general problems of the 2008 Kia Motor Optima

Power train: at low idle or while slowing down, the car will lose power for a minute until you get on the accelerator and it all comes back on. Alternator had been replaced. And is going to be replaced again soon. Not sure if it's just a bad part. Power steering pump was replaced. The pulley seized. Unrelated. Lighting: third brake light constantly flickers. All lighting including head lights flicker on and off. Worse when slowing down. Lights on dash board, dome, rear light and head light bulbs have been replaced. At night when the head lights flicker I cannot see the road. Airbags: the air bag light on dash is always on. Codes have been ran and there are so many. Tried resetting codes it comes back on soon after. Not sure how to go about trying to fix it. All of this has been happening since I purchased the car in November 2024.

Occupant airbag sensor doesn't recognize whether someone is sitting or not. The occupant airbag sensor light goes on and off whether there is a passenger sitting on the seat or not. Kia has extended warranty on this issue however it doesn't let customer know about this part is defected. I was doing my research how to fix the issue and learn that kia had extended warranty for 15 years from the first day of service. The warranty currently expired right now. If I knew there was a warranty, I would go to dealer to fix the issue the day that my wife bought the car.

Air bag line came on, dealer states is clock spring.

Have taken my kia to halleen kia sandusky dealership for safety recall driver air bags, and to assess my subframe. Was turned away because they said the subframe of my car was too rusty and they "didn't feel safe letting their technicians do repairs as per safety recalls" and would not investigate the cars subframe.

This car have a warranty extension for OCS sensor mat. Warranty extension dated June 2016 airbag light was first turned on in August 2020 went to the dealer and said it was related to seat buckle and got it fixed airbag light again turned on in August 2021 went to the dealer and said it was related to clock spring and that the driver seat needs to be replaced, which would take time and did not get repaired in November 2021, the airbag light got turned off by itself I am very concerned whether the air bag for my car is really working.

I had my airbag light turned on last year and the dealership fixed the issue. Within a year, the airbag light got turned on again and now they say that it is related to the clock spring and is not covered in the extended warranty. This is a part that should not fail and very important for the safety and security of the driver and the other passengers.

"air bag" light stays on after vehicle is turn on. Dealer said there is no recall. Code b1481.

The contact owns a 2008 kia Optima. While the vehicle was parked, the contact was unable to change gears without warning. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic for further inspection. The vehicle was not included in NHTSA campaign number: 12v014000 (air bags); however, the clock spring assembly failed. The mechanic indicated that the part was on backorder and that the clock spring needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 130,000.

After 50,000+ miles on our 2008 kia Optima the passenger "air bag" light would come on (meaning the air bag was automatically turned off by the car's computer system) while driving with a passenger in the front seat. It would intermittently happen. . . Sometimes it would and sometimes it wouldn't. We had it checked by a dealer and even though they saw the problem (passenger sitting in front seat and air bag was "off") it did not register a code in the car's computer system. This was reported to kia by the dealer but as of this date (09/11/12) kia has refused to repair the issue under warranty because it did not register a code. This poses a safety risk to passengers in the event of an accident. Failure to repair this issue could result in serious injury and even death. Kia has had this problem in other models and has even issued recalls but at this point has refused to fix our vehicle under the warrant contract we received when buying this car new in 2008.

The kia 2008 Optima's had a recall on thier air bags. We took the car to kia to have the clock spring replaced. A short time after we got the car back I was driving to an appt. When my air bag deployed on it's own. This caused me to crash into a parked van, totaling both vehicles. I was taken to the hosp. By ambulance. The police officer came to give back my cards and papers he needed for the report. I was not charged he said because of the recall on our car, it was not my fault. We informed kia of what happened. They said they needed the blackbox info, but they never checked it out. Kia kept ignoring our calls and emails. They said they needed a special team to look at the black box, but they kept telling us the team wasn't together and it would take time for them to get together. When my 2008 kia Optima got towed to a Ford dealership garage my brother went to get pictures of the damage and to retreave my belongings. 3 mechanics stood by my brother watching and asking what happened. 2 of the workers said the clock spring didn't look how it should have if my air bag went off. They said either the clock spring was a faulty one that kia replaced or that the mechanic did not replace it right. A guy named tyrone at kia that we talked to wanted me to make a 63,000. 00 settlement. I said no because I didn't know how bad my injuries would get. Telling tyrone this, is when he started to ignore me and my insurance comp. Calls. I went a year before a doctor (150 miles away) removed a herniated disk in my back because of the accident (it took that long because they tried everything else before they would do surgery). My back is better but my shoulder isn't. Doctor's in my city want me to go 150 miles away to see a doctor there and that is hard to schedule and keep going there. Today 3/23/2014 kia will not do a settlement or talk to us. Car was under warrenty still.

The contact owns a 2008 kia Optima. While driving approximately 25 mph, the air bag inadvertently deployed with substantial force and struck the contact in the face. The impact of the air bag deployment knocked the contact unconscious for several minutes, which resulted in the vehicle crashing into an unoccupied parked vehicle. The contact sustained injuries to the