2003 KIA OPTIMA — Owner-Reported Problems

NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation Snapshot 2026-08-21 140 complaints · 0 recalls
Most-reported system: STRUCTURE (17 complaints · 12.1%)
Safety signals:
  • Crashes 8
  • Fires 2
  • Injuries 6
  • Deaths 0
Compare with 2002 →
NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Component Problem Distribution

Share of owner complaints filed for each vehicle system (unaffected by sales volume)

Component Problem Distribution STRUCTURE appears in 17 of 140 owner complaints (12.1%) in this vehicle snapshot. STRUCTURE: 17 complaints, 12.1% of reports STRUCTURE 17 · 12.1% AIR BAGS: 15 complaints, 10.7% of reports AIR BAGS 15 · 10.7% · 5 crash reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: 15 complaints, 10.7% of reports ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 15 · 10.7% FUEL SYSTEM: 8 complaints, 5.7% of reports FUEL SYSTEM 8 · 5.7% ENGINE: 7 complaints, 5.0% of reports ENGINE 7 · 5.0% · 1 crash reports 1 fire reports SUSPENSION: 7 complaints, 5.0% of reports SUSPENSION 7 · 5.0% · 1 crash reports POWER TRAIN: 6 complaints, 4.3% of reports POWER TRAIN 6 · 4.3% VISIBILITY: 5 complaints, 3.6% of reports VISIBILITY 5 · 3.6% EXTERIOR LIGHTING: 2 complaints, 1.4% of reports EXTERIOR LIGHTING 2 · 1.4% UNKNOWN OR OTHER: 100 complaints, 71.4% of reports UNKNOWN OR OTHER 100 · 71.4% · 5 crash reports 1 fire reports 0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

UNKNOWN OR OTHER is an NHTSA classification artifact and is always listed last.

View component data as a table
System / Component Complaints Share of Reports Safety Reports (Crashes / Fires)
STRUCTURE 17 12.1% 0 crashes · 0 fires
AIR BAGS 15 10.7% 5 crashes · 0 fires
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 15 10.7% 0 crashes · 0 fires
FUEL SYSTEM 8 5.7% 0 crashes · 0 fires
ENGINE 7 5.0% 1 crashes · 1 fires
SUSPENSION 7 5.0% 1 crashes · 0 fires
POWER TRAIN 6 4.3% 0 crashes · 0 fires
VISIBILITY 5 3.6% 0 crashes · 0 fires
EXTERIOR LIGHTING 2 1.4% 0 crashes · 0 fires
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 100 71.4% 5 crashes · 1 fires
NHTSA Consumer Complaints, none on file, and NHTSA Defect Investigations Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Problem & Recall Timeline

