Owner-reported complaints naming the driver-assistance system, filed with NHTSA
Data refreshed
Reports naming forward-collision avoidance, lane keeping, back-over prevention, cruise control and related electronic driver-assistance systems. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2005 Kia Spectra submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 12 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Shown in the owner’s own words, exactly as filed
VEHICLE SPEEDOMETER RANDOMLY QUITS. ALSO DASH LIGHTS ON BINACLE. THEN WILL COME BACK ON AFTER A DAY OR SO, HAVE REPLACE WITH GENUINE KIA OEM PARTS BUT STILL HAPPENS. ALSO LOOKED ON FORUMS ONLINE AND SEEMS TO BE A COMMON OCCURRENCE.
SPEEDOMETER AND ODOMETER NOT WORKING WELL IT WORKS THE FIRST TIME IN THE MORNING WHEN I DRIVE AFTER I TURN CAR OFF AND GO TO DRIVE AGAIN IT WILL NOT WORK THE ENTIRE DAY. RECENTLY I HAVE MEET SOMEONE WITH EXACT MAKE AND MODEL WITH THE EXACT SAME ISSUE LITERALLY AS I DESCRIBED THE OTHER PERSON WHO I DID NOT TELL ABOUT THE PROBLEM WORD FOR WORD DESCRIBE THE SAME PROBLEM. ALSO WHEN SPEEDOMETER ISN'T WORKING THE CRUISE CONTROL ALSO WILL NITWORK. I HAVE REPLACED INPUT AND OUTPUT SPEED SENSOR , WHEEL SPEED SENSOR AND THE SPEED SENSOR WHICH WIRES BACK UP TO INSTRUMENT CLUSTER AND NOTHING HAS FIXED THE ISSUE.
WHILE DRIVING MY SPEEDOMETER STOPPED WORKING. THEN IT WENT TO 25 MPH JUMPED TO 45 MPH. AIR CONDITIONING STOPPED AND THEN STARTED AGAIN, I WENT TO TURN LEFT AND IT LIST POWER FOR A SECOND ALMOST CAUSING ME TO BE HIT ON PASSENGER SIDE BUT REGAINED POWER AND MOVED ON. I WOULD PARK IN GARAGE AND NEXT DAY WORKING AGAIN. I WOULD PARK IN SUN AT WORK AFTER WORK SPEEDOMETER WOULD NOT WORK. NOW SPEEDOMETER DOES NOT WORK AT ALL I'M AFRAID OF GETTING A TICKET. I AM WORKING WITH A LOCAL MECHANIC THEY SCANNED IT NO CODES RELATING.
DROVE TO WORK THE OTHER MORNING AND NOTICE BY LUNCH TIME THAT WHEN I STARTED TO DRIVE OUT OF DRIVEWAY IT WAS NOT SHOWING MILES I WAS TRAVELING. THIS HAD DONE IT TO ME BEFORE IN SC AND THE GOODYEAR SERVICE MAN COULDN'T FIND THE PROBLEM. BUT IT STARTED WORKING AGAIN WHILE THEY HAD IT. HE STATED THAT HE'D HEARD THAT MY CAR WAS KNOWN TO DO THIS. BUT NOW FOR 3 DAYS I'M DRIVING BLIND ON THE FEEL. UNTIL I CAN GET SOME ONE TO LOOK AT IT. *TR
WHILE STOPPED ON A SMALL HILL IN TRAFFIC, I WAS REARENDED BY A FORD TRUCK WHO WAS GOING ABOUT 35MPH. MY AIRBAGS DID NOT DEPLOY. I WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL FOR INJURIES TO MY KNEES AND MY NECK. I SEE THERE ARE MANY MANY MANY COMPLAINTS REGARDING THE DEPLOYMENT OF AIRBAGS. THERE DEFINITELY IS A MAJOR PROBLEM AND A RECALL SHOULD BE ORDERED. THIS IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM WHICH COULD RESULT IN DEATH. ALSO MANY TIMES WHILE DRIVING MY SPEEDOMETER WILL GO TO ZERO WHILE DRIVING OR JUMP TO 100+, IN ADDITION THE RPM GAUGE WILL DO THE SAME. THIS TOO IS ALSO MENTIONED MANY TIMES CLEARLY THERE IS SOME MANUFACTURER DEFECT. I AM THE ONLY OWNER OF THE VEHICLE. *TR
PULLING OUT OF A DRIVEWAY TO CENTER LANE AND THEN MERGING WITH TRAFFIC, THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT ACCELERATE. RPMS WOULD FLARE, BUT CAR HAD NO POWER AS IF ENGINE WAS NOT GETTING FUEL. THIS WOULD HAPPEN INTERMITTENTLY. VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO DEALER WHO STATED GAS HAD GOTTEN INTO AN EMISSIONS PART IN THE FUEL TAKE, STATING IT WAS CAUSED FROM OVER FILLING THE TANK. VEHICLE OWNER TOLD DEALER THAT THE TANK HAD NEVER BEEN OVER FILLED OR CAPPED OFF WHILE FUELING THE VEHICLE, SO THE PART MUST BE DEFECTIVE. VEHICLE OWNER STILL HAD TO PAY TO REPLACE CANISTER CLOSE VALVE. DEALER CLAIMED THAT RPM FLARE UP AND LOSS OF POWER WAS CAUSED FROM THE CLUTCH SLIPPING, ALTHOUGH RPM FLARE UP NEVER OCCURRED WHILE DEALER HAD THE VEHICLE. AT 100,000 ESTIMATED MILES, THE SAME FUEL VALVE NEEDS TO BE REPLACED AGAIN, AND TO DATE, THE FUEL TANK HAS NEVER BEEN OVER FILLED. *TR
