2007 Kia Optima
This year drew an ordinary 166 complaints for a Kia Optima — the model's median is 230. What they were about is the unusual part: 27.1% of them mention visors, against 6.8% across the other years of this generation.
Generation 1 of the Kia Optima, which began in 2006 and ran to 2010. 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 | 166 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 230 |
| Involving a crash | 11 |
| Involving a fire | 5 |
| Recalls | 2 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- visors — 27.1% of this year's complaints, against 6.8% across the other years of this generation (4×). Owners wrote it as: visors, sun, broke, side sun.
- headlights — 24.7% of this year's complaints, against 8.8% across the other years of this generation (2.8×). Owners wrote it as: headlights, dim, night, beam.
- stay — 10.8% of this year's complaints, against 4.1% across the other years of this generation (2.6×). Owners wrote it as: stay, drivers side.
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
headlights very dim . replaced bulbs . replaced wiring harness. replaced alternater . still dim . cannot see more than a few feet at night. have heard this is a common problem . would like any info to correct problem .no longer safe to drive vehicle at night.…
LOW BEAM HEADLIGHTS ARE TOO DIM. TRIED REPLACING THE BULBS, BUT NO CHANGE. CLEANED THE OUTER LENS TO IMPROVE CLARITY AND GET RID OF YELLOWING. BUT DID NOT HELP. THE OUTER LENS LOOKS JUST FINE. WHEN I REMOVED THE ASSEMBLY TO CHECK IF THERE'S ANYTHING WRONG INSI…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 12V014000 AIR BAGS Fixed free of charge.
- 11V153000 POWER TRAIN 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 2007 Kia Optima? What happened to yours?
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