2012 KIA OPTIMA — Complaint #1941479
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:LINKAGES:TIE ROD ASSEMBLY filed November 7, 2023
NHTSA complaint #1941479 (ODI reference 11554019) concerns a 2012 KIA OPTIMA and was filed on November 7, 2023. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 7, 2019. The report was geocoded to California based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:linkages:tie rod assembly, 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:linkages:tie rod assembly 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 2012 KIA OPTIMA shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. The contact stated while driving at various speeds and driving over a bump in the roadway, there was an abnormal rattling sound coming from underneath the front end of the vehicle. Additionally, the front end of the vehicle and the steering column vibrated significantly, and the vehicle was pulling to the right. There was no warning light illuminated. The contact stated that she was able to steer the vehicle back into the lane. The contact stated that the failure had been recurring while driving. The vehicle was taken to an unknown dealer several times, and unknown repairs were completed; however, the failure persisted. Additionally, the vehicle was taken to several independent mechanics who informed the contact that the failure could be related to the tie rod and to unknown bushings. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1941479 |
| ODI Number | 11554019 |
| Date Filed | November 7, 2023 |
| Failure Date | November 7, 2019 |
| VIN | 5XXGN4A70CG |
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.