Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure on the 2004 Kia Optima
1 crash 1 injury 2 of the 13 reports for this failure mention a crash, a fire, an injury or a death. Those are the owner's words on the complaint form, not a verified finding, and one report can mention more than one.
When control arm, ball joint or bushing failure gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Kia Optima report control arm, ball joint or bushing failure at a median of 75,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 108,000 miles. It is the 5th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 25,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 105,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 75,800 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
When the reports scatter this far, the mileage is telling you about how these cars were driven more than about the part itself.
18% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27,000 miles | 62,796 miles | 73,615 miles | 94,650 miles | 102,800 miles |
Read the 10th percentile as “one report in ten arrived this early”. Exact figures are shown in this table because it is the table of record; everywhere else on the site they are rounded to the precision the sample can carry.
What a percentile can and cannot tell you here
These five numbers describe the readings owners gave, in order. The median is the middle one: half the reports arrived below it. The 10th and 90th are the edges of the bulk of the distribution, and the distance between them is the part worth reading. A tight spread — say 70,000 to 95,000 miles — points at something that wears out on a schedule, and the schedule is knowable. A wide one, 20,000 to 190,000, points at a fault that hits some cars and never troubles others, which means the mileage on the listing in front of you tells you very little about your odds.
What these figures are not is a survival curve. Every reading here comes from a car whose owner filed a complaint, so the sample contains only failures: it cannot say what share of the fleet made it past 150,000 miles untouched, because those owners had nothing to report. Nor is the mileage the moment of failure — it is the odometer reading as recalled at the time of filing, which may be weeks later and is sometimes rounded to the nearest ten thousand by the person typing it.
Percentiles are shown at all only once 8 readings exist for the vehicle and mode. Below that the middle of a handful of numbers is noise wearing a decimal point, so the figures are withheld rather than dressed up.
What happens, and what it costs
Of these reports, 1 a crash and 1 an injury are mentioned. Owners write their own complaints and the agency does not verify them, so read this as what the reports say happened rather than as a confirmed count.
Putting it right typically runs $400–$2,200 at an independent US shop. That range is an editorial estimate held in this site's failure-mode catalogue, not a figure from NHTSA, and it is a repair cost rather than a diagnosis cost.
The same failure on other years
The same failure is reported on 7 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2008, at a median of 65,000 miles, and latest on the 2003 at 170,000 miles.
By volume the 2002 carries the most reports, with 43; the 2004 has 13. A mode that appears across most years of a model is usually a design choice rather than a bad batch.
If one year stands out to the left, that is the year to avoid; if the whole line sits at a similar mileage, this is wear rather than a defect in one production run.
Tick median reported mileage Solid middle half of reports Faint 10th to 90th percentile Colour how bad the failure is when it happens
What owners wrote
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint narratives, trimmed for length. The mileage is the one the owner gave.
Vehicle was involved in a single car accident impacting a fixed median curb. The car was towed to a repair shop identified by my insurance company. The tow truck driver remarked that the front suspension appeared to have bolts missing. This was independently verified by the body shop. In their damage assessment, they found that the lower control arm to ball joint bolts were missing and the 2 holes were rounded out in a way that would be consistent with the bolts falling out. The bolts falling out caused the left front suspension to collapse thereby causing the accident. A complaint was filed with kia motors america. They required the insurance company or myself to provide all of the evidence to show that their car was at fault. After submitting the repair estimate and pictures from both the scene and from the repair shop, kia motors america and their legal department determined that they are not at fault. The repair shop manager could not believe that they would make a determination without ever looking at the car. According to jennifer at kia, the complaint is closed and I have no further recourse other that to contact a lawyer…
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 kia optima. While driving 20 MPH out of a parking lot, the front passenger side lower ball joint and axle detached from the vehicle. The contact controlled the vehicle until it came to a stop twelve feet from the incident. Her insurance company provided roadside assistance and the vehicle was towed to a collision shop. Prior to the failure, the contact informed the dealer of a grinding noise she heard. They stated that they were too busy to check the vehicle, but three hours later the axle and lower ball joints failed. The failure mileage was 68,954.
Received recall letter from kia june15,2009, possibility of corrosion of the subframe. I called my dealer within a couple of days and was told no parts in they would call me. On aug. 03 I called the kia consumer assistance center and they called the dealer and was told still not parts. I was told I would be called back within two days to let me know why no parts however it was the same no call. I am concerned that my car may be faulty and I can get no service or help. If it is a recall why can I not get help to have it checked. Kia motors america inc. Gave no reply and the dealer still says no parts. On aug 15th it will be two months and no help. Thank you (this is from a recall letter to me). *tr
Also reported on the 2004 Kia Optima
Other body or interior problem
Door latch or handle failure
Other electrical problem
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Fuel pump failure
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 13 is a floor and not a count of affected cars. Mileages are typed in by owners and cluster on round numbers. And the mode itself is assigned by software reading the complaint text, which is reliable in bulk and fallible one report at a time.
Questions this page answers
At what mileage does control arm, ball joint or bushing failure happen on the 2004 Kia Optima?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 75,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 65,000 miles and a quarter after 95,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is control arm, ball joint or bushing failure on the 2004 Kia Optima?
13 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.4 per 1,000 vehicles. Complaints are voluntary, so this is a floor rather than a count of affected cars.
What this is and is not. These are the mileages at which owners chose to complain to a federal agency, which is not the same as the mileage at which the part fails on every car. It skews toward failures that happened outside warranty, cost real money, or frightened someone. It is still the only public dataset that carries failure mileage at all, and the shape of a few hundred readings is informative even when a single one is not. Methodology · JSON · this failure on other cars
Source Owner complaints and recall records published by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, model years 1996–2027 Figures rebuilt Published by AtWhatMileage How every figure is computed