2014 Kia Optima Engine
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
While driving down the highway, my engine completely turned off. I was able to get to a safe location. When I tried turning the car back on, it would not turn back on. I took it to Kia, and they said I was covered under warranty due to their settlement. However, due to the salvage title of the car, they will not replace the engine, even though that is what their recall settlement covers.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated while driving 30 MPH, the contact heard a loud knocking sound coming from the engine compartment, with the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the engine had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was unavailable.
The contact owned a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the contact was flagged down by a nearby driver. The contact was informed that fire was coming from underneath the hood. In addition, the contact stated that several unknown warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was driven to the shoulder of the road. The contact and the contact's dog exited the vehicle. No injuries were sustained. The fire department and Police were called to the scene. The fire department extinguished the fire. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The fire report was unavailable. The vehicle had not been inspected. The contact had received a recall notification NHTSA Campaign Number: 21V331000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000.
While driving my 2014 Kia optima on the freeway the vehicle lost power completely and the car stopped almost causing me to be rear ended. I have reached out to Kia in Dublin since the vehicle should be covered under SC147 the vehicle has been at KIA since May and Kia is refusing to do repairs.
The contact owned a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated that after her daughter had parked the vehicle and shut off the engine, a fire had started under the hood as she exited. No warning lights illuminated. There was no odor or strange sound during the failure. The local fire department had arrived on scene to extinguish the fire. The local fire department deemed that the cause of the fire was started with the HECU. It was unknown if a Police report was filed. The vehicle was left at the contact's relative's residence, where it remains for further investigation. The vehicle was deemed a total loss since it was consumed by the fire. No injuries were sustained. No medical attention was sought. The local dealer was not contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 185,000.
Heavy white/gray smoke on acceleration after driving for 30 min
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving approximately 60 MPH, the vehicle suddenly stalled. The vehicle was towed to a certified mechanic to be diagnosed, and the contact was informed that the engine had failed and needed to be replaced. The dealer was contacted by the mechanic and the mechanic was advised that the vehicle should be taken to the dealer for assistance. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, who requested the oil change receipts before the contact could receive the engine replacement under the lifetime warranty. The contact was denied a rental by the dealer. The contact became aware that the engine was a rebuilt engine when the vehicle was purchased, which was not information that was provided at that time of purchase. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 119,000.
My 2014 Kia Optima is burning oil heavily and emitting fumes into the cabin. The dealership confirmed an engine issue but said they are waiting on paperwork to replace the engine. I’ve been told to continue driving it even though the burning smell enters the car and causes headaches. I believe this is a safety hazard.
issues with the engine running hot//drains oil constantly, have to get an oil change/oil fill ~every 2k miles
There was no accident or anything the problem just happened out of nowhere there was only sound then the car shut off and the engine stopped working
Upon an engine light appearing I immediately turned the car around, and parked it at my fiancé's house. I had called kia and it was a little bit until I could take my car In. I had driven it over there which did ride a little rough. Informing kia of my issue they inspected it. I was told the second cylinder had melted which was caused by a spark plug. I do not understand how this happened, Kia said I am responsible for this and that they will not cover any repairs. As a result my car is junk and I am now left without a vehicle. I believed that it was caused due to the Theta II Class Action law suit as the only possibility for this happening is due to the fact that the car consumes large amounts of oil and constantly needs replenished. Which I believe is a direct cause, and high oil consumption is apart of the defect within the "Theta II Class Action." However they denied my claim.
Engine seized and failed whilst traveling 70 MPH down I-10
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, there was an abnormal knocking sound coming from the engine, and the vehicle suddenly went into LIMP mode. The contact was able to pull to the side of the road. The contact then drove to the residence. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where it was diagnosed that the engine had failed and needed to be replaced. The dealer informed the contact that an unknown software update regarding the engine knocking was previously performed on the vehicle. The dealer informed the contact that the vehicle could not be covered due to the rebuilt title. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 138,000.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated while driving approximately 35 MPH, a ticking sound and smoke was coming from under the hood of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who diagnosed that the engine was faulty and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 190,000.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated while driving 65 MPH several hours after an oil change was performed on the vehicle, the engine seized. The battery, the check engine, and the low oil pressure warning lights were illuminated. The contact was able to pull to the side of the road close to a swamp. The vehicle failed to restart and was towed to the dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the engine needed to be replaced. The dealer contacted the manufacturer, and an engineer was sent to diagnose the vehicle. The engineer determined that the repair could not be covered because Kia Campaign Number: PI1803 (Knock Sensor Detection System - ECU Logic Improvement) had not been performed on the vehicle; however, the contact had not received the Service Campaign notification in the mail. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact followed up with the manufacturer, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 127,718.
