Table 1 shows one common seat belt related problems of the 2008 Kia Motor Optima.
| Problem Category | Number of Problems |
|---|---|
| Seat Belt problems |
The rear passenger seat belt was jammed. I pulled it a few times and it became unjammed and I fastened the safety belt around my 4 year old child. Approximately 3-5 minutes later as I was driving I smelled smoke. I started checking the control panel and turned off the a/c and radio and rolled down the windows. The smoke stopped so I continued to drive about a mile and stopped the car in a parking lot. I was there approximately 4 minutes when I smelled smoke and turned my head to the rear of the vehicle towards my child. My child screamed for me the same moment I was turning my head and there were flames melting the plastic casing around the seat belt cover. The flames almost reached her head. I frantically got in the back seat and removed the safety belt and pulled her from the car to safety. The entire interior of the car was burned from the fire. There were no burn injuries due to the fact that I was stopped and able to remove myself and my child before the flames engulfed my car.
We were hit in the passenger side and the entire side of the car was crushed and none of the air bags ever deployed and the passenger side seat belt did not lock. I had reported the fact that when someone was sitting in the passenger seat that the airbag light was not coming on to the car dealership that I purchased the car from but they just made excuses that the person sitting in the seat was not heavy enough even though they weighed over 150lbs.