I've noticed that with the 1.8 also. Sometimes it lacks power (maybe 1 out of 10 times when I floor it). I have the Eco button just for the fun of it.
I do notice that this does happen when the weather is colder than usual though. My LX with popular package is sitting a little over 9k and I bought it in October '13

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I've noticed that with the 1.8 also. Sometimes it lacks power (maybe 1 out of 10 times when I floor it). I have the Eco button just for the fun of it.
I do notice that this does happen when the weather is colder than usual though. My LX with popular package is sitting a little over 9k and I bought it in October '13

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I have the same issue from time to time--I have the 1.8 w/ about 8800mi. With the "cold" weather over the last couple days in Florida, it is much more noticeable.

 

km, are you using the eco setting? Do you ever? It can make a difference. That is why I have shut mine off. I never use it.

 

Not using the Active Eco feature. When I bought the car, it had it on by default I assume and I drove it like that for a day or two until I realized that it drives much better with it off. Since then, I have never used it. But now on a "bad day" it drives even worse than it did with Active Eco on.

 

I will hazard a guess as to the problem - that active learning engine CPU bit- it learned the way you drive while the weather was fair- toss in a extra cold day or two- then a warm day-then back to cold - and its tender little brain gets confused between the way you drive and the temp/conditions that it is experiencing.... I would almost bet you-that if we (in Florida) had a steady month of temps in the same cold range- that the problem would disappear until it got warm again.
I've got a 2010 SX 6sp m/t- only 16k miles on it- and occasionally I do notice that on acceleration that the engine seems to seem weaker than normal

 

Possibly, especially with the ups and downs we've had this year in south Texas. We'll be in the 70's one day, and then the upper 20's for 3 days in a row.

 

Yes.... I have a 2014 Forte EX and experience this. Sometimes the transmission shifts perfectly and the car feels brisk. Other times it's a little rough, indecisive, and makes the car seem slower. Mine even got stuck in 3rd gear one morning while accelerating from a stop. I had to let completely off of the gas and then it shifted. It hasn't done this since. I notice my transmission has it's best moments when I am driving the car for extended periods or driving it hard. Hopefully they will release a TSB to fix this sooner than later.

 

Couldn't have said it better. I also forgot to mention that mine will occasionally get stuck in 3rd gear too, especially when I'm going uphill merging onto the express way. I hope they release a TSB as well.

 

Update...

I don't know if it's coincidence but, I have already filled up 3 times with premium fuel and it has accelerated/shifted perfectly, like the day it was new. The problem hasn't returned.

Either that, or it's "outgrown" this problem because the problem disappeared around the 8,000 mile mark. Maybe it was still in the learning stages? I'm going to try regular on my next fill up and see what happens, although, I'm afraid to now.

 

I've noticed the slow shifting/ down shifting when I have 1/4 tank of gas or less. As soon as I fill it up, it goes back to performing as expected. The GDI loves fuel in it's belly!

 

I did notice there's a TSB for our tranny. It said something about the resetting after a new ECU though. There's a way that KIA can reset our transmission to relearn itself again.

I'm thinking about doing this,but I'm actually going to keep my car battery off for a while anyway.

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Well I guess I spoke too soon. It was going well until today. I was driving around a lot, all over the city and it just started to happen again. This time, something new started happening. The engine just sounds like it's under so much load and it accelerates as such, very sluggish. Today the problem started from a dead stop. I watched the RPM, and normally, upon a normal acceleration (when it's working as it should), it will raise to about 3,000 RPM. Today it would start off very hesitant and only reach up to about 2,000 RPM, then at about 5 MPH, it would catch on jump to about 3,000. The whole driving experience was so inconsistent today, at one point, I was merging onto the highway and floored it, it went to about 6,000 RPM, but the power just wasn't there (it felt like that 115 HP Corolla that was given to me a couple of years ago), I didn't feel that normal 173 HP powerful acceleration that I'm used to with this car.

I guess I'm going to take it in for service after all. I was doing some research and found that when a vehicle exhibits this type of behavior, a ECU flash may be necessary as well as an update from the dealer. After all, this is a brand new re-design of this model and I know there has got to be kinks that need to be worked out.

I just want it to drive like it did when I bought it, not like a dang Corolla!!

