bad Kia sun visors

jimrich

Are you disgusted with how Kia is MISHANDLING their across the board rotten sun visors in '06-'08 models? Have you noticed that all the sun visors in wrecking yards are GONE and wreckers want RIDICULOUS prices for OLD, USED ones (that may fail the day after you buy?) Do you want to buy a USED sun visor on ebay that is probably not any better than your bad one? Are you OUTRAGED at the ridiculous price ($100) for a replacement sun visor from Kia - who should be offering their customers some kind of special deal to replace the admittedly HORRIBLE Kia sun visors?

Well, you can buy a NEW - not used, Kia sun visor here for just $80.08 (includes shipping). Delivery in about 11/2 weeks
http://www.metromotorparts.com/

good luck and tell others about this..........

mickeyrom

Visors? What can go wrong with sun visors? My 2006.5 Optima's visors are like new,and I expect that to continue.(38,000 miles)

jessica_az

Mine kept falling on the driver's side, I ended up having to rip it off one day since I was in heavy stop and go traffic and it kept falling in the way. It was covered under warranty and replaced for free. My recommendation, if your visor fails and you are still under warranty, take it in right away to have it fixed because your new one may also fail and you'll want to get that fixed within warranty period too.

The visor is not constructed very well and if you use it a lot, the plastic casing that holds the visor to the bar will snap and just not stay up any more. But this is covered under warranty.

mickeyrom

I have a 2006.5 Optima and have carefully examined my sun visors.Just don't see how one could fall down since the are attached with two clips.

nergy

My wifes optima has had a total of 3 of these defective visors. Kia would replace only one saying that the item wasn't covered under warranty for more than 12 mos. They want her to buy the replacements for her now 2 defective visors at a cost of $136 each. The warranty just says 6 year, 60000 mile warranty. There is no printed exclusion of this item in the warranty. Nevertheless, this is a safety issue, and if Kia was a AAA company they would "man-up" and put a safety recall on this item. Meanwhile, my wife is stuck driving with the sun in her eyes.

We've contacted an attorney to begin the process of getting Kia to conform to their warranty agreement. We encourage others to do similarly.

mickeyrom

First of all the warranty is 5 years or 60,000 miles,not 6 years.It is also "limited"whatever the hell that means.
What kind of problem are you having with that visor.I have been driving since 1957 and have never had any kind of visor issue.I looked my 2006.5 Optima's visors over carefully and I can't imagine what could go wrong.There really are no moving parts.

lbeard

I have no idea how it it happens but the visor rests at a lower position so that it blocks your view. I've never had this happen before in car and I have not idea why it happens, but I also have a faulty kia visor. It was fine for a few years and now won't raise up totally. I suppose there must be some sort of "spring" action that has loosened but I can't tell from looking at it what is causing the problem. Or the plastic "clasp" at the top rotates more than it should.
All I know is I can confirm the information the others have given above. I have the same issue. It is very frustrating.

backy

FWIW I had a similar problem with both sun visors on my 2007 Sonata, a cousin of the Optima, which I purchased used about 3 years ago. First the driver's visor had trouble staying up, and was replaced under warranty. Then the passenger visor did the same thing, and was replaced under warranty. I hope the replacements fare better than the original visors because the warranty has expired now. Other than that, however, and a power recliner switch that had to be replaced (also under warranty), the car has been very reliable.

almostbroken

First my drivers side failed and would no longer stay up. I had to drive with one hand holding the wretched thing up. When I got home I used some clear packing tape to hold it up. Two days later the passenger side failed.

I looked to see if Kia would step up but they seem to be reluctant to do the right thing. The Hundai Sonoma has the same visors and Hundai has issued a Technical Bulletin and will replace them even off warranty. As any reputable company should for any product that is faulty like these are.

As it is a safety issue perhaps if everyone contacts Kia AND the government agency responsible for recalls.

glasslady

First failed 55,000 miles. Second at 61,000. There's a plastic piece inside the visor that breaks. Kia says replacements about $250/ea. There's a video on YouTube on how to repair the Honda Civic visors that also failed (for less than $2.00). My brother did and worked fine on his Honda. Would same work on Kia?

carbuffski

Mickey Rom, the sun visors internal parts fail. The inner round core has like notches in it for the outer springy like plastic clamp grabs onto. That outer clamp suddenly loosens or comes apart rather than remaining squeezing on the inner. Full on planned out scheme. They built a lot of this car really good but I guess they couldn't help themselves to a few more hundred dollars of yours here and there. All we need now is someone to crash their KIA and claim the sun visor just fell down and broke. My door lock motor broke and it's sealed in plastic so you can't fix it yourself, like the lazy [non-permissible content removed] I am not yet I am accused of being so. The stick shift assembly is just electric microswitches. Per the warranty Perris Kia said I might have contaminated it with soda pop so we couldn't do the warranty as the manumatic was failing. I took it apart and replaced the switch from Ebay. The microswitch broke inside per the metal contact in half, it would have to be a flow of water to get inside the switch. Oh the pre-cats failed only because I did not change the Iridium spark plugs by 72K miles, much less than everyone is scamming/suggesting. There is nothing wrong with anything else such as O2 sensors, nothing it was the spark plugs the whole time. $35 spark plugs vs $1300 in cats, thanks for the heads up a holes. Oh and when your CD gets stuck take it out and power it up. Then push on the plastic little slide mechanism, it's jammed but easily unjams. Don't know of a single mechanic who will do that but rather replace the whole thing. Mine just rejammed after about a year. You can pop out the dash just around the radio.