Observed complaint volume and manufacturer recall actions over time

Problem & Recall Timeline Owner reports in this snapshot begin in Jan 2003. 2003-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2003-Q2: 4 owner reports 4 2003-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2003-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2004-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2004-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2004-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2004-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2005-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2005-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2005-Q3: 4 owner reports 4 2005-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2006-Q3: 6 owner reports 6 2006-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2007-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2007-Q2: 5 owner reports 5 2007-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2007-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2008-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2008-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2008-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2008-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2009-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2009-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2009-Q3: 5 owner reports 5 2010-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2010-Q2: 6 owner reports 6 2010-Q3: 5 owner reports 5 2010-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2011-Q1: 5 owner reports 5 2011-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2011-Q3: 5 owner reports 5 2011-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2012-Q1: 3 owner reports 3 2012-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2012-Q3: 4 owner reports 4 2012-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2013-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2013-Q2: 5 owner reports 5 2013-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2013-Q4: 2 owner reports 2 2014-Q1: 4 owner reports 4 2014-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2014-Q3: 2 owner reports 2 2014-Q4: 4 owner reports 4 2015-Q1: 2 owner reports 2 2015-Q2: 2 owner reports 2 2015-Q4: 3 owner reports 3 2016-Q2: 3 owner reports 3 2016-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2016-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2017-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 2017-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2017-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2018-Q2: 1 owner reports 1 2019-Q3: 1 owner reports 1 2019-Q4: 1 owner reports 1 2025-Q1: 1 owner reports 1 Owner reports Jan 2003 Jan 2025
View timeline records as a table
Date Record type Count Record identifier
2003-Q1 Owner reports 2
2003-Q2 Owner reports 4
2003-Q3 Owner reports 1
2003-Q4 Owner reports 2
2004-Q1 Owner reports 1
2004-Q2 Owner reports 2
2004-Q3 Owner reports 2
2004-Q4 Owner reports 4
2005-Q1 Owner reports 2
2005-Q2 Owner reports 1
2005-Q3 Owner reports 4
2005-Q4 Owner reports 1
2006-Q3 Owner reports 6
2006-Q4 Owner reports 1
2007-Q1 Owner reports 1
2007-Q2 Owner reports 5
2007-Q3 Owner reports 1
2007-Q4 Owner reports 1
2008-Q1 Owner reports 1
2008-Q2 Owner reports 1
2008-Q3 Owner reports 2
2008-Q4 Owner reports 1
2009-Q1 Owner reports 1
2009-Q2 Owner reports 3
2009-Q3 Owner reports 5
2010-Q1 Owner reports 1
2010-Q2 Owner reports 6
2010-Q3 Owner reports 5
2010-Q4 Owner reports 4
2011-Q1 Owner reports 5
2011-Q2 Owner reports 2
2011-Q3 Owner reports 5
2011-Q4 Owner reports 4
2012-Q1 Owner reports 3
2012-Q2 Owner reports 1
2012-Q3 Owner reports 4
2012-Q4 Owner reports 4
2013-Q1 Owner reports 1
2013-Q2 Owner reports 5
2013-Q3 Owner reports 2
2013-Q4 Owner reports 2
2014-Q1 Owner reports 4
2014-Q2 Owner reports 2
2014-Q3 Owner reports 2
2014-Q4 Owner reports 4
2015-Q1 Owner reports 2
2015-Q2 Owner reports 2
2015-Q4 Owner reports 3
2016-Q2 Owner reports 3
2016-Q3 Owner reports 1
2016-Q4 Owner reports 1
2017-Q1 Owner reports 1
2017-Q3 Owner reports 1
2017-Q4 Owner reports 1
2018-Q2 Owner reports 1
2019-Q3 Owner reports 1
2019-Q4 Owner reports 1
2025-Q1 Owner reports 1

Safety Recalls (0)

Official safety recall campaigns filed with NHTSA

Zero safety recalls recorded for this model year in official NHTSA records.

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Complaint Narrative Explorer

Verbatim owner-reported defect narratives from NHTSA public records

Data: NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation · snapshot Aug 21, 2026
Safety incident filters
Showing 0 of 140 complaints · page 1 of 6

No complaints match the current filters.
EPA Fuel Economy Database Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Estimated Ownership Cost

EPA fuel economy ratings and annual operating cost estimates

Data: US EPA Fuel Economy Guide · snapshot Aug 21, 2026
Supported range: 1,000–60,000 miles per year
Supported range: $1.50–$10.00 per gallon
55% city45% highway
Estimate unavailable

EPA fuel-economy data is unavailable for this vehicle.

No estimate is shown when required EPA values are unavailable.

 Open Ownership Cost Calculator →

Adjacent Model Years

Immediate preceding and succeeding model year records

NHTSA Consumer Complaints Snapshot 2026-08-21 Open source record Read our complete data methodology →

Complaint counts reflect self-selected reports and are not normalised for production sales volume. We publish no reliability scores, superlatives, or vehicle rankings.

Methodology & Data Integrity

Data sourced from NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation. Snapshot date: 2026-08-21.

Read our complete data methodology → Sources