road. I slammed on the brakes. I turned the auto light switch from auto to off and then turned to regular on. The headlights and interiors lights came back on. The second time this happened, I was going 70 mph on a rural highway. I immediately took my foot off the petal and turned the auto light to off and back on to regular on. I told the kia dealership and they said I would need to pay $138 to have them investigate the problem. The service center said they have heard of the problem before but were very vague. This is a major security transportation risk.

After changing the bulbs and fuses . The lights flicker and sometimes don’t come on at all .

See all problems of the 2020 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

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.

The vehicle automatically turns the headlights off automatically (at night). While driving and not touching the multi function switch, the vehicle indicate that the headlights were switched manually to the "off" position from the "auto" position on the multi function switch. This happens randomly at random intervals and most noticeable at night when the car is driving and the lights are turned off and is not reproducible on demand. The safety of both myself and the other vehicles around me are put at risk if my headlights cannot turn on or turn off by themselves at night while operating the vehicle. I went to the dealer, and they told me that even though the car is under warranty since the problem cannot be reproduced I would need to pay a $175 diagnostic fee, the dealer told me that kia will charge them if they can't prove that the multi functional switch is defective. I contacted kia customer service, they opened a claim, but did confirm that if the issue is not re-creatable on demand the dealer can charge a fee and there isn't anything they can do to waive that. They told me since it's a safety issue they could escalate the issue, so I agreed to escalate it. Then I never heard back after that. The lcd in the control cluster indicated that the lights were turned off (even though the switch was physically not touched and remained in the "auto" position for the lights). . Read more...

The vehicle’s headlights have been extremely dimmed for years and my wife has just “dealt with it”. We’ve had all the bulbs replaced and the issue persisted. Given recent medical conditions paired with this technical oversight, this could lead to severe injury or death if not resolved. Let me also add that the headlights no longer turn on as of this morning and kia refuses to acknowledge or claim responsibility for this because “the issue stems from identical vehicles manufactured in south korea and not georgia” … even though the symptoms very identically line up to TSB number: wty014.

There have been 2 occasions while driving at night with the headlights on auto that the lights have gone off for no apparent reason. The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. I was driving on a major highway and was not able to get to the side of the road. The entire dash went out. This was very dangerous as I could not see anything in front of me. After jiggling the turn signal switch the lights did come back on. I have taken the car into a dealership and also into an independent service center to have the problem addressed. Neither location was able to reproduce the incident. The best guess from the dealer was a headlight switch and from the independent service center their guess was possible an ignition switch. Both of the estimates were unable to confirm that replacing the switch would correct the problem. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms prior to the failure.

Headlights, set in auto, randomly will briefly go dark at night while the vehicle is in motion, putting driver at risk of night-time crash. Headlights can be re-illuminated by turning the lights off and back on. This issue has not been by dealer, service tech, or any other party. The issue occurred twice 9/15/2021, and once previously on an unknown date. There were no warning signs, dashboard lights, or any other indication of malfunction.

The brake light stays on. . Causing the battery to drain. Even the vehicle is completely stopped / ignition off.

See all problems of the 2012 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

My dash told me I have a headlight out. The headlight seems to come on and off from time to time. Now it says both are out. Every now and again they both come back on. It seems as though I have an electrical issue going on all of a sudden. But could be due to the engine running poorly causing disconnections in the wiring harness. The engine is shaking pretty bad and awaiting my scheduled appointment.

About 3 weeks ago my headlight auto dash notification would flash on and off for probably 8 times. It was day time so I didn't think anything of it. Last week I was driving in the dark and my head lights turned off completely. I was able to get them back on. I started doing research and other people have had the same issue stating that it is the multifunction switch. Again this morning driving in the dark they turned off completely again. This is dangerous for not just the driver and passengers of the car but also other drivers if you can not be seen. This needs to be recalled and needs to be fixed sooner than later. Please help.

The rear lights develop condensation which causes the brake lights/turn signals to fail. This failure could easily lead to accidents and appears to be a safety issue. Kia has known about this problem since at least December 1, 2014 as it issued a “pit stop” ps364 to dealers regarding remediation of the problem on that date, yet kia has not issued a (safety or non-safety) recall. My left light developed condensation in mid-2020. My right light currently has condensation.

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.

My headlights are preventing me from passing motor vehicle inspection low beam are on doesn't look like their on so I have to drive with high beams and with that no one flashes me. Because all four are on but u can't tell if the low ones on it looks like I just have my parking lights on.

See all problems of the 2007 Kia Motor Optima 🔎.

Front low beams continue to be very dim. Cannot see a few feet in front of the car at night. Have replaced bulbs but nothing seems to work. Is consistent with other complaints of the same, noted with NHTSA.

The cars headlights turn off while driving under normal conditions. This has happened at least four times in a one month period. This is extremely dangerous as some areas are not well lit or an oncoming car may not see us. I have looked online and I see that this very same issue is occurring with this make and model dating back 6 or more months. It makes no sense that the bulbs would be defective since all lights go off and come back on randomly.

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.