2019 Kia Optima Hybrid
Complaints about this year name oil far more often than the model's other years — 34% of them, about 9× the usual rate of 3.9%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 408 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 34 |
| Involving a crash | 40 |
| Involving a fire | 12 |
| Recalls | 0 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 41 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- collision — 21.1% of this year's complaints, against 5.4% across the model's other years (3.9×). Owners wrote it as: collision, forward, forward collision, collision warning.
- spark — 7.8% of this year's complaints, against 1.5% across the model's other years (5.2×). Owners wrote it as: spark, plugs, excessively, back same.
- stalling — 6.4% of this year's complaints, against 2% across the model's other years (3.2×). Owners wrote it as: stalling, review, november.
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
- collision — 17% of complaints, 43× usual
- paint — 10% of complaints, 26× usual
- oil consumption — 10% of complaints, 26× usual
What owners wrote
Defective piston rings leading to excessive oil consumption, spark plug deterioration, and potential engine failure.
Oil consumption issues, did an oil consumption test in august of 22 at Web Chevy, which is the dealership the car was bought from.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
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 2019 Kia Optima Hybrid? What happened to yours?
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