2011 Kia Optima
Complaints about this year name headlights far more often than the other years of this generation — 8% of them, about 9× the usual rate of 1%.
First year of a new generation. The Kia Optima was redesigned for 2011. A first year carries problems nobody has found yet, and they are found by the people who buy it — which is worth knowing before you become one of them.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 591 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 205 |
| Involving a crash | 23 |
| Involving a fire | 32 |
| Recalls | 5 |
| NHTSA crash rating | 5/5 |
| EPA combined | 27 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- low — 18.6% of this year's complaints, against 7% across the other years of this generation (2.7×). Owners wrote it as: low, headlights, night, dim.
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
- night — 8% of complaints, 5× usual
- dim — 6% of complaints, 11× usual
- low — 10% of complaints, 3× usual
What owners wrote
HEADLIGHTS ARE TOO DIM. USING LOW BEAM LIGHTS AT NIGHT DOES NOT ILLUMINATE THE ROAD AT ALL. HAVE REPLACED THE HEADLIGHT BULBS 3 TIMES AND IT DOES NOT FIX THE PROBLEM.
THE LOW BEAM HEADLIGHTS ARE VERY DIM EVEN WITH NEW BULB [VIN]. FOUND THAT THE REFLECTIVE MATERIAL INSIDE THE HEADLIGHTS MELTED. NOT SAFE TO DRIVE AT NIGHT NEED TO USE THE HIGH BEAMS ALL THE TIME.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 18V907000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
- 18V363000 AIR BAGS
- 17V224000 ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING Fixed free of charge.
- 13V114000 EXTERIOR LIGHTING Fixed free of charge.
- 23V652000 SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC 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 2011 Kia Optima? What happened to yours?
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