Other steering problem on the 2011 Kia Optima
1 fire 1 of the 60 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 steering problem gets reported
Owners of the 2011 Kia Optima report other steering problem at a median of 70,000 miles. A quarter of the reports come in before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 97,500 miles, from 50 reports that carried an odometer reading.
A part like this is normally expected to survive 95,000 miles. It is the 2nd most-reported problem on this model year.
The mileage distribution
The reported range runs from 100 miles at the tenth percentile to 110,000 miles at the ninetieth, a spread of 110,902 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.
32% of the dated reports were filed under 36,000 miles.
The whole distribution
| 10th | 25th | Median | 75th | 90th |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 98 miles | 5,550 miles | 70,000 miles | 96,575 miles | 111,000 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 fire is 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 $350–$2,400 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 11 model years of this car. It shows up earliest on the 2014, at a median of 5,000 miles, and latest on the 2017 at 185,000 miles.
By volume the 2013 carries the most reports, with 159; the 2011 has 60. 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.
Purchased a new 2011 kia optima sx with premium touring package. The car has pulled to the left since I bought it. Seems to be more noticeable the faster you go. At highway speeds on a straight road I will be in the next lane in a second or two upon letting go of the steering regardless of which side of the road crown I am on. I also noticed the steering wheel does shift left during this and is off center. *tr
Upon driving home from taking delivery of my new 2011 kia optima on 2/11/11, my husband I noticed that the vehicle pulls to the left substantially. If you loosen the grip of the wheel the car immediately pulls to the left. I have had the vehicle in for service on 2/18, 3/5 and 3/14. Each time I have received the car back from the dealer, they indicate that it is within kia specs and is 'tracking' straight. I picked the vehicle up last night and the vehicle is still pulling to the left. *tr
2011 kia optima pulls to left all the time. I have had it back to the dealer four times and they state nothing is wrong and it is within alignment specs. The car will change lanes if you let go of the steering wheel. You have to hold tension on the steering wheel so that it will stay straight. This is the worst car I have ever driven on the highway. I drive 50 miles one way to work and by the time I get to work my arm hurts. This car is a danger on the highway and the dealer told me they are not authorized to do anything more for me. I sure hope this gets looked into before someone gets hurt or dies because of this. If someone would let go of the steering wheel for a second the car could cross over into on coming traffic. *tr
Also reported on the 2011 Kia Optima
Other engine 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 60 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 steering problem happen on the 2011 Kia Optima?
Across 50 owner reports that included an odometer reading, half were filed by 70,000 miles. A quarter were filed before 5,000 miles and a quarter after 97,500 miles. These are the mileages owners reported when they complained, not a prediction for any individual car.
How common is other steering problem on the 2011 Kia Optima?
60 reports have been filed with NHTSA, about 1.0 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