NHTSA Complaint #11431468 — 2016 KIA OPTIMA

As I was driving on the highway my vehicle started to decelerate without warning. I was able to move to shoulder and when the car came to a stop the temperature gauge immediately went from cold to hot and the engine light came on and the dash displayed engine overheating. While researching what to do if your engine overheats, I came across the issues Kia has been having with their engines. I had the car towed to the dealership for inspection and was told my vehicle would not be covered because I didn’t do the product replacement which I had no knowledge of. After calling the manufacturer and talking to several reps I was ultimately blamed for the defect and not knowing about the problem so therefore it’s not Kia’s responsibility to fix my vehicle. One rep told me that Kia sent out notices according to DMV records, which means I should have received a notice. Another rep discovered that they did not have a correct address for me on file and said that it was my fault because I am supposed to update my address when I purchased the vehicle. I was also told by a supervisor that customers that buy new cars get priority in being contacted and that used car costumers are supposed to notify the manufacture when they buy a car so that’s why I received no notification of the recalls or product replacement. I received less than adequate customer service, and being blamed for a problem that resulted for Kias negligence is totally unacceptable.