TURNED THE CAR ON, GOT ON THE HWY LOOKED AT THE SPEED AND IT WAS AT 0 MPH. DROVE FOR A WHILE IT PICKED UP TO 20 MPH. NOT SURE IF ITS WORKING RIGHT. I'VE GOTTEN A TICKET FOR SPEEDING HOW DO I KNOW WHAT SPEED I'M GOING IF ITS NOT WORKING. I ALSO HAVE A NEW BORN. I BELIEVE THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS. *JB
I WAS MAKING A THREE POINT TURN. I MOVED TO THE WALL BRAKING TO STOP TO BACK UP, WHEN APPLYING THE BRAKES THE CAR WENT FORWARD SPEEDING UP AND INTO THE BLOCK WALL. STILL WITH MY FOOT ON THE BRAKES I TURNED THE CAR OFF. *TR
2005 KIA SPECTRA I WAS BRAKING AND THE CAR STARTED SPEEDING UP. I HAD TO PUT THE CAR IN NEUTRAL TO KEEP THE CAR FROM GOING . *TR
I WAS AT A COMPLETE STOP WHEN MY TACHOMETER FOR NO EXPLAINABLE REASON SHOT UP OVER 7000 RPM'S CAUSING MY VEHICLE TO ACCELERATE BEYOND THE BREAKING POINT AND CAUSING ME TO BE INVOLVED IN THREE SEPARATE TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS ALL WITHIN A TWO HOUR TIME PERIOD ON THE SAME DAY. TWO WEEKS EARLIER, MY CAR HAD DONE THE EXACT SAME THING SLOWING DOWN COMING AROUND A BEND CAUSING ME TO HIT A CEMENT BARRIER WHICH LUCKILY ONLY CAUSED MINOR DAMAGE TO MY DRIVER SIDE MIRROR AND WHEEL WELL. I HAD THE CAR TOWED TO THE KIA DEALERSHIP AFTER THE THREE CONSECUTIVE ACCIDENTS WHERE THEY CLAIMED THE CAUSE OF THIS PHENOMENON WAS CAUSED ?BY MY FLOOR MAT BEING IN A BAD POSITION. AS A RESULT, I REMOVED THE DRIVERS SIDE FLOOR MAT ONLY TO HAVE THIS SAME UNEXPLAINABLE ACCELERATION HAPPEN TO ME AGAIN AT A RED LIGHT ACROSS FROM A VERY DANGEROUS INTERSECTION APPROXIMATELY TWO WEEKS LATER. THIS TIME I HAD TO THROW THE CAR INTO PARK TO GET IT TO STOP BEFORE COMPLETELY ENTERING THE INTERSECTION. EVEN AFTER STOPPING THE VEHICLE, THE TACHOMETER CONTINUED TO RACE ABOVE 7000 RPM?S FOR APPROXIMATELY 2 TO 3 MORE SECONDS BEFORE LEVELING BACK OFF. THIS TIME NO ACCIDENT OCCURRED. I HAD MY CAR TOWED BACK TO THE KIA DEALERSHIP WHO HAS NOW HAD IT IN THEIR POSSESSION FOR OVER FIVE DAYS NOW. IN MY OPINION, THE 2004 - 2005 KIA SPECTRA IS AN UNSAFE VEHICLE AND IS ONE EPISODE AWAY FROM BECOMING A VERY TRAGIC ACCIDENT FOR SOMEONE. LET ME STATE THAT IN OVER 24 YEARS OF DRIVING, I HAVE NEVER BEEN SITED FOR A MAJOR TRAFFIC ACCIDENT AND HAVE HAD A PERFECTLY CLEAN DRIVING RECORD FOR OVER TEN YEARS BEFORE ALL OF THIS. I URGE ANYONE ELSE WHO HAS HAD SIMILAR EXPERIENCES WITH THEIR KIA SPECTRA'S TO PLEASE POST THEIR EXPERIENCES ON THIS WEBSITE SO OTHERS MAY BE WARNED ABOUT THE POTENTIAL HAZARDS OF THIS VEHICLE. *TR
VEHICLE: 2005 KIA SPECTRA 5 AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION. WHEN COMING TO A STOP (WITH FOOT OFF OF GAS PEDAL BUT ON THE BRAKE PEDAL), ENGINE ACCELERATES ON ITS OWN. THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THAT I NOTICED THIS HAPPENED. I QUICKLY PUSHED DOWN STRONGLY ON THE BRAKE AND PLACED THE VEHICLE IN PARK. THE ENGINE DECELERATED ON IT'S OWN WITHIN ABOUT 5-10 SECS. *NM
DT*: THE CONTACT STATED WHILE DRIVING 40 MPH ON NORMAL ROAD CONDITIONS THE ODOMETER FAILED INTERMITTENTLY. AND IN SOME CASES, THE SPEEDOMETER INCREASED TO 110 MPH WHILE DRIVING 60 MPH. THE VEHICLE WAS BEEN TAKEN TO THE DEALERSHIP FOUR TIMES WHO HAS BEEN UNABLE TO DUPLICATE THE PROBLEM.*AK
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
Data on this page last refreshed .