MY WIFE & I OWN A 2001 KIA OPTIMA WITH POWER LOCKS. TWICE THE POWER LOCKS HAVE FAILED. THE FIRST TIME, THE LOCKS FAILED IN THAT THEY WOULD UNLOCK BY REMOTE AND IMMEDIATELY LOCK BACK PREVENTING ACCESS TO THE VEHICLE. BY KEY, ONE DOOR WOULD OPEN WHILE THE OTHER HAD TO BE OPENED FASTER THAN THE CAR COULD RE-LOCK ITSELF. THE SECOND TIME IT FAILED CONCERNED ME GREATLY. THE DEALER, PARAMOUNT KIA OF HICKORY, HAD REPAIRED THE LOCK PARTS AND SAID HE HAD SEEN THIS BEFORE & THAT IT WAS NO BIG DEAL. A FEW MONTHS LATER, THE LOCKS FAILED AGAIN TRAPPING ME IN THE PASSENGER SIDE OF THE CAR. DESPITE ANY EFFORT ON MY PART, THERE WERE ONLY TWO WAYS OUT OF THE CAR: CLIMBING OVER THE SEATS TO ANOTHER DOOR OR BY HAVING MY WIFE MANUALLY UNLOCK THE LEFT FRONT DOOR WITH HER KEY WHILE OUTSIDE OF THE VEHICLE AND THE WHILE SHE HELD THE KEY IN THE UNLOCK POSITION, SHE HAD TO OPEN THE DOOR. AS SOON AS SHE RELEASED HER GRIP ON THE KEY, THE DOOR WOULD LOCK AGAIN. OBVIOUSLY THIS WAS A MAJOR SAFETY RISK & I WOULD NOT HAVE BROUGHT THIS TO YOUR ATTENTION HAD IT NOT HAPPENED TWICE TO THE SAME CAR. I CAN SEE THE POTENTIAL FOR A FAULTY PART AND WOULD HATE TO SEE SOMEONE TRAPPED IN AN ACCIDENT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. MY CONTACT INFORMATION APPEARS BELOW. LEE TRAXLER 103 LOVERS LANE MORGANTON, NC 28655 828-437-1360 *LA
1995 Kit Cordova
Owners filed 2 complaints about this vehicle with federal regulators, most often about the trailer hitches. No safety recall has been issued.
| Component | Reports | Crashes | Fires | Injuries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Trailer Hitches | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Equipment › Electrical › Anti-theft Devices | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
What owners reported
Newest filingsMETAL HAS TORN 2-5 INCHES ON OUTSIDE OF EACH SIDE OF KING PIN HITCH. *AK
2 of 2 complaints, reproduced as filed.
Reading this record
No unusual pattern of severe incidents in the complaint record.
Complaint counts track how many cars were sold and how long they have been on the road as much as they track quality. A common model from 2013 has had a decade to accumulate reports; a rare one from last year has not. The signal worth weighing is in the severity columns, in whether the same component keeps appearing, and in whether the manufacturer eventually opened a recall for it.
Most recent recall on file: none. Source: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.