Coscienzios

Model years to avoid

Kia Optima

What it says about you

Opinion

A mid-size saloon that got genuinely handsome for a generation and sold on that. You bought a shape.

Not measured, not from the data, and offered in fun. Everything below this is not.

16 model years on record, 6,846 complaints filed.

The years to look at closely: 2016 (windows), 2015 , 2014 , 2013 , 2012 , 2011 (headlights). Everything else drew a normal number of complaints for this model.

What owners report, and when

Faults that dominated the complaints of more than one model year. Not the same question as which year to avoid — a car can have an ordinary number of complaints every year and have most of them be about the same thing.

  • forward 2009, 2010, 2019 peak 28.4% of that year's complaints
  • headlights 2007, 2011 peak 24.7% of that year's complaints

Every year

  1. 2020 0 recalls 138 complaints
  2. 2019 1 recall 205 complaints
  3. 2018 2 recalls 230 complaints
  4. 2017 3 recalls 253 complaints
  5. 2016 windows 751 complaints
  6. 2015 4 recalls 1,004 complaints
  7. 2014 7 recalls 580 complaints
  8. 2013 9 recalls 1,376 complaints
  9. 2012 5 recalls 919 complaints
  10. 2011 headlights 591 complaints
  11. 2010 1 recall 75 complaints
  12. 2009 1 recall 116 complaints
  13. 2008 3 recalls 143 complaints
  14. 2007 2 recalls 166 complaints
  15. 2006 2 recalls 155 complaints
  16. 2005 0 recalls 144 complaints

What does a Kia Optima say about you?

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Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints — compared against itself rather than against other cars, so popularity and age do not decide the answer.