This is an online automotive information provider of a detailed information on complaints, defects and recalls for KIA OPTIMA 2011 exterior lighting. Our users can find data on mass market car models from most popular brands. The service allows to compare and analyze statistics for reported problems, complaints, recalls for various manufacturers. We hope our site will help with selecting of a reliable and safe car. By using this tool, you will be able to get records with description of safety issues for vehicles, equipment, tires and child restraints. These issues include safety recalls for your KIA OPTIMA 2011 exterior lighting and complaints other owners have filed.

Enter valid VIN:

2011 KIA OPTIMA Exterior Lighting Problems, Complaints and Defects

Issue ID	1639125
Internal NHTSA #	11302283
Manufacurer	Kia Motors America
Brand	KIA
Model	OPTIMA
Model Year	2011
File date	01/10/19
Component	EXTERIOR LIGHTING
Product type code	VEHICLE
Description of the problem	The low beam headlights have continuously become dimmer over time. After replacing the bulbs a second time, i determined that it was clearly not a bulb issue. There was absolutely no light directly in front of the car, only to the sides. The high beams are fine. After reading on line thousands of complaints, i took my car to a dealer. Bulldog kia in athens, ga told me that there was in fact a service issue (she would not say recall), but because nothing in my headlight assembly was "broken or cracked" they couldn't replace it. And since i didn't buy the bulb from kia, that was the problem. I purchased the exact bulb recommended for this year, make and model. Kia was going to charge me $1,000 to replace the headlight assemblies. The new assemblies would be exactly the same as the ones that are currently bad. Nothing has been changed! If you look at any kia optima on the road that is more than 3 or 4 years old, you will see the same dark area in front of the car, with a lot of light shooting out to the sides. Since this is my daughters car for college, i purchased new headlight assemblies on line for $285 and replaced them myself and used led bulbs to prevent the "burning" of the chrome plating inside the assembly that apparently cause the others to go bad. This is a tremendous safety hazard. Anyone who replaces the bulb thinks that they are fixing the problem, and therefore are driving in inadequate lighting. Please, please do something to force kia to recall and replace these headlight assemblies before needless accidents happen causing injury or death. My daughter was overwhelmed by the additional vision that she now has with her new led lights. She only told me because she had friends that didn't feel safe riding in her car at night. So she brought it to my attention. I am appalled that kia is avoiding this major issue. Please take action asap. Thank you.
Vehicle Mileage at Failure	75000
Number of Occurences
Source of the issue	NHTSA WEB SITE
City and State	JEFFERSON, GA
VIN pattern	KNAGM4A79B5XXXXXX
Was vehicle invloved in a crash?	N
Was vehicle involved in a fire?	N
Was incedent reported to police?	N
Was medical attention required?	N
Was part original equipment?
No. of injured persons
No. of fatalities
Date of purchase	07/08/26
Was original owner?	N
Anti-lock brakes	N
Cruise control	N
Number of cylinders
Drive train type
Transmission type
Vehicle speed	55
DoT tire identifier
Tire size
Location of tire code
Type of tire failure code
Was defective tire repaired?
Date of manufacture
Type of child seat code
Type of restraint
Dealer's name
Dealer's telephone number
Dealer's city
Dealer's state code
Dealer's ZIP code

What is Recall?
A recall is when a product is removed from the market or a correction is made to the product because it is either defective or potentially harmful.
What is Failure?
Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. Product failure ranges from failure to sell the product to fracture of the product, in the worst cases leading to personal injury, the province of forensic engineering.
What is Defect?
Non-conformance of a car component with the specified requirements, or non-fulfillment of user expectations, including the safety aspects.

Last decoded VIN:

SALVA2AC5DH755944 MR2KC3F3801431529 4JGFF5KE8NA773794 WF0KXXGCBKEJ83997 WF0KXXERJKDU42596 WVGZZZ5NZCW066404 WBA2M3105JVA54914 ZAR95500001202176 WDB4632761X208372 1J4GR48K35C640804 1B7KC2364WJ238013 SALAC2D4XDA693026

Rating: 4.7 from 5 (3783 reviews)

2011 KIA OPTIMA Exterior Lighting Problems, Complaints and Defects, Recalls and Failures

2011 KIA OPTIMA Exterior Lighting Problems, Complaints and Defects

What is Recall?

What is Failure?

What is Defect?