2018 Kia Optima Hybrid
Complaints about this year name oil far more often than the model's other years — 39% of them, about 10× the usual rate of 3.9%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 244 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 34 |
| Involving a crash | 10 |
| Involving a fire | 10 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 42 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- quarts — 6.6% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (32.8×).
- burning — 9.4% of this year's complaints, against 2.8% across the model's other years (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: burning, burning oil, turned car.
- cylinder — 6.1% of this year's complaints, against 1.2% across the model's other years (5×). Owners wrote it as: cylinder, compression, rod bearing.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- oil consumption — 12% of complaints, 30× usual
- optima contact — 12% of complaints, 13× usual
- around — 9% of complaints, 23× usual
What owners wrote
My car is consuming 2 quarts of oil for every 1,000 miles. This falls under the oil consumption that needs a motor replaced and I am getting a run around from the dealership about getting it replaced. They are saying that Kia does not like to replace the motor…
The car is literally burning through oil so bad every other week I am putting more in, the electrical system continues to fail and shorts, the motor sounds like it is ticking now due to the oil consumption.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 21V844000 ENGINE Fixed free of charge.
- 23V594000 LATCHES/LOCKS/LINKAGES Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Optima Hybrid was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2018 Kia Optima Hybrid? What happened to yours?
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