Recalls for 2009 Kia Optima

2 recalls found.

All Kia Recalls

Various Vehicles, Edinburgh Castle Entrance

Over the past several decades, what has been noteworthy in the automotive industry is the rise of Asian automakers, often at the expense of European and American ones. The UK once had a strong domestic automotive industry, but mismanagement has made many storied British brands either a shadow of their former selves, or worse yet, extinct. This batch of six cars parked at the Edinburgh Castle car park are all Asian.

The closest vehicle to me is a Kia Optima (Kia K5 within South Korea); this particular example is an estate (station wagon) version which is well suited for Europe. Due to European preference for smaller vehicles, the Kia Optima was pretty much the largest saloon or estate I could easily find within the UK, and the only one that was sold in both the UK and the US without major differences.

Behind the Optima is a very popular SUV: the Nissan Qashqai. The Qashqai, many of which were built in Sunderland, England, is responsible for making Nissan the most popular automotive brand in the UK; it is often nicknamed "Qashqow" for contributing heavily to Nissan's profits. The Qashqai is a popular global model, though for the US market, it was renamed the Rogue Sport.

On the other row, from left to right, are: a Mazda3, a Toyota Yaris, a Kia Sportage, and an MG SUV. MG ("Morris Garage") is one of those storied British brands of the past that had gone extinct, but came back to life by having its intellectual property bought out by China; currently owned by SAIC, MG's SUVs, many of them electric, are a common sight on UK roads, even though virtually all of them are now made in China.

DEFECT #1 - SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:SWITCHES:BRAKE LIGHT

Posted on: 2013-04-01
Description
Kia motors corporation (kia) is recalling certain model year 2007-2010 rondo, model year 2007-2011 sedona, sorento and sportage, model year 2010-2011 soul, model year 2008-2011 optima, model year 2010 forte, model year 2007-2009 amanti, and model year 2009 borrego vehicles.  Originally, in april 2013, kia recalled 623,658 model year 2007-2010 rondo and sportage, model year 2007-2011 sorento, model year 2007 sedona, model year 2010-2011 soul, and model year 2011 optima vehicles.  In september 2013, kia informed the agency that it was adding an additional 356,719 vehicles to this campaign.  The total number of vehicles being recalled is now 980,377.  In the affected vehicles, the stop lamp switch may malfunction.  A malfunctioning stop lamp switch may cause the brake lights to not illuminate when the brake pedal is depressed or may cause an inability to deactivate the cruise control by depressing the brake pedal.  Additionally, a malfunctioning stop lamp switch may also result in intermittent operation of the push-button start feature, affect the operation of the brake-transmission shift interlock feature preventing the shifter from being moved out of the park position and cause the electronic stability control (esc) malfunction light to illuminate.

Consequence
Failure to illuminate the stop lamps during braking or inability to disengage the cruise control could increase the risk of a crash.  Additionally, when the ignition is in the 'on' position, the transmission shifter may be able to be moved out of park without first applying the brake.  This may lead to unintentional movement of the car which may increase the risk of a crash.

Corrective Action
Kia will send an interim notification to owners in may 2013.  When parts are available, owners will receive a second notification and dealers will replace the stop lamp switch, free of charge.  Owners may contact kia at 1-800-333-4542.  Kia's recall campaign number is sc098.

Notes
Owners may also contact the national highway traffic safety administration vehicle safety hotline at 1-888-327-4236 (tty 1-800-424-9153), or go to www.safercar.gov.

Recalls for 2009 Kia Optima

DEFECT #1 - SERVICE BRAKES, HYDRAULIC:SWITCHES:BRAKE LIGHT

DEFECT #2 - EXTERIOR LIGHTING:BRAKE LIGHTS:SWITCH