2.3

hardly worth mentioning
Crashes / Fires:
0 / 0
Injuries / Deaths:
0 / 0
Average Mileage:
65,908 miles

About These NHTSA Complaints:

The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.

Get notified about new defects, investigations, recalls & lawsuits for the 2011 Kia Optima:

Unsubscribe any time. We don't sell/share your email.

« Read the previous 20 complaints

problem #3

Dec 132011

Optima 4-cyl

  • 2,200 miles
After 1-2 miles of driving after cold start, engine continues to rev up but car come to rolling stop. As if no power is being transferred from engine to transmission/drive system. Then turn car off for a minute, restart and car runs okay. Dash icon indicates trouble with hybrid system. Has happened multiple times since first incident. Dealer finds nothing wrong. Causes an extreme hazard when it happens in traffic.

- Marathon, NY, USA

Add Complaint
problem #2

Jan 222012

Optima 4-cyl

  • 19,750 miles
I have a 2011 Kia Optima ex, with the navigation package. I had a strange incident which I would like to report. After driving for 15 minutes, I placed the transmission in park and the car immediately began to rev very high. I put my foot firmly on the brake and shifted in to neutral, but it kept revving very high, so I put it in drive and it still revved very high-- roaring. I put the car in park again and turned the engine off. Started it again 5 seconds later and immediately the engine roared revving very high. Turned off the engine again and then it started normally. My foot was firmly on the brake the whole time and there were no objects touching the accelerator.

- Montvale, NJ, USA

Add Complaint
problem #1

Apr 112011

Optima

  • 3,600 miles
On 4/11/11, we were driving to work and had gone four miles from our house, when we thought we had hit a deer! the car made a very loud sound and lurched violently, at highway speed, frightening us both. The lurching was so violent that it may well have caused other damage. We were extremely fortunate not to have crashed. We then found that the car would not shift gear. The transmission had gone out of our 2011 Kia Optima ex. We bought the Kia new at O'brien auto park in champaign, Illinois, on 1/8/11. The car had 3600 miles on it at the time of the catastrophic failure. This was our first Kia purchase, and we are very disappointed. Needless to say, we were shocked by this dangerous occurrence! we very easily could have had tragic consequences for us and our fellow commuters. We are no longer confident in this vehicle. We find this totally unsatisfactory and asked Kia to replace our vehicle with an identical one. Kia refused, basically saying 'we don't own it anymore'. they did replace the transmission.

- Sidney, IL, USA

Add Complaint