Toyota Avalon 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	Toyota Avalon	KIA Optima
Complaints on file	4,249	10,387
Model years covered	1995–2022	2001–2020
Worst model year	2006	2013
Best model year	2021	2005
Crashes reported	672	505
Fires reported	34	647
Injuries reported	350	315
Deaths reported	26	22
Most complained-about part	Acceleration & Cruise Control	Engine & Cooling
Share of complaints involving harm	25.5%	14.3%

Toyota Avalon by year

92 121 155 205 113 220 168 148 353 252 303 449 313 417 110 53 130 35 187 123 64 33 17 31 102 13 29 13

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

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

What breaks

Acceleration & Cruise Control 604 14.2%

Airbags 594 14.0%

Steering 369 8.7%

Lights 302 7.1%

Electrical System 297 7.0%

Engine & Cooling 296 7.0%

Brakes 293 6.9%

Transmission & Drivetrain 216 5.1%

KIA Optima by year

231 168 190 306 180 214 218 188 166 99 781 1,263 1,889 791 1,403 1,079 355 334 321 211

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 3,400 32.7%

Electrical System 944 9.1%

Other & Unspecified 847 8.2%

Steering 756 7.3%

Airbags 573 5.5%

Body & Structure 565 5.4%

Brakes 534 5.1%

Transmission & Drivetrain 506 4.9%