2016 Kia Forte

When I have the windows down, I can see the headrest flapping in the wind. I took the cover off and discovered that the styrofoam had broken in half. I used foam adhesive to bind it together. Once again, windows down and the headrest is still flapping in the wind. Look underneath the cover and this time the Styrofoam is broken into multiple pieces.

Car runs fine at lower speeds. When traveling over 50 mph for ten minutes or more, then decelerating or stopping in traffic or at a stop light it stalls. It cranks right back up after you put it neutral and turn the key. We’ve almost been rear ended twice since this started. The car has only been driven about 3000 miles a year over the past 7 years and only about 45 mph. It has been to two shops and hasn’t been driven since May 15th.

This Forte was not neglected and it was not abused. Nearly 90% of its miles came from highway commuting and interstate travel. It was completely stock, never modified, never driven hard. More importantly, it received fully synthetic oil changes every 3k-4k miles since new, well ahead of what Kia or the oil manufacturer even recommends, because I intended to keep this car long term. All of that is verifiable through Carfax. The engine failure came without meaningful warning. While driving, I noticed an unusual noise and pulled over as quickly as safely possible. I checked the dash expecting some kind of indicator and found nothing. No check engine light, no oil pressure warning. A nearby mechanic found the engine more than 2.5 quarts low on oil despite the vehicle being only about 3,300 miles into a fresh synthetic oil change. There were no external leaks. No oil spots at home, none at work. Nothing to explain where that oil went. After topping it off, the noise briefly stopped. With no warning lights on and the noise stopped, I thought we had caught it in time. I even felt confident enough to also have the mechanic change the transmission fluid as it was about due again. However, a few miles later, the engine suffered complete failure. Violent shaking, severe knock, then the check engine light came on. I shut it down immediately and pushed it home. Once home, I checked the oil again and found it had unusually darkened in an extremely short period of time. The vehicle has not been driven since and is currently inoperable. What troubles me most, beyond the financial loss, is that this vehicle gave me no real opportunity to save it. The oil pressure warning light never illuminated. More than two quarts of oil vanished within a single service interval with no external source and no indication whatsoever, even with checking the level periodically. I went above and beyond in maintaining this vehicle and still lost the engine. This could have been a catastrophe on the road

Instrument panel lighting and radio lighting flicker constantly while driving. When the headlights are on, the headlights will also turn and off on their own, constantly. Because of this, I can not drive this car at night, in the early morning, in the rain, or whenever my headlights are needed. From what I've surmised, the issue seems to be the multifunction switch, which, coincidentally, Kia has an active recall on for one of their other models.

While driving on I-95 at 60mph the car began to jump as it attempted to shift gears and the speed stalled to where it slowed down to 20mph and would not go any faster. The car slowed while I was in the fast lanes of the highway and I had to work my way to the right to the slower lanes to avoid abusing traffic congestion or any accidents. It was scary. Separately, my engine light has been on for the last year. I recently had the MAPs replaced and the light went off for two days and came back. It’s a steady continuous light, no flashing. The analysis check gives some other reason for the light but when checked it doesn’t fix the issue.