Kia Optima — reported problems

What owners report: issue areas

Owner complaints are classified by the system they concern: 20,756 classifications in all. One complaint can concern several systems, so these add up to more than the number of complaints.

• Engine6,750 (32.5%)Official recall records for this system: 15, covering model years 2011–2020.
• Electrical system1,882 (9.1%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2001–2016.
• Steering1,512 (7.3%)
• Air bags (restraint system)1,146 (5.5%)Official recall records for this system: 7, covering model years 2001–2016.
• Body & structure1,130 (5.4%)Official recall records for this system: 2, covering model years 2012–2018.
• Brakes1,068 (5.1%)Official recall records for this system: 9, covering model years 2011–2019.

Other / uncategorized: 1,694 classifications (8.2%) were not assigned to a specific system by the source. They are counted but not treated as an issue area.

These are counts of records held by CarFaultIQ, not a failure rate. More records can simply mean more vehicles were sold or more owners reported. No vehicles-in-service figure exists in this data, so no reliability or risk score can be derived from it.

What the records are about, by source

Each source is kept separate: owner complaints, recalls, manufacturer communications and investigations are different kinds of record and are never added together. All model years.

• Owner complaints (14,972 records, model years 2001–2020) are most frequently classified under: engine, electrical system and steering.
• Transport Canada recalls (68 records, model years 2011–2020) are most frequently classified under: engine, brakes and fuel system.
• Manufacturer communications (2,894 records, model years 2001–2020) are most frequently classified under: engine, electrical system and equipment & accessories.
• Investigations (73 records, model years 2001–2020) are most frequently classified under: engine, lights and engine cooling.

"Most frequently classified under" reports how the records are filed by the source. It is not a finding about causes, and a record can be filed under more than one system. Read the individual records

Mileage reported when the issue occurred

• 8,670reports included a mileage
• 78,881average of those mileages

This is the mileage owners recorded at the time they reported, not an expected failure mileage and not a prediction for any individual vehicle. The lowest and highest figures on record are not shown: they are unverified odometer entries that include zeros and implausibly high readings, so they would not describe a real range. A median is not shown either, because the stored figures are group totals and a median cannot be recovered from them.

Evidence by model year

Records held per model year. Select a year to narrow this page to it.

1. 2001 173 records for 2001 173
2. 2002 130 records for 2002 130
3. 2003 165 records for 2003 165
4. 2004 241 records for 2004 241
5. 2005 168 records for 2005 168
6. 2006 197 records for 2006 197
7. 2007 203 records for 2007 203
8. 2008 179 records for 2008 179
9. 2009 152 records for 2009 152
10. 2010 112 records for 2010 112
11. 2011 839 records for 2011 839
12. 2012 1,178 records for 2012 1,178
13. 2013 1,640 records for 2013 1,640
14. 2014 871 records for 2014 871
15. 2015 1,220 records for 2015 1,220
16. 2016 994 records for 2016 994
17. 2017 445 records for 2017 445
18. 2018 395 records for 2018 395
19. 2019 334 records for 2019 334
20. 2020 238 records for 2020 238

Counts are not adjusted for how many vehicles were sold in each year, so a taller year is not necessarily a worse year.

Reports mentioning outcomes

• 626mention a crash
• 824mention a fire
• 538mention an injury
• 36mention a fatality

These are counts of records whose report mentioned the outcome. They are not a severity rating and not a safety assessment of this vehicle.

Official records held

• Safety recalls NHTSA 81
• Manufacturer communications NHTSA 2,894
• Investigations NHTSA 73
• Transport Canada recalls Transport Canada 68
• Owner complaints NHTSA 14,972

Explore the underlying evidence records

Diagnostic codes found in evidence for this vehicle

These codes appear by explicit identifier in official records matched to this exact model and year.

• P0741 in 15 records · 2011–2015
• P0456 in 14 records · 2011–2019
• P0743 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0748 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0753 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0758 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0763 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0768 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0773 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P2135 in 10 records · 2001–2009
• P2709 in 10 records · 2011–2015
• P0638 in 9 records · 2001–2009

A code appearing in a record means the code was named in that document. It is not a diagnosis of this vehicle, not a fault this vehicle has, and not an indication of urgency. Diagnosis requires reading live data from the vehicle.