Other engine problem on the 2007 Kia Optima
1 crash 3 fires 4 of the 12 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 engine problem gets reported
Owners of the 2007 Kia Optima report other engine problem at a median of 100,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 85,000 miles and a quarter after 120,000 miles, from 11 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 4th most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 60,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 140,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 80,000 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.
9% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 62,000 miles | 84,014 miles | 98,000 miles | 119,500 miles | 142,000 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 $300–$4,000 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 20 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2006, at a median of 15,000 miles, and latest on the 2002 at 120,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 444; the 2007 has 12. 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 2007 kia optima. The contact stated that while driving approximately 45 MPH, the vehicle stalled. The contact waited a few moments and was able to restart the vehicle. The failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer several times but they could not find the cause of the failure nor could they duplicate it. The contact called the manufacturer and was advised to her to have the failure diagnosed by the dealer. The vehicle was not repaired. The current mileage was approximately 70,000. The failure mileage was 3,093. Updated 05/03/11*lj updated 07/08/11
I came to a complete stop and proceeded to turn left when I noticed the check engine light came on and as I pulled over there I noticed a thick cloud of blue smoke out of my rear view mirror. I opened the hood and saw flames at the back of the engine around the transmission and airconditioner area of the car. Flames continued until the interior began burning and windshield broke. *js
I was driving and without warning. The car suddenly stopped. I managed to get it to the side of the road. It started smoking and a small fire from engine. No warning lights, nothing. I purchased the care brand new in 2007 and had all required maintenance including new tires. This car just stopped while I was driving. I could have been seriously injured, but it was late and no traffic. I the was towed to kia dealer. The said the engine is shot. I towed to another dealer, they said there is a whole in the engine. Repair cost $7,000. The car only has 62,000 miles on it. I'm appalled! *tr
Also reported on the 2007 Kia Optima
Airbag warning light or occupant sensor fault
Other visibility problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Parking brake failure
Other lighting problem
Seat belt or retractor failure
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 12 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 engine problem happen on the 2007 Kia Optima?
Across 11 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 100,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 85,000 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 engine problem on the 2007 Kia Optima?
12 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 0.4 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