KIA Optima vs Jeep Wrangler

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	KIA Optima	Jeep Wrangler
Complaints on file	10,355	22,900
Model years covered	2001–2020	1986–2026
Worst model year	2013	2021
Best model year	2005	2025
Crashes reported	499	779
Fires reported	641	736
Injuries reported	312	477
Deaths reported	22	26
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Steering
Share of complaints involving harm	14.2%	8.8%

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%

Jeep Wrangler by year

1 51 55 86 105 100 100 134 184 259 2 548 401 262 311 235 139 130 281 756 852 792 1,254 496 907 682 1,287 1,045 852 683 648 422 2,636 1,083 789 1,519 650 588 1,442 117 16

86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

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

What breaks

Steering 3,528 15.4%

Electrical System 2,962 12.9%

Engine & Cooling 2,738 12.0%

Fuel & Propulsion 2,562 11.2%

Transmission & Drivetrain 2,244 9.8%

Suspension 1,593 7.0%

Airbags 1,481 6.5%

Other & Unspecified 1,301 5.7%