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Kia Motors of America is facing a proposed consumer class action lawsuit over allegations that certain Sportage, Optima, and Sorento vehicle models are prone to catastrophic engine failure due to an engine oil defect.
The class action lawsuit arises from Kia Motor America’s alleged failure to disclose that the engines in affected vehicles contain a latent defect that results in the restriction of oil flow through the connecting rod bearing, as well as to other vital areas of the engine.
Plaintiff Greg Wallis of California purchased a pre-owned 2013 Kia Optima LX in November 2013. In March 2016, while driving on the highway, Wallis claims he heard an unusual engine noise upon acceleration and brought his car into a Kia service department.
A Kia service technician reportedly evaluated Wallis’ vehicle and advised him that he needed to replace the motor due to metal shavings found inside the vehicles engine for a cost of $7,000. After charging $200 just to diagnose the issue, Wallis declined additional work on his vehicle and left the dealership.
However, after leaving the dealership to drive a short 15 miles home, Wallis’ Kia Optima seized while driving and he was forced to have the car towed to his home, where is vehicle remains inoperable due to the failed engine, the lawsuit states.
Wallis claims that he contacted Kia’s customer service center numerous times, but Kia was unwilling to assist him with the costs of repairing the failed engine in his vehicle.
Co-plaintiff Jodie Peltier of Illinois alleges similar circumstances with her 2013 Kia Sorento, which caused her vehicle to dangerously stall during high speed.
It is believed the connecting rod bearings in certain engines fail as metal debris circulate throughout the engine via the engine oil. Over time, the contaminants in the oiling system cause the connecting rod bearings to fracture and spew large amounts of metal debris into the engine oil, which it cannot filter out to maintain necessary oil pressure.
“This contaminated engine oil is recirculated throughout the engine by the oil pump, causing damage to the various engine components and eventually results in sudden and unexpected catastrophic engine failure. If the vehicle is being operated on the highway at the time of the engine failure, it will ultimately result in a high speed stalling event, as it did for Plaintiff Peltier,” the class action lawsuit reports.
Both plaintiffs assert that Kia had a longstanding knowledge that this sufficient engine oil defect existed and could cause catastrophic engine failure and stalling while in operation, posing a significant safety risk to the vehicle occupants.
According to the Kia engine oil defect lawsuit, many owners and lessees of the affected vehicles communicated with Kia to remedy the concealed engine oil defect and damage caused to their cars, but claim that Kia refused to take any action to correct, even within the warranty period.
“Not only did Kia actively conceal the material fact that this particular component is defectively designed (and requires costly repairs to fix), but it also did not reveal that the existence of this defect would diminish the intrinsic resale value of the vehicle,” the lawsuit states.
Even numerous complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), have not prompted Kia to repair the engine oil defect or or to reimburse customers who incurred out-of-pocket expenses to repair the defect.
The lawsuit cites at least 19 customer complaints filed with the NHTSA. One of these NHTSA complaints posted by a 2011 Kia Optima owner states that “while driving approximately 60 mph an abnormal sound emitted from under the hood of the vehicle as the check engine oil warning light flickered. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the connecting rod failed and the engine needed to be replaced…”
This is not the first time Kia has been under fire for vehicle issues. In 2013, the automaker was accused of manufacturing vehicles with defective fuel tanks. The class action lawsuit included owners of the 2010-2013 models of the Kia Soul, Soul Plus, Soul Exclaim, and Soul Sport cars.
More recently in 2015, the Department of Justice launched an investigation into Kia (along with Hyundai) for purportedly misstating the fuel economy ratings on certain 2011 -2013 vehicles. Kia and Hyundai agreed to settle allegations for a reported $100 million – the largest civil penalty under the Clean Air Act.
The plaintiffs bring this class action lawsuit on behalf of themselves and a proposed Class of current and former owners and lessees with Theta 2.0-liter and 2.4-liter gasoline direct injection engines (GDI engines) installed in certain 2011- 2014 Kia Optima, Sportage, and Sorento vehicles.
They are seeking class certification as well as redress Kia’s violations of California and Illinois consumer fraud statutes, along with recovery for breach of express and implied warranties, breach of the duty of good faith and fair dealing, and common law fraud in excess of $5 million.
Wallis and Peltier are represented by Richard D. McCune, David C. Wright, Joseph G. Sauder, Matthew D. Schelkopf, and Joseph B. Kenney of McCune Wright LLP.
The Kia Engine Oil Defect Class Action Lawsuit is Greg Wallis and Jodie Peltier v. Kia Motors America Inc., Case No. 8:16-cv-01033, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
UPDATE: On November 7, 2016, the Kia Engine Oil Defect class action lawsuit was voluntarily dismissed.
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648 thoughts onKia Class Action Lawsuit Targets Engine Oil Defect
Bought a 2011 kia.Engine went out. Tjey refused. Buy now asking for receipts .
