Other electrical problem on the 2004 Kia Optima
1 crash 3 fires 4 of the 22 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 other electrical problem gets reported
Owners of the 2004 Kia Optima report other electrical problem at a median of 85,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 15 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 85,000 miles. It is the 3rd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 15,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 125,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 111,122 miles across the middle 80% of reports.
A spread this wide points at use rather than design. Towing, climate, service history and city mileage all move a failure like this, so the median is a weak guide to any individual car.
20% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13,678 miles | 45,000 miles | 87,000 miles | 117,966 miles | 124,800 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 3 a fire 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 $250–$2,000 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 19 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2001, at a median of 10,000 miles, and latest on the 2005 at 100,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 93; the 2004 has 22. 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.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 kia optima. In june of 2004, the exterior lighting failed while driving at an unknown speed. In addition, the driver's side door would not lock and the check engine light consistently illuminated. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer and the exterior lighting was repaired; however, the door was not because it was not under warranty. After the repair was made, the exterior lighting continued to fail as well as the other issues. She took the vehicle back to the dealer approximately four times to repair the same failures, but the issues kept persisting. The vehicle has not been repaired since. The current mileage was 93,000 and failure mileage was 19,195. Updated 10/05/08 *cn the headlights and brake lights were replaced several times. The dimmre switch also failed. Updated 11/06/08. *jb
My car doors do not open either inside or outside. This problem started with my front passenger side door and now is affecting my drivers side door. The problem appears to be electrical and will happens randomly. The pass. Door is now 100% affected and the drivers side just started today. So the end result is I am locked inside my car unless I crawl through the window. I googled this problem online and apparently this problem is rampant. I called kia customer service and they said that there is not a recall and because my car is a 2004 (with only 39,000 miles) they will not cover it. I told him how dangerous this type of problem was and he really didnt seem to care. Ii asked him who issues recalls and he said it was your organization, when I said that I would call you to try and get a recall he then said "well you could bring it into kia and see what they find, although no gaurantee I would get it paid for by them even though it has happened to many kia cars. I then told him I would be contacting your organization and he didnt seem to happy. * when my passenger door started with this problem approx. 2 months ago I called the local…
I own a 2004 kia optima purchased brand new. I have been unable to unlock (or open) the driver side door. The vehicle has never been in an accident. The problem accorded a few weeks ago when I attempted to unlock my car door. Once I removed my key and lifted the handle to get in all of the doors lock. I had to enter through the passenger side door. The drivers side door will also not open from the inside. This is a safety hazard as if I get into a car accident I will be trapped inside and could die!! I am not the only person with this issue for this make and model. And it appears that the 2003 model has the same issue. As you can see from the following websites: http://vlane.com/discuss-topic/989/my-drivers-door-is-locked-will-not-unlock, as well as www.fixya.com/cars/+866401-drivers_door_will_not_unlock this is not an isolated incident. This is clearly a defect that needs to be addressed. Please issue a recall as I fear for my family's safety. *tr
Also reported on the 2004 Kia Optima
Other body or interior problem
Door latch or handle failure
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Control arm, ball joint or bushing failure
Fuel pump failure
Other engine problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 22 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 other electrical problem happen on the 2004 Kia Optima?
Across 15 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 85,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 45,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other electrical problem on the 2004 Kia Optima?
22 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.4 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