 

Probably needs to still be broken in. Mine stopped doing this. I'm at 13.8k at the moment and its been better accelerating. The only thing I have a short air ram intake installed as far as any mods goes to it.

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KM..... Did you ever get this fixed or are you still riding inconsistent? Mine is so apparent now that it is summer and I am running the AC most of the time. Car feels like a complete underpowered dog most days. Had my ecu reflashed and it ran good for 2 days straight giving me fake hope... then it went back to being weak. No CEL but I know something is wrong. My work 2011 Yaris automatic is peppier to drive than my 2014 Forte EX. That's sad.

 

Still riding inconsistent, in fact today 8/26, I had to call the dealership and make an appointment. It was so bad that it felt like it was stuck in 4th or 5th gear as I was leaving my neighborhood. The accelerator was to the floor and it was stuck at 2,000 RPMs and the engine sounded like it was straining. All day it's been driving weird. Starts off fine in the morning and by the afternoon, it drives like an underpowered 4cyl Toyota Corolla. I'm at 14k and when I took it in March, they told me that they couldn't find anything.

 

Oh.... currently at 16k.

 

Damn man.... Hope they can figure it out. Please report anything you find out here. My work 2011 Toyota Yaris Automatic is friskier to drive than my car is. Very sad. But.... When my car is running in a 'good loop' it is wonderful and I catch myself saying to myself..."THIS is what I paid for". The whole car seems different. Transmission reacts better, engine tone and smoothness are different and better,and it is actually enjoyable to drive.... PLEASE FIX THIS KIA.

 

I am almost to a point where I want to have the car put on a dyno to see how much horsepower it is actually putting to the wheels. Since there is no CEL.... it's like Kia nor the dealership acknowledge that there is any problem.

 

Oh... Mine is hit or miss. Doesn't really do it at any given time... it is very random.... When it runs good. It runs weakly 90% of the time. With the summer and AC running it's been miserable driving it, especially on highways merging at high speeds.

 

I was thinking about the Dyno today. I don't have any clue what could be causing it. The car is even more miserable to drive when I have other passengers with me. My parents 2013 Soul and my neighbors 2014 Optima don't have this problem. It actually drove a little better when I put premium fuel in it. But I shouldn't have to. I'm actually taking it on Friday afternoon. I'll post an update.

 

Idk if you know this but both optima and soul are manufactured in the US but the Forte's manufactured in south Korea.

That being said, I'm not surprised that KIA has been ssllooww in solving problems forte-related problems.

 

Here's an update. The performance of the vehicle has been extremely poor, until today. I tried to avoid a pot hole but was unsussessful. I ran over it and came to a light. I took off and its like nothing ever happened. The car is driving like the day I drove it off the lot. This leads me to think there is an actual mechanical problem with it.

 

Thanks for the update. Keep us posted man. Mine ran good for 2 days in a row and almost tricked me into thinking it was all better and then it went back to normal. I am considering disconnecting my battery today and let it sit for a few hours and see if a reboot does anything.

 

Here's a question about something I don't see anywhere in this thread. Has anyone tried revving the engine while in park during one of these times of poor performance? It might help to know if the engine can always rev smoothly with no load, both when stepping down on the pedal hard and also revving slowly.

That said, this problem belongs to Kia and the dealer, and it IMO it's gone WAY over the "normal" amount of time for a resolution. It sounds like this is happening to you guys more often than not, but the dealers say nothing is wrong. The standard way to handle one of these things is for a tech to accompany the owner on a road test. Assuming the problem starts happening, the owner tells the tech "that's it'. At that point it becomes a question of the tech agreeing that there is a problem, or not agreeing. If he agrees, then it should be a fairly straightforward case of leaving it with them until it's fixed.
But it would of course become quite a different situation if the tech didn't agree that there was a problem. At that point you could try other dealers in your area, trying to find someone who will agree there's a problem. Last resort would be to pay an independent shop to do the same road test, and see what their opinion is.
IMO someone needs to be pushing this harder with KIA (before the warranties run out).

 

I have revved it in park during one of these instances, but never to the red-line. When I did it sounded a little rough. In fact, one time I revved it when the problem was hardly noticeable. Well when I drove off, the problem was a million times worse. It's like the revving in park messed something up.

I had an appointment scheduled to take it to the dealer but cancelled because it went away. I want them to be in the car when the problem is occurring. I want them to see how the accelerator is to the floor from a stop and it moves/sounds like I'm holding the brake.

