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2018 Kia Optima Lighting problems

Owners have filed 14 complaints about the 2018 Kia Optima's lights with NHTSA - 6% of all its complaints, most recently on August 19, 2025. They describe 0 crashes, 1 fire and 0 injuries. Headlights, tail lights, brake lights, turn signals and interior lighting failures.

Complaints
14
Recalls
0
Crashes
0
Fires
1
Injuries
0
Deaths
0

Lighting complaints

Electrical systemLightsFire

My cars bulbs have been blowing on a regular basis for two years..some of the bulb connections are catching fire and exploding .Ive changed on numerous occasions but doesn't matter even with new fittings...obviously an electric problem

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lightingNHTSA 11681636
Lights

Kia Optima headlights turn off randomly while on automatic. This dangerous issue has been investigated on other Kia models by the NTSB, which them prompted Kia to issue a recall. I have found many, many posts on car and Kia forums about headlights shutting off while driving at night with the Kia Optima (as well as other Kia items). It's very scary and very hazardous. This is a widespread issue.

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11621536
Electrical systemLights

While driving at night if the headlights will randomly turn completely off

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lightingNHTSA 11621162
Lights

My grandson was driving home last night on our Clay County West Virginia narrow unlighted road when his 2018 Kia Optima Headlights went out completely. He wrote that he was scared but finally was able to get lights back on before running off the road. Also, several nights while car is locked with one in the car: the headlights came on. He had to unlock the car and start it up to finally get the headlights off. The lights were off when he first entered the house. I have a service call set up for 09-27-24 with...

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Dutch Miller Kia, but there is a $180.96 + tax diagnostic charge and then the cost to repair the situation. I see there are many NHTSA complaints on your website for this problem. Kia apparently has not issued a statement or recall. HELP!

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11613462
Lights

Headlights randomly turn off while driving. To get them back on you have to switch on and off before they turn back on. Very dangerous for my 17 yr old daughter driving down a highway at night. The lights will also turn on in the middle of the night and if we happen to notice, we have to go to the car and turn the lights on and off to get them fixed. There are numerous reports on this when Google. I am not the only one. Really dangerous!

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11516617
Electrical systemLights

When headlight switch is set to automatically come on, the light will sometimes randomly turn off. No warning or indicator on the dash appears showing that they are off. Technicians are unable to reproduce the issue in the shop. Have recommended replacing the entire headlight switch on the turn signal stick.

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lightingNHTSA 11484676
LightsFuel system

Trying to cut off and jerks when stopping vehicle

Filed Incident Exterior lighting · Fuel / propulsion systemNHTSA 11482644
Electrical systemLights

The headlights on my 2018 Kia Optima have been turning off and on randomly by themselves while in motion. Each time it's happened has been in different areas at different times of the night. The headlight switch is kept in the auto position most of the time. When the headlights turn off, the screen in the dash for the headlight function switches from auto to off by itself. Sometimes if the turn signal switch is jiggled the lights will come back on. Other times the headlight switch, located on the end of the...

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turn signal switch, has to be turned to the on position to get the lights to turn on. The car has been in for service but each time the technician is unable to reproduce the fault. It is occurring more frequently and becoming a safety issue.

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lightingNHTSA 11460136
Lights

When driving with headlights set to Auto the headlights turn off whenever the blinker is used. I've found many complaints however my vehicle has not been inspected. This poses a hazard of driving at night with no headlights, then having to fiddle with the switch to turn them back on.

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11453718
Lights

while driving, all lights (headlights, instrument, etc) would randomly go dark. Lighting usually restored after toggling the instrument control arm from on-to-off-on. Obviously super dangerous as driver can't see roadway and other drivers can't see the car.

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11439651
Lights

Driving at night, was getting onto the freeway. Entrance to the freeway was on a curved street, as I was taking the turn leading into the freeway the lights turned off, Then suddenly turned back on and then off again all while I was merging onto the freeway. I quickly took the light out of "AUTO" setting. Very scary as I almost got hit by the truckers already on the freeway. I've had issues with the blind spot warning as well. It fails all the time so of course I never put my trust on that. The lighting situation...

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is very scary, as it was happening you could see the dashboard setting itself to AUTO and randomly going up and down the list of options as if it was being controlled by someone else. I could've caused an accident. Please check this issue.

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11427323
Lights

Problems: lights switch is in auto position and I have locked the vehicle. I noticed at least twice the exterior lights come on and stays on until I unlock start the vehicle and turn engine off. Additionally on June 3 2021 light switch in automatic position coming home at night the head lights turned themselves off the dashboard lights remained on. I was a half mile from home and able to get the vehicle home safely. Turned the headlights switch to manual to turn lights back on.No warning lights came on. Mechanic...

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will look at vehicle later this week. I have no confidence the mechanic will be a to replicate the problem. That's their if can't be reproduced or the computer did notice, it didn't happen .The vehicle is available for inspection

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11419744
Electrical systemLights

While driving at night lights went completely out on highway while in auto mode

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lighting · Unknown or otherNHTSA 11342855
Lights

I have the kia optima sx with the technology package that comes equipped with the auto-leveling and auto-bending led headlamps. I believe that the auto-leveling function is working incorrectly. When weight is added to the car (more passengers) the beam pattern auto adjusts itself to point even lower instead of higher. This causes an adverse effect. Think of it this way, the beam has a default setting to where it points to when there is no weight added to the car. When two passengers sit in the car, the beam...

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should not point lower, instead it should auto-level itself to a higher position to accommodate for the fact that the vehicle is now lower when weight is added to the vehicle. I also believe that the headlights by default are pointed a bit low, I went to the dealership (concord kia in concord, ca) to have them re-adjusted. Alas, no better result was achieved due to the fact that they are auto-leveling. Often when driving in the car with my fiance (a combined weight of about 600 lbs distributed to the front seats), the led low-beams appear to reach a max distance of 40 ft on level land, and around 70 ft. Going up a hill. When one is going downhill, the projected led light reaches a distance of around 25 ft. I understand that the 2017-2020 kia optima sx models equipped with the auto-leveling and auto-bending lights have received a fantastic rating. I am sure when the lights are working at optimal conditions (1 person in the car who may weigh under 200 lbs) the lighting can be great. However, I encourage the nhsta to re-conduct a thorough test under the following conditions: seat two people in the front who weigh at least 200 lbs. First seat one person, notice the beam pattern against a wall about 50 ft. Away, then seat another person in the vehicle and notice how the beam pattern is lowered. I also encourage the testers to drive the around a bit.

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11339940

Kia Optima lighting complaints by year

Optima lighting problems, every year

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Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked . Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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