Kia Window Regulator Defect Class Action Settlement

Who Is Eligible?

You may be eligible to file a claim if you:

• The class is every US resident, including the District of Columbia but not the territories, who owns or leases a Class Vehicle, or did in the past.
• Class Vehicles are certain 2016-2017 Kia Optima and all 2017 Kia Sportage cars, fixed by a defined list of VINs. The word certain matters for the Optima: not every 2016 or 2017 car is on the list, which is why the settlement site runs a VIN lookup rather than publishing model years alone.
• Selling the car does not remove you. Former owners and lessees stay in the class and can still claim reimbursement for a repair they paid for. The $40 dealer card is the part they lose — that one is restricted to current owners and lessees.
• Several groups are carved out, and some catch ordinary people rather than companies. A vehicle written off as a total loss (salvage) is excluded, verifiable through Carfax. So are fleet cars, meaning rentals and company vehicles. So are dealerships that held the car at the time it needed the repair, anyone who already released these claims against Kia, insurers, anyone claiming through a subrogation right, sellers of extended warranties and service contracts, Kia itself, and anyone who opts out by 23 October 2026.
• Your VIN sits on a placard at the base of the windshield on the driver's side, and appears on your registration and usually your insurance card. Seventeen characters, letters and numbers.
• The alleged defect is a window regulator whose drum or gear separates or breaks, disabling the power window. Kia denies the claims and no court has found the vehicles defective.

How Much Can You Get?

Two benefits, and you have to pick one. Claiming reimbursement rules out the dealer card, and claiming the dealer card rules out reimbursement.

Reimbursement covers what you actually paid for a window regulator repair, at a Kia dealership or at a third-party shop the administrator can verify as legitimate. How much comes back depends on the odometer reading when the window failed out of warranty, not on what the repair cost:

• Under 35,000 miles — 100% of what you paid, up to $400
• 35,001–55,000 miles — 80%, up to $320
• 55,001–75,000 miles — 60%, up to $240
• 75,001–125,000 miles — 45%, up to $180
• 125,001 miles and above — 40%, up to $160

Four repairs per VIN is the ceiling. The claim form has exactly four rows for them, each wanting a date, a mileage and a cost.

So the headline number of $400 belongs to a narrow group: someone whose window broke early, on a car barely run in, who paid at least $400 to fix it. A repair at 90,000 miles costing $250 returns $112.50.

The other route is a $40 digital Dealer Service Card, and it is not cash. It spends at an authorized Kia dealership's service department on service, parts or merchandise, and it dies six months after issue. Only current owners and lessees can take it. Sell the car and that door closes.

How to File Your Claim

You will need the Claim ID and PIN printed on the notice the administrator sent you. This settlement is not open to anyone who simply believes they qualify.

• Start at kiawindowregulatorsettlement.com, the only website the court authorized for this case. Kroll Settlement Administration runs it. Run your VIN through the lookup tool there first, because the Optima list is specific and a model year alone will not tell you.
• Dig out the paperwork next. This is where claims die. For each repair you need two things. One, the repair order from the Kia dealership or the independent shop, showing the VIN, the mileage on that date, the date itself, the cost, and enough detail to identify it as a window regulator repair. Two, proof you paid: a check, a card receipt, a bank record. The form puts that requirement in bold and says a claim without it risks denial.
• Going for the $40 dealer card instead? You need proof you still own or lease the car. A current registration does it.
• The form asks for a Class Member ID from the notice Kia sent you, and marks every contact field required. Lost the notice, or never got one, call Kroll on 1-833-930-0988 rather than guessing.
• File online or postmark by 23 November 2026. Reimbursement goes out by electronic transfer if you file online, or by check to your address. Opting out and objecting share a separate deadline a month earlier, 23 October 2026.
• If Kroll finds your claim deficient they must tell you, and you get 30 days to fix it.
• Payment itself waits for the court. The final approval hearing is set for 7 January 2027, and money moves only after approval and any appeals are finished.

Frequently Asked Questions