KIA Optima vs Toyota Camry

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	Toyota Camry
Complaints on file	10,355	23,365
Model years covered	2001–2020	1983–2024
Worst model year	2013	2009
Best model year	2005	1993
Crashes reported	499	3,870
Fires reported	641	557
Injuries reported	312	2,075
Deaths reported	22	77
Most complained-about part	Engine & Cooling	Acceleration & Cruise Control
Share of complaints involving harm	14.2%	28.2%

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%

Toyota Camry by year

6 10 19 35 70 88 138 160 186 646 334 364 373 567 685 751 661 577 356 1,183 946 799 905 393 3,670 1,140 1,616 766 781 810 377 640 362 253 206 1,092 565 386 196 88 93 72

83 84 85 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

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

What breaks

Acceleration & Cruise Control 3,184 13.6%

Engine & Cooling 2,782 11.9%

Brakes 2,310 9.9%

Body & Structure 1,801 7.7%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,761 7.5%

Airbags 1,696 7.3%

Windows, Mirrors & Wipers 1,547 6.6%

Other & Unspecified 1,487 6.4%