Cadillac SRX vs KIA Optima

Both cars' complete complaint records, side by side.

Read the totals carefully. NHTSA publishes no sales figures, so the car that sold more collects more complaints regardless of quality. The rows worth weighing are the proportions — the share of complaints that involved harm, and which part dominates.

Measure	Cadillac SRX	KIA Optima
Complaints on file	4,169	10,355
Model years covered	2004–2019	2001–2020
Worst model year	2012	2013
Best model year	2006	2005
Crashes reported	269	499
Fires reported	48	641
Injuries reported	197	312
Deaths reported	2	22
Most complained-about part	Lights	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	12.4%	14.2%

Cadillac SRX by year

324 162 96 69 71 31 632 575 515 493 454 537 208 2

04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 19

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Lights 1,570 37.7%

Electrical System 378 9.1%

Suspension 258 6.2%

Other & Unspecified 258 6.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 250 6.0%

Engine & Cooling 240 5.8%

Brakes 212 5.1%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 168 4.0%

KIA Optima by year

231 168 190 306 180 214 217 188 166 99 778 1,263 1,885 786 1,400 1,076 354 333 318 203

01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Complaints filed with NHTSA, by model year. Bar colour is the FaultScore grade: A B C D F ungraded

What breaks

Engine & Cooling 3,390 32.7%

Electrical System 938 9.1%

Other & Unspecified 842 8.1%

Steering 756 7.3%

Airbags 571 5.5%

Body & Structure 565 5.5%

Brakes 534 5.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 503 4.9%