Kia Optima 2018 — technical service bulletin
Bulletin TSB_TRA088 · NHTSA communication 10172128 · issued Feb 7, 2020
Technical service bulletin
communication type
Power Train
component
2018
model years
1
vehicle entries
Official summary
TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: TRANSMISSION CONTROL UNIT (TCU) GEAR SHIFT LOGIC IMPROVEMENT - This bulletin provides the procedure to improve the gear shift logic of the Transmission Control Unit (TCU) on some 2018MY Optima (JF, JFa) vehicles produced from April 18, 2017 through July 11, 2018, equipped with 2.0L T-GDI and 2.4L GDI engines, which may harsh downshifts (including 2-1 gear change).
Vehicles covered
What a TSB means. Technical service bulletins are repair guidance manufacturers send to dealers — they are not recalls, and repairs are not automatically free (warranty extensions are an exception worth checking). The full document is available via NHTSA’s vehicle lookup.