PLEASE-everyone–file a report with the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration! Doing so, and this class action lawsuit, is the only way we can hope to get a recall. DO IT BEFORE SOMEONE GETS KILLED!!
http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/owners/SearchSafetyIssues
Already reported my car online with the NHTSA!!
They willingly dismissed the Lawsuit. In other words, they settled. Only if someone else starts it will you have a chance.
Bought a 2013 Kia Optima new and my wife loves it. So when my daughter graduated college we decided to get her a 2012 Kia sportage, bought it used with 54,000 miles. Dealer we bought it from changed the oil for us, I changed the oil myself twice (30 years in mechanical field). At 68,000 miles she was driving from TN to Florida and in Macon Georgia at 75mph the engine sized on I75. She was lucky enough to coast off the highway. I had to rent a truck and tow dolly drive 475 miles to pick the car up. I pulled the plugs out cause engine was seized and on cylinder 3 you had what was left of the piston all over the plug. Rod broke and threw piston into spark plug. Carried it to Kia, because it was used it was out of warranty by 8k miles. The local Kia dealership (vero beach fl) was great but the regional service manager said because I changed the oil myself this is the reason the car blew up. Needless to say I blew up on the poor girl from Kia customer service who told me what service manager said. Filed a complaint with BBB and corporate Kia with no help on engine cost. Wound up costing us 5500 for new engine. Kia out of the goodness of their hearts gave my daughter 12k warranty and a 3 years worth of free oil changes. What a joke of a company. Needless to say at 11,900 miles from engine install my daughter will be getting a different car and my wife is trading off her Optima. We talked about a new Optima before all this. I tell people at stop lights who drive kia’s to get rid of them before it blows up. I’ll get my 5500 back from loss of sales if it kills me.
I have a 2012 Sorento that had 44516k miles on it and the engine failed. An oil issue. Kia Motors downright REFUSED to fix it under the warranty. 8 oil changes all proven and my car sat in my driveway 100% dead for over 15 months. Worked with the owner of the dealership and it got fixed but with a used engine. Kia should pay for this! So wrong! And I am very picky about my cars maintenance and keeping it ridiculously clean… Even with a teenager who plays football!
My daughter has a 2013 Kia Optima Hybrid is that motor also part of the problem? She hasn’t had engine problems, but her car kept not starting. She took it in for service several times and they couldn’t find anything. She told she thought it was electrical, they checked it out some more told her all is good. She took it in for service/oil change picked it up next day wouldn’t start. Took it in and it was the hybrid battery $5000.00, luckily it was still under warranty, had it been 5 more days she would have been out of pocket and out of warranty. She is hearing some sort of strange noises that come from the vents car running or not but only occasionally. She says she will never buy another Kia, due to the shitty customer service and she doesn’t feel like she should of had as many problems as she has had.
Yes! Bought mine brand new in 2013, less than a year later the motor seized. Fought like hell and the dealership had my car for almost 3 months but they did replace it. Less than a year later (approx 30,000 miles later….same thing) dealership said Kia would not replace it because my warranty was now out. There was zero warranty on motor number 2, they said it fell into the car warranty itself and since that was out, they would not fix it. They went so far as to tell me that when they replaced the first motor, if there had only been 10 miles left on my warranty that was all the longer the second motor would have been good for. Also, NEVER even came close to the mpg they said I would get (36 mpg) never got over 20mpg. Argued with them over that the first year and a half I had it! With all of this…..we just quit paying our 547.00 a month and let them come take it. They sold it at auction for $1500.00 freaking dollars and now GM Financial is sueing us for the remaining $29,000! So frustrated and don’t know where to go for help!
I have a 2013 Kia Optima with 30,000 miles and there was white smoke coming from the tailpipes and the car was very hesitant. I brought it in for service and there is sludge in the engine. I brought them receipts for all my oil changes all done within 3,000 miles or less of each other. They say I need a new engine that will cost over $5,000 and Kia is refusing to cover it. They are telling me that my mechanic that I’ve been going to for 20 years must not be doing the oil change right and to talk to him!! So I guess the warranty is only good if you bring it to the dealer for everything!!
