2006 Kia Optima problems
NHTSA has received 214 complaints about the 2006 Kia Optima, and 21% of them involve air bags. Next are latches & locks (13%) and electrical system (11%).
At a glance
- Complaints
- 214 filed with NHTSA
- Most reported
- Air bags 22% of complaints
- Crashes and fires
- 3 and 1
- Injuries and deaths
- 2 and 0
- Typical mileage
- 64,000 miles 179 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 | 51 |
| 20k to 40k miles | 9 |
| 40k to 60k miles | 19 |
| 60k to 80k miles | 41 |
| 80k to 100k miles | 14 |
| 100k to 120k miles | 23 |
| 120k to 140k miles | 9 |
| 140k to 160k miles | 6 |
| 160k to 180k miles | 2 |
| 180k to 200k miles | 1 |
| 200k+ miles | 4 |
What the data shows
Of the 179 complaints that include odometer readings, half describe a problem before roughly 64,000 miles. For air bags specifically, the median reported mileage is about 50,000 miles (35 complaints with mileage).
Safety-related details: 3 complaints mention a crash; 1 complaint mentions a fire; 2 injuries reported. Its complaints are less severe on average than those of 91% 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 2006 ranks 12th most-complained-about out of 20 model years of the Kia Optima with enough data (124 complaints in that window). It is also covered by 2 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.
Tl*the contact owns a 2006 kia optima. On august 3, 2008, the contact was involved in a three vehicle crash. Her vehicle crashed into the preceding vehicle and the air bag failed to deploy. On two occasions, the contact took the vehicle to the dealer because the air bag light kept illuminating. During the first repair, the dealer replaced a wire shortage. During the second repair, the wiring harness was replaced. The vehicle is currently at the tow yard. The manufacturer will be notified. The contact was injured.
Tl* the contact owns a 2006 kia optima. The contact stated that the air bag light would continuously illuminate. The vehicle was taken to the dealer several times where the air bag light was reset but failure continued to occur. On a later date while driving 10 MPH, the air bag unexpectedly deployed in the contact's face. The contact sustained severe swelling to the face. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer would not provide any assistance. The failure mileage was 52,298 . Updated 12/10/10. Updated 12/17/10
My daughter was driving home from work when she first noticed smoke coming from the underneath the hood area. Shortly afterward sparks began to shoot out and the car was engulfed in flames.
The drivers side door lock will not unlock with the electrical button or manually. Manually opened, the lock only opens half way - pull handle to open - door automatically locks. Can't open door with key from outside. Must enter in passenger side door and climb over. Big danger as driving with children in the car.
Airbag- we started the car up and the airbag light came on and has not went off (other than when the car is shut down). After research discovered that an airbag failure was part of a recall for this model, but only for optima's manufactured from sept 2005 forward. This one was manufactured a few weeks prior, yet has the same problem. After a google search, the issue can be found on optima's with a manufacture date as far back as april of 2005. The recall needs to be expanded to all 2006 models.