2017 Kia Optima Hybrid
This year drew an ordinary 48 complaints for a Kia Optima Hybrid — the model's median is 34. What they were about is the unusual part: 16.7% of them mention tell, against 5.1% across the model's other years.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 48 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 34 |
| Involving a crash | 2 |
| Involving a fire | 3 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 42 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- tell — 16.7% of this year's complaints, against 5.1% across the model's other years (3.3×). Owners wrote it as: tell, telling, car start, department.
- propulsion — 14.6% of this year's complaints, against 5.8% across the model's other years (2.5×). Owners wrote it as: propulsion, hybrid propulsion, propulsion system, ave.
- electric — 12.5% of this year's complaints, against 4.4% across the model's other years (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: electric, kia said, kirby, ventura.
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
I believe the Hybrid Propulsion System in my kia optima hybrid should have been part of the recall. The vehicle is currently showing signs of the vehicle's Voltage Protection Device activating inadvertently, causing a sudden loss of power. Vehicle is currently…
NOTIFICATION OF NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 18V161000 (HYBRID PROPULSION SYSTEM). THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE [VIN] EXCEEDED A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR THE RECALL REPAIR. THE CONTACT CALLED A LOCAL DEALER (JIM BONE KIA, 1255 SANTA ROSA AVE, SANTA ROSA, CA 9540…
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 2017 Kia Optima Hybrid? What happened to yours?
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