same thing here with my 2015 Kia Optima, 47,000 miles… same EXACT thing…dealer says sludge…this is not my fault!! There’s a class action lawsuit out of Redlands, CA, please join it. McClune Wright law office
I am an owner of a 2012 Kia Optima Sx-T GDI with 44935mi on the odometer
Om 7/20/2016 at approximately 7 p.m. I was traveling on I-495 North in Marlborough in the left lane going 65 miles per hour with cruise control on all of a sudden my car shut off and all the lights came on the dashboard my car completely shut off and I almost got into a really bad wreck with a semi trying to get off the highway I had my car towed to Wagner Kia Shrewsbury through kia roadside assistance . The next morning wagner kia looked over the vehicle and could not get it started they said that my engine was seized and that it may not be covered under the manufacturer’s warranty that I had to authorize a total engine teardown that could ultimately cost me $220 if it’s not covered under warranty. On top of this I had just received a TSB notice from Kia America stating that there is a known issue with the thetaII engine matching my model and year of vehicle and that the rod bearing goes and there is catastrophic engine failure which I experienced on my vehicle. Kia American recognizes that there is an issue and extended the warranty from 5 years 60,000 miles to 10 years 120k for every subsequent owner of affected model years other than original owner I’ve read so many horror stories online experiencing the same thing that I’m going through where they have not honor their warranty I have done meticulous service on my vehicle through the same Kia dealership I have used their oil and oil filters and have done oil changes every 3000mi or sooner I do not feel that I deserve to be worried that my car is not being covered I or anyone should not have to go through something like this all I’m looking for is for my engine to be replaced in my vehicle return to me within a reasonable amount of time.
Same problem with daughter-in -law’s 2013 Sorento. Driving on city street stopped dead. Kia danbury says our problem.Will replace for $6800.happened 7/17.
KIA /Hyundai has a major manufacturing / QC problem. Am trying to get someone to take action to get issue resolved. Kia sure isn’t. Know of 2 others in Danbury with same problem. Have contacted NHTSA.4 t0 6 weeks to get letter confirming problem. NEED ACTION NOW !! WHO TO CONTACT ??
My car is going to be fixed under waranty and will be getting a long block my engine had no signs of sludge or carbon buildup on valves ….engine died on 7/23/16 and it’s now 8/11/16 and stI’ll in shop engine is on Back order but will be covered under waranty …..keep everyone posted
Mark, Kia replaced my engine on my 2011 Kia Sportage, I had to pay for it, a long block, 4 days after getting the car back the New engine seized, they lied to me and told me a rock hit the radiator and caused the car to overheat and ruined the new (refurbished) engine. I took it to my insurance agent who took the car apart and found NO damage to the radiator. The Insurance agent sent the car back to Kia and told them they had to fix it. They “repaired the engine” which is all they are obligated to do under warranty. I am four weeks out from picking it up and the engine seized again. This is a dangerous situation for anyone driving a Kia. They are sending a tow truck to pick up the car. I am just letting you know that even if they replace the engine, keep track of all your records. It may break down again, with a new (refurbished) motor…
Oh absolutely I keep meticulous records of everything that gets done to that vehicle and I take it to the dealership for everything same dealership same intervals and I get everything signed and documented with mileage and I put it in the service manual that comes with the car I don’t even trust the new engine and you bet your ass that if it does go again I will have the records to prove it
How long did it end up taking them to get your engine? My 2011 Sportage has been at the dealership since November 3rd waiting on an engine. Fortunately, like you, mine will be covered under warranty as well.
How long did it take them to get your engine? Same thing happened to my 2011 Sportage. They’re covering it under warranty. Its been at the dealership since the 3rd waiting on a new engine. Curious how long your event took.
same here. 2015 Kia Optima, 47k miles….engine failure…they say it’s sludge… and I have to provide all my maintenance records. It started with white smoke out of tailpipe and loud rattling noise when I accelerated, then this past Saturday, it started to shake violently and the check engine light went on . I had to get it towed. This is Kia’s fault!!! not mine. I’ve done the same maintenance on my Toyota and Honda which had over 100k miles with no problems! There is a class action lawsuit started by McClune Wright law office in Redlands, CA go to their website and contact them asap. I just did
Hi Yvette,
I went to their website and don’t find an area that mentions a class action lawsuit against Kia. Where can I find it?
Thank you,
KB
My KIA just died with the same oil issue, what is their website and I can contact them
Ya my 2015 optima with 55,000 had the same problem stalled on 24S got out & noticed there was oil on my trunk lid looked under the car & seen that engine had puked all the oil out had it towed to nearest Kia dealership they said they would replace the engine but been getting the run around for 3 weeks being told there still waiting on the parts
Still waiting on my engine 2 months now!!!
Can you please send me the tsb. My dealer is telling me it is my fault. Maybe you can post the doc. I am sure there many people out there that need this.
To everyone that has had an issue with your engines please call this number and file a complaint this is the 1st step in the process to get a recall on our engines the more people that call the better our chances of getting this going please do yourselves a favor and report this Hyundai already did and kia should follow suit but it’s up to us to get the ball rolling
888-327-4236
Thank you Mark, I have a 2013 Kia Soul Base that has same engine problem. Burning half a quart every 200 miles now. I will be calling.
We are having this problem right now. Our 2012 Kia Sorrento is at Kia with a blown engine from something to do with fuel. I cannot get anyone to help us and its going to cost $8300 to fix it. We NEED help!