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Engine & cooling

2003 Kia Optima Engine problems

Owners have filed 10 complaints about the 2003 Kia Optima's engine & cooling with NHTSA - 7% of all its complaints, most recently on February 3, 2025. They describe 1 crash, 1 fire and 1 injury. Stalling, loss of power, oil consumption, overheating, head gaskets, timing chains and engine failure.

Complaints
10
Recalls
0
Crashes
1
Fires
1
Injuries
1
Deaths
0

Engine complaints

SteeringSuspensionEngine & cooling

While driving on the roadway, I was almost to a four way intersection, as i was going to get into the left turn lane, I turned the steering wheel slightly to the left as the steering wheel turned but the car almost did little adjusting to turn into the left turn lane. As this occurred you could here a noise underneath the vehicle . As I wasn't sure exactly what had happened, I attempted to limp the vehicle down the road to a friend's. As I did the steering got worse and as I could nearly stear the vehicle something...

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was in the road which because of the steering I couldn't avoid it as it was late at night and raining and I ran over something that gave me a flat on the passenger side front tire . I got to my friends drive a few feet away and almost didn't get it pulled in because of the steering. As I took a look at my car, I noticed that two bolts on the driver side on the rack and pinion were almost about to fall out, two ball joints were bent and one nut was completely missing from the lower ball joint, as well as the sway bar was out of place and If I would have been driving down the highway, I do belive I would have wrecked.

Filed Incident Steering · Suspension · EngineNHTSA 11640256
Electrical systemAirbagsEngine & cooling

After 60,000 miles, while driving or with the engine running, the engine light came on and stayed on. This has been repaired three times by replacing a main fuse. Each time it has been repaired, the problem has reoccurred. In connection with this problem, the door will lock after the driver exits the car. Sometimes, the keys have been locked in the car.

Filed Incident Electrical system · Air bags · EngineNHTSA 10789284
Engine & cooling

Tl*the contact owns a 2003 kia optima. Whenever the contact attempted to use the air conditioner he noticed that the vehicle began to run hot without warning. The vehicle was taken to a local mechanic where the radiator and tubing were replaced ; however, 2 weeks after the repair the contact continued to experience the failure. The failure mileage was 89000 and the current mileage was 90000.

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 10354157
Engine & coolingElectrical system

Tl*- the contact stated that the 2003 kia optima's with 50000 failure mileage lights, locks, radio did not work. The vehicle would not start. The vehicle was towed to the dealer multiple times. The dealer installed a new engine. The vehicle did not work properly. The current mileage was 56,000.*Ak

Filed Incident Engine and engine cooling · Electrical systemNHTSA 10186713
Engine & coolingFire

2003 Kia optima with 70,000 miles just burst into flames and burned totally up while driving down the road. Fire started somewhere in engine compartment per the fire department. Vehicle was running fine prior to incident. Very dangerous situation for passengers and surrounding property. *Jb

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 10143300
Engine & coolingTransmission & drivetrain

I was driving my 2003 kia optima on i85 at 65 mph when the vehicle suddenly lost power and slowed quickly to less than 10 mph. The vehicle continued to sputter and backfire until I was forced to pull over and wait approximately. 15 Minutes before proceeding normally. My wife has also experienced the same problems and is afraid of being involved in an accident. The vehicle has been in the shop for this issue 4 times. The last repair involved paramount kia in hickory where the mechanic replaced many of the assumed problem parts such as faulty wiring harness, ecm, maf sensor and fuel pump without resolve. The service department stated that they had no idea on how to fix the problem. *Nm

Filed Incident Engine and engine cooling · Power trainNHTSA 10107846
Engine & cooling

It was raining hard in our area( 1 inches in 1 our). I live 3 miles in on a county dirt road and it was muddy with standing water. When all the water and mud was splasted in the engine compartment the was idleing rough. This is the (2) second time this happened. The first time was about 2 months ago in april when we had same type of weather. Took the car to my dealer service dept and was told they could not find nothing wrong and that I had water in my gas. I put atleast two bottles of dry gas in tank. Car ran fine until the eveing of 6/14/03 when again we had alot of rain and the same 3 mile wet, muddy, standing water dirt road. *Ak

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 10075412
Engine & cooling

While driving , the engine light illuminated and the brake pedal went to the floor. The consumer took the vehicle to the dealer who stated that the engine coils burned out. *Ak engine problems with o-ring leaking gas into the air vents. *La *jb

Filed Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 10038549
Engine & coolingCrash1 injury

While driving 55 mph on the highway, consumer lost control of vehicle and hit the guard rail. The driver was injured and transported by ambulance to the hospital. Injuries unknown at this time. A police report was taken and the vehicle was towed to the dealer for analysis. Mechanic detected both frontal upper ball joints cracked. *Ak

Filed Incident Engine and engine coolingNHTSA 10044891
Engine & coolingAcceleration & cruise control

The accelerator pedal sticks and the vehicle randomly starts. *Jg ph

Filed Engine and engine cooling · Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 10004562

Kia Optima engine complaints by year

Optima engine problems, every year

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Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked . Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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