2012 KIA OPTIMA — Complaint #2054425
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:FLUID filed January 8, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2054425 (ODI reference 11634952) concerns a 2012 KIA OPTIMA and was filed on January 8, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on December 27, 2024. The vehicle had 150,000 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to North Carolina based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as service brakes, hydraulic:fluid, 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 service brakes, hydraulic:fluid 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 that while driving at 55 -60 MPH, the vehicle lost automotive power and stalled. The contact was able to pull over to the side of the road. The contact became aware of smoke emitting from the vehicle. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the residence and then to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the engine failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The vehicle was towed to the residence and was not being driven. The failure mileage was approximately 150,000.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2054425 |
| ODI Number | 11634952 |
| Date Filed | January 8, 2025 |
| Failure Date | December 27, 2024 |
| VIN | 5XXGN4A7XCG |
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.