 

Yes... I have revved the engine with the car sitting still. It's weird to describe. The engine will still rev to redline even when it is running weak. It just sounds different and isn't as eager to run to redline. I disconnected the battery for an hour.... still no dice.

Mine also makes a clicking noise along with a high pitched frequency sound at the throttle body once I have turned the car off. I have read that this is normal in some forums (cleaning or calibrating itself allegedly) but I am skeptical. My sister has a 13' Elantra with Electronic Throttle Control and her car does not click like mine does. I also had a VW before this car and that car had issues in that area when there was the same clicking. But unlike the VW... no CEL here.

Then I started thinking.... I looked at my air filter the other day and it is remarkably clean. I also noticed this huge resonator that the air has to run through before it even gets to the air filter. Maybe..... something is clogging this resonator up and the engine does not get enough intake air. My next test is to bypass this and see if there is any improvement. For me, my car sounds like it's slightly bogged, running lean, or SOMETHING. It's not happy revving and even sounds weak. When it runs good, it runs to redline quickly, transmission shifts better, and it sounds strong and good at high RPM. I am hoping to get to an answer through some testing. If not.... I will continue prayers for an ECU update that will address this.

 

... and isn't as eager to run to redline ....

Hmmm. Here's another question (not intended to be a suggestion about how you should, or shouldn't be driving your Kia). Let's say you were to limit the RPMs to a max of around 5K. If you ran it that way, would you still be noticing any changes in performance?

 

I think you misread or misinterpreted what I was saying. I do not drive my car full throttle everywhere I drive. It drives weakly whether I have the pedal all the way at full throttle, shifting at 3k, 4k, or 5k RPM. It is weak regardless.

 

Actually I was just checking that this isn't happening only at high rpm, which you've confirmed it's not.

This sounds like a fairly significant and obvious problems, so I'm not understanding why you don't just lay this on Kia and your dealership. I'm a DIYer, and always want to do everything myself. But something like this, which sounds like a mechanical or electronic problem right from the factory, is something they should be responsible for taking care of. Is it that your Kia out of warranty now?

 

I would like to add that when this problem occurs, my MPG is between 17 and 19. Ever since I ran over that pot hole and the problem went away, my MPG ranges from 25-28.

 

I too experience the acceleration issue and have taken to toggling ECO mode on and off and then additionally manual shifting car for a brief time to push it a bit. Not sure if this works, but I do encounter the sluggish periods less frequently in comparison to a couple months ago. This is another thing I experienced. I wasn't quite doing that bad, but I was averaging 23-24mpg in strictly city driving and then all of a sudden the mpg started to average between 25-27mpg. Did nothing different, but can certainly notice the improvement.

 

Not at all. I am at 18k miles. I have tried previously but they cannot find anything wrong and I do not want to waste my limited free time fruitlessly sitting at the dealership. Last time I tried to leave it and get a loaner car they said they couldn't give me one since my car was technically drivable. Plus... others are experiencing this apparently and having equal luck so it seems like a waste of time at this point. I check kiatechinfo.com DAILY for updates.

 

I am exactly in this same position right now! Went to the dealership today in the morning. The shop foreman test drove with me and said everything was fine and that it picks out the best gear for optimal fuel economy. Which I think is BS. But when I'm driving on automatic, it feels like the gears don't shift properly or inconsistent. My rpms get stuck at 2000 for a few seconds then would jump to 3000. I can feel the hesitation and loss of power and the struggle...

I also told him I was driving up a hill and my car felt like there was no power at all and it struggled a lot getting up there. I was stuck on 35mph, no power, rpm stuck between 2k-2.5k... Considering this is a brand new 2014 forte ex with only 1k plus miles on it, it shouldn't be doing that. The pedal felt very heavy and hard to push.. And his response wAs.. It's normal jus keep pushing the pedal until it goes.. Told him it smelled like something was burning when I got to the top.. He also said it was normal... He doesn't want to acknowledge anything is wrong with the car.. When he test drove, according to him everything was fine... Also told him, even when I'm not depressing the brake pedal, it feels like the brakes are on..

How can we go about this if the dealership doesn't want to help???

 

Just tweeted this thread to KIA north America

 

Hopefully they will do something about this now.