Other engine problem on the 2011 Kia Optima
4 crashes 16 fires 3 injuries 1 death 24 of the 161 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 2011 Kia Optima report other engine problem at a median of 101,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 miles, from 127 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 1st most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 61,000 miles at the tenth percentile to 161,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 100,400 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.
5% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60,600 miles | 80,000 miles | 101,000 miles | 130,000 miles | 161,000 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, 4 a crash, 16 a fire, 3 an injury and 1 a fatality 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 2011 has 161. 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.
Sudden acceleration! Happened approximately 6 months ago and again on may 10th. Going slowly towards a stop sign while braking to stop, the car suddenly accelerates and lunges forward. Stepped on the brake but car keeps going. Put shift lever in neutral with engine racing and after about 2 seconds the engine slowly drops to idle. No accidents caused because no one was in front of me. Very dangerous situation! Took car to the dealer on may 15th and they could find no codes present and said the vehicle was operating as designed. *tr
This is the second time I report this unintended acceleration, last month happened on may 4 , I documented in my previous complaint, they returned the car 5-21-14 they didn't find anything, on june 6 again the car accelerated when I was stepped on the brake and ready to put it in park, they told me to take the car to another dealer until now don't hear from them, called kia in california left messages no call back, today a got a hold with another person jenny, and she repeat like a broken record we cannot duplicate the problem but they still keep the car for a long time, I have a case # [xxx] the NHTSA should investigate this, like I explained to this lady engineers should look at this situation not the mechanic, is something to do with the computer, they just follow instructions and their machine tell them nothing is wrong, like I mentioned before in my other complaint this one is the fourth time that happened, what are we waiting that some people got kill to investigate, look at the problems that toyota and general motor had, they wait until people died then start doing something, thank you to this site that we could voice our…
Tl* the contact owns a 2011 kia optima. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH, the vehicle made a squealing and an unusual popping sound that emitted from the front of the vehicle. The contact was able to maneuver the vehicle to the side of the road. The front tires had seized. The vehicle was towed to dealer. The technician diagnosed that the engine block bracket fractured. As a result, the technician recommended an engine replacement. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified about the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 82,273.
Also reported on the 2011 Kia Optima
Other steering problem
Headlight failure or clouding
Complete engine failure or seizure
Other brake problem
Steering column or shaft failure
Other electrical problem
How far this goes
Complaints are voluntary, so 161 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 2011 Kia Optima?
Across 127 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 101,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 80,000 miles and a quarter after 130,000 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 2011 Kia Optima?
161 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 2.6 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