Motor seized up
My engine locked up while driving down the interstate. I was almost hit twice because I was in the middle lane trying to get over and it was slowly giving out. I was able to barely make it to the side of the road and cut my car completely off. Once the car was off it would not crank back up. I had it towed to a local shop. He called me the next day to inform me my engine locked up but that I had a recall on my engine for this exact issue but I would have to take it to the local Kia. BEFORE I even had it towed there I called and spoke with Kia about my recalls. They stated they were still covered and I had an extended warranty on the engine recall. Kia gets the car.. a week later they call me to tell me it is NOT the engine and only the starter! YAY! Right? Wrong, another week passes and they now call to tell me they replaced the starter and now it is my engine that is the concern, it is completely locked up and the recall will not cover it. I called the local shop back and talked to the guy there that said it should 100% be covered and he did not see an issue with my starter when he looked at it 2 days before it was towed to Kia from his shop. I would not have put a starter on the car if they would have told me there could still be an issue with the engine. They actually stated it was not the engine in the call that I approved the starter to be replaced in. Now they are wanting to charger me for the engine and the starter which was put on my car under false pretenses. They have fully taking advantage of me and that I do not know much about cars but lucky I had someone else look at it that does know a lot about cars before taking it to Kia. Otherwise I wouldn't have known they were trying to scam me. It is awful!
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated while driving 35 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The contact was able to pull to the shoulder of the roadway and observed smoke coming from the engine compartment. The contact stated that the vehicle failed to restart. No warning lights were illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who determined that the engine had seized, resulting in damages to the engine. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V224000 (Engine and Engine Cooling), but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 70,000.
My son and his pregnant fiancé were traveling on [XXX] West bound Thursday [XXX]. They just got out of a construction zone near Rolla MO. At mile marker [XXX] the engine shut down with no warning at 60 mph and all the lights on the dash came on. He had a hard time controlling the car due to the steering being very tight and the brakes were manual. They got a tow to a safe place. I drove 5 hours to meet them and used a scanner to see what codes the car had. Zero codes showed up on my scanner. The engine immobilizer was engaged. We could not get the car started so I rented a U-Haul and car dolly and brought the car back to Indiana to the Avon IN Andy Mohr Kia dealer where we bought it. It was scheduled to be seen Tues [XXX] at [XXX]. I did not hear from them, so I called at 2:30. They informed me an engine was ordered for the vehicle. The Knock sensor detected a bearing knock and shut the car down at high speed on an interstate. The car has no outstanding recalls. I asked about the Knock sensor recall for Kia and ask why the car did not go into limp mod so they could make it safely off the interstate. No response from the dealer. This is a terrible design to have the car shut down at high speeds on an interstate. This could be deadly. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Engine died after knocking and shutting off in the middle of tragic. Engine will not even make a sound now. Spoke to the dealership ans they refused to repair my car bc 1) I stopped going to the dealership for maintenance back in 2016 and 2) I have not completed any of the recalls.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving at 65 MPH, the vehicle stalled. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer to be diagnosed. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The contact stated that the failure was related to NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V224000 (Engine and Engine Cooling). The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was 231,054.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated while driving 40 MPH, the vehicle inadvertently lost motive power. The contact was able to pull over to the shoulder of the roadway, where the vehicle failed to restart. The contact also stated that the failure had occurred several days earlier, but the vehicle was able to restart. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, who diagnosed a failure with the camshaft sensor. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was towed to another independent mechanic, who additionally determined that the engine had seized due to abnormal bearing wear, resulting in irreparable engine damage. The contact was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. After investigating the failure, the contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 17V224000 (Engine and Engine Cooling), but the VIN was not included. The manufacturer was notified of the failure but provided no assistance. The failure mileage was 136,000.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated that the air bag warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an Auto Zone where the vehicle was scanned and diagnosed with a failure with the knock sensor. The vehicle was not repaired. The vehicle was then taken to a local independent mechanic where the knock sensor was replaced. The contact stated that the failure had recurred. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the NHTSA Hotline. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 165,000.
The contact owns a 2014 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 55 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated. The vehicle began to make abnormally loud sounds prior to pulling over to the side of the roadway, where the vehicle then stalled. The vehicle was towed to the local dealer. The vehicle was diagnosed with engine failure. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 108,000. The VIN was unavailable.
The car is available for inspection upon request, but I plan to finally get rid of it soon. I worry greatly about the next driver that ends up with this car. While driving, a message pops up on the dashboard that says "Check Hybrid system. Stop vehicle and turn off engine". I've learned that I have about 15 to 30 seconds to find a safe place to pull over or the car will shut off on it's own. This has happened on the freeway at 70mph and it's happened at 20mph while driving through my neighborhood. I bought the car used in 2017 and this would happen once every six months or so. In the past couple of years it's gotten more frequent. This car is going to get me or someone else seriously injured or killed. I'm always on edge that this will happen while I'm on the freeway in an area without a shoulder. Then I'll just be sitting immobile on the highway, trying to get the car to start back up and I'll get rear-ended by an unobservant driver at 65mph. I've taken the car to a Kia service department twice. The first time they couldn't reproduce the issue and told me to bring it back when it happens again. I took it in for a second time a couple years later and they told me it was the high voltage fuse. They kept my car for a month, gave me the runaround and never replaced the high voltage fuse. After doing some research online, I read that other Optima Hybrid drivers were told to change their high voltage fuse from 125A to 150A. I performed this replacement myself and I still experience the issue. There were no other warnings prior, just the "Check Hybrid system" message before the car shuts off.
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The 2014 Kia Optima has 197 Engine complaints on file. 2 crashes have been reported. Review the timeline above for detailed owner experiences.