Federal complaint record · Kia Optima · model year 2003

2003 Kia Optima

Owners submitted 141 federal complaint reports about this model year, placing it at the 13th percentile for complaint intensity within its 2001 to 2005 midsize sedan cohort. The largest reported component group is latches. Sample sizes and limitations are shown below.

Latches · 28% · group n = 53Structure · 14% · group n = 26Electrical · 13% · group n = 25Airbags · 10% · group n = 19Fuel system · 6% · group n = 12
141
Complaint records on file
84,200
Median mileage at the reported problem · 105 complaints reported mileage
28%
Of classified component reports name latches · group n = 53
13th
Complaint-intensity percentile in a cohort of 43 model years

Latches · 3 in ten classified complaints

Where this record concentrates

All failure files
Component group 01 · Latches28%

Latches reports

Kia Optima · model year 2003

Reports in this group53
Share of classified reports28%
Component groups on file6
Open the failure files

From the record · recurring narrative clusters

What recurring complaint clusters describe

How clusters are built
Airbag concerns · 15 reports

Reports describe airbag warning or deployment concerns

Cluster 1 of 32003 Kia Optima
Fire or smoke · 12 reports

Reports describe smoke, burning smells, or fire

Cluster 2 of 32003 Kia Optima
Electrical faults · 7 reports

Reports describe electrical faults or battery drain

Cluster 3 of 32003 Kia Optima

Cluster summaries paraphrase recurring symptoms reported to NHTSA. They are aggregate descriptions, not individual verbatim reports.

Records through 2026-07-19Published 2026-08-02 · Updated 2026-07-19

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NHTSA consumer complaint records can reveal recurring patterns across published model years. MotorCensus summarizes those records as one complaint-signal index, with a 95% interval and sample size, updated with each data snapshot.

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