2011 KIA OPTIMA — Complaint #2075929
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:ENGINE:OIL/LUBRICATION filed March 21, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2075929 (ODI reference 11649717) concerns a 2011 KIA OPTIMA and was filed on March 21, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on February 19, 2025. The vehicle had 68,500 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Pennsylvania based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as engine and engine cooling:engine:oil/lubrication, 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 engine and engine cooling:engine:oil/lubrication 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 contact owns a 2011 Kia Optima. The contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, there was an abnormal rattling sound coming from the engine. There was no warning light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic who noticed that the engine oil level was abnormally low, and that there were no visible signs of an oil leakage. The oil level was topped off; however, within 3 weeks the oil level was abnormally low again. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer to be diagnosed and the contact was informed that an excessive oil consumption was not included in the engine replacement warranty extension. The contact was informed that a further diagnostic test was required. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 68,500.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2075929 |
| ODI Number | 11649717 |
| Date Filed | March 21, 2025 |
| Failure Date | February 19, 2025 |
| VIN | KNAGN4A63B5 |
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.