2019 Kia Optima
This year drew an ordinary 205 complaints for a Kia Optima — the model's median is 230. What they were about is the unusual part: 21% of them mention collision, against 6% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 3 of the Kia Optima, which began in 2016. Everything below compares this year against the others in that generation, not against a different car wearing the same name.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 205 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 230 |
| Involving a crash | 20 |
| Involving a fire | 6 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 28 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- collision — 21% of this year's complaints, against 6% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: collision, forward, forward collision, collision warning.
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.
What owners wrote
while starting and driving at an undisclosed speed, the "Check Blind Spot Collision Warning System" and "Check Forward Collision Avoidance Assist System" messages became displayed. The ABS, traction control, and several other unknown warning lights were illumi…
Forward collision warning failed to assist resulting in a collision that is considered a total loss.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 19V539000 FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Optima 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 2019 Kia Optima? What happened to yours?
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