Before You Buy Vehicle safety card

Used-car safety card

Theta II engines could seize and catch fire from oil starvation; owners were told to 'park outside.'

Recall - remedy available

Hyundai Sonata / Kia Optima

Hyundai / Kia·MY 2011-2019·Sedan
No confirmed deaths Status: closed
Recall campaign
Hyundai / Kia Theta II engines
Component
Engine (Theta II)
Recalled
2015, expanded 2017
Units affected
1.60M 1.6M+ vehicles
U.S. deaths
not asserted - Non-crash engine fires; owners were told to 'park outside.' $210M NHTSA penalties (2020).
Live data slot

Not in the v1 snapshot. Fields below name the free NHTSA source they join from - no vehicle-specific number is guessed here.

NCAP crash rating SafetyRatings API
Frontal Crash – / 5★
Side Crash – / 5★
Rollover Resistance – / 5★
Overall Rating – / 5★
Owner complaints FLAT_CMPL
Volume by component pending
Full recall count FLAT_RCL
All recalls, this make/model/year 1 landmark on file
This vehicle's record, in numbers
Vehicle Hyundai Sonata / Kia Optima
Manufacturer Hyundai / Kia
Model years 2011-2019
Body Sedan
Recall campaign Hyundai / Kia Theta II engines
Component Engine (Theta II)
Units affected 1.6M+ vehicles
U.S. deaths -
Do Not Drive No
Recalled 2015, expanded 2017

NCAP star ratings and per-vehicle complaint totals are not in the v1 snapshot; they join live from api.nhtsa.gov/SafetyRatings and FLAT_CMPL.

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