VehicleVerdict

2019 Kia Optima engine problems

The 2019 Kia Optima has 87 engine complaints filed with NHTSA — 28% of the year's total, and down from the prior model year.

87

Engine complaints

28%

Share of year

0

Crash-involved

0

Related recalls

Engine complaints by year

Optima engine complaints by model year650 complaints2001: 27 complaints2002: 11 complaints2003: 9 complaints2004: 14 complaints2005: 6 complaints2006: 16 complaints2007: 20 complaints2008: 23 complaints2009: 16 complaints2010: 11 complaints2011: 260 complaints2012: 416 complaints2013: 650 complaints2014: 291 complaints2015: 645 complaints2016: 445 complaints2017: 168 complaints2018: 141 complaints2019: 87 complaints2020: 99 complaints
Optima engine complaints by model year. Red bars are years to avoid.

What owners report

“I recently had the engine replaced less than a year ago due to an engine recall on this model car, today 11/11/2025 the engine caught fire. We’ve kept up with oil changes on time and I had no alerts in the vehicle on the dash claiming the engine was hot. ”

Complaint filed with NHTSA · Engine · November 11, 2025 · fire

Common questions

How many engine complaints does the 2019 Kia Optima have?

NHTSA has 87 complaints about the 2019 Kia Optima engine — 28% of all complaints filed for that model year.

Related

Based on NHTSA ODI data through June 2026. Complaints are consumer-reported and unverified. Updated July 5, 2026.

Compiled by Sharon Ben-Moshe, Founder.