Nissan Xterra 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	Nissan Xterra	KIA Optima
Complaints on file	4,194	10,355
Model years covered	2000–2015	2001–2020
Worst model year	2006	2013
Best model year	2009	2005
Crashes reported	173	499
Fires reported	60	641
Injuries reported	111	312
Deaths reported	8	22
Most complained-about part	Fuel & Propulsion	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	8.4%	14.2%

Nissan Xterra by year

258 197 214 97 110 1,175 1,034 770 174 26 58 27 17 7 15 15

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15

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

What breaks

Fuel & Propulsion 1,106 26.4%

Transmission & Drivetrain 1,045 24.9%

Engine & Cooling 823 19.6%

Electrical System 209 5.0%

Airbags 179 4.3%

Other & Unspecified 121 2.9%

Brakes 114 2.7%

Steering 110 2.6%

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%