2009 Kia Optima
This year drew an ordinary 116 complaints for a Kia Optima — the model's median is 230. What they were about is the unusual part: 28.4% of them mention forward, against 9.4% 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 | 116 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 230 |
| Involving a crash | 5 |
| Involving a fire | 4 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 25 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- forward — 28.4% of this year's complaints, against 9.4% across the other years of this generation (3×). Owners wrote it as: forward, car jerks, strong, lurches.
- transmission — 19% of this year's complaints, against 4.7% across the other years of this generation (4×).
- find — 19% of this year's complaints, against 5.4% across the other years of this generation (3.5×). Owners wrote it as: find, concerns, car since, find problem.
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
MY 2009 KIA OPTIMA WITH 90,000 MILES IS EXPERIENCING A HARD DOWNSHIFT INTO FIRST GEAR WHEN IT [VIN] TO ABOUT 20 MPH. IT IS SO ABRUPT, IT FEELS AS IF THE BRAKES HAVE BEEN APPLIED VERY RAPIDLY. THE CAR JERKS FORWARD AND IS ACCOMPANIED BY A CLUNKING SOUND FROM TH…
CAR LURCHES AT 20 MPH WHEN SLOWING DOWN TO A STOP. THIS HAPPENS AFTER JUST STARTING THE CAR, ONCE DRIVEN ON THE HIGHWAY IT DOWNSHIFTS WITHOUT LURCHING FORWARD. THIS HAPPENED YEARS AGO AROUND 70,000 DEALER FLUSHED TRANSMISSION AND IT WAS OK UNTIL NOW AT 120,000…
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 13V114000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING 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 2009 Kia Optima? What happened to yours?
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