2011 KIA OPTIMA — Complaint #1557884
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING filed April 15, 2019
NHTSA complaint #1557884 (ODI reference 11196176) concerns a 2011 KIA OPTIMA and was filed on April 15, 2019. The owner reports the failure occurred on October 3, 2018. The vehicle had 55,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Oklahoma based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same KIA OPTIMA cohort independently describe similar steering failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2011 KIA OPTIMA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
THE PROBLEM STARTED WITH THE VEHICLE SOLELY BEING STATIONARY. THE STEERING WHEEL JUST HAD MORE GIVE BEFORE IT WOULD ENGAGE THE TIRES. IT'S CONSISTENTLY GOTTEN WORSE TO WHERE NOW, WHILE DRIVING, HITTING A BUMP ON ANY KIND OF ROAD CAUSES THE STEERING WHEEL TO MAKE A VERY LOUD RATTLING NOISE. THE NOISE HAS GOTTEN LOUDER AND LOUDER. IT SEEMS TO BE LESS EXTREME IF YOU HIT A BUMP WHILE TURNING. MY VEHICLE HAS LESS THAN 60K MILES ON IT.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1557884 |
| ODI Number | 11196176 |
| Date Filed | April 15, 2019 |
| Failure Date | October 3, 2018 |
| VIN | KNAGM4A75B5 |
Similar STEERING Complaints for 2011 KIA OPTIMA
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Optima. The contact stated while driving 25 MPH, there was a notchy feel in the steering wheel. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, where it was diagnosed, an
1- Steering wheel. Yes 2- Not sure if something was going to happen while driving whether da or night or long distance traveling 3- I spoke with the service center a while back and didn't have a good
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Optima. The contact stated while reversing, the contact heard a popping sound, and the steering wheel became difficult to turn. The vehicle was taken to an impendent mechan
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving at high speeds, the steering wheel seized. After the steering wheel was released, an abnormal sound was heard coming from the
The contact owns a 2011 Kia Optima. The contactâs daughter stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle would produce a clicking noise and shaking coming from the steering column. The contact
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.