2012 KIA Optima - Complaint #2176536
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about ENGINE filed February 13, 2026
NHTSA complaint #2176536 (ODI reference 11717790) concerns a 2012 KIA Optima and was filed on February 13, 2026. The owner reports the failure occurred on February 12, 2026. The report was geocoded to Kansas 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
The car seized operating, shut down with zero warnings. It has been a reliable car and maintained. We towed to a mechanic who said it was engine failure. Thankfully we had just exited off highway and on a side street when it became inoperable or it would have been detrimental.
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 2176536 |
| ODI Number | 11717790 |
| Date Filed | February 13, 2026 |
| Failure Date | February 12, 2026 |
| VIN | 5XXGM4A7XCG |
Similar ENGINE Complaints for 2012 KIA Optima
•I’m not sure what failed, the car was parked. And yes it’s available for inspection. •I had just parked the car coming from work and at the time. If I was in the car any longer than 5 more minutes i
On or around October 17th 2025 I purchased a 2019 Kia OPT un aware that the vehicle had recall problems. Once I realized the vehicle had problems I took it to get it checked out. I only had the vehicl
Subject: RECALL VIOLATION: Kia on the Boulevard (Philadelphia) - Refused Remedy, Charged $199, Returned Unsafe Vehicle Vehicle Information: [Year] Kia Optima Hybrid Dealership Name: Kia on the Boulev
To: Administrator National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 1200 New Jersey Avenue SE Washington, DC 20590 USA Subject: Formal Safety Defect Claim Regarding Unaddressed Recal
June 26th 2025 my Kia optima 2012 EX quit on interstate 65 in Alabama was towed to dealership 10 days later was requested that I turn in maintenance records which I did. 10 days after that I was conta
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.