2002 Kia Optima problems
NHTSA has received 168 complaints about the 2002 Kia Optima, and 20% of them involve body & structure. Next are suspension (13%) and air bags (12%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 168 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Body & structure 20% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 28 and 5
- Injuries and deaths
- 17 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 89,000 miles 141 complaints with mileage
Source: NHTSA owner complaints
Where the complaints are
Share of this model year's complaints by the part of the car involved. One complaint can name more than one part, so the shares can add up to more than 100%.
When problems show up
View the numbers
| Mileage | Complaints |
|---|---|
| 0k to 20k miles | 16 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 6 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 18 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 18 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 21 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 15 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 26 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 8 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 4 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 2 |
| 200k+ miles | 7 |
What the data shows
Of the 141 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 89,000 miles. For body & structure specifically, the median reported mileage is about 117,000 miles (28 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 28 complaints mention a crash; 5 complaints mention a fire; 17 injuries reported. Its complaints are more severe on average than those of 86% of model years in our database.
Looking only at complaints filed within five years of the model year (so older and newer years are comparable), the 2002 ranks 19th most-complained-about out of 20 model years of the Kia Optima with enough data (61 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 3 safety recall campaigns.
What owners wrote
A few complaints as filed, shortened and with personal details removed. The first ones are among the most serious reports for this model year; the rest are typical.
Feb. 14, 2003, driving a 2002 optima kia and applied brakes hard about 70 MPH and car was completly uncontrollable sending me off the road into various trees eventually hitting a tree head on. Car caught fire and completely burnt down. I was sent to a trauma unit at forest general in hattiesburg ms with a punctured lung , spleen removed and extreme damage to the ribs which I am presently in pain management for and on ltd.
Dt*: the contact stated that there were two accidents with the vehicle where the air bag did not deploy. In the first accident, in 2003, none of the airbags deployed. In the second of these accidents which was more severe, the vehicle was totaled, and none of the airbags deployed either. In the both accidents, the occupant were wearing their seatbelts however the contact expressed concern that there must be a problem air bag sensor of the vehicle.
While slowing down to exit off mass pike, I was doing about 30-35 and so were the other cars, I braked to continue to slow - the car did not stop and applied the brakes all the way down and the car still did not stop and I panicked knowing the car was not stopping and finally made impact into the vehicle in front of me.
Tl* the contact owns a 2002 kia optima. The contact stated that the actuator door locks for the front driver and passenger doors failed. The contact stated that the window was used in order to enter the vehicle. The failure occurred on numerous occasions. The the front passenger actuator was repaired previously. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 70,000.
The contact owns a 2002 Kia Optima. The contact stated that after he replaced all four tires, the vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for an alignment; however, the mechanic was unable to perform an alignment due to the subframe corrosion. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The contact related the failure to NHTSA Campaign Number: 09V183000 (Suspension) however, the VIN was not included in the recall. The failure mileage was approximately 111,000.