2012 KIA OPTIMA — Complaint #2151873
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ENGINE filed November 25, 2025
NHTSA complaint #2151873 (ODI reference 11701499) concerns a 2012 KIA OPTIMA and was filed on November 25, 2025. The owner reports the failure occurred on November 5, 2025. The report was geocoded to Texas based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as engine, 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 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
To: Administrator National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Washington, DC 20590 USA Subject: Formal Safety Defect Claim Regarding Unaddressed Recalls â 2012 Kia Optima Hybrid (VIN: [XXX] ) From: [XXX] Email: [XXX] Phone: [XXX] Vehicle Information: - VIN: * [XXX] ** - Make / Model: 2012 Kia Optima Hybrid - Mileage: approx. **250,000 miles** - Current Location: Moldova (vehicle manufactured in Korea for the US market) --- ## Summary of the Problem I am writing to file a **formal safety defect claim** regarding my 2012 Kia Optima Hybrid, VIN * [XXX] **, which, despite having documented recall campaigns, has never had critical parts replaced. As a result: 1. **Internal scoring and scratches (zadir)** have been detected within the engine, consistent with **metal shavings / debris** circulating in the oil system. 2. There is **metallic residue (shavings)** found in the oil pump, which strongly suggests that
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2151873 |
| ODI Number | 11701499 |
| Date Filed | November 25, 2025 |
| Failure Date | November 5, 2025 |
| VIN | KNAGM4ADXC5 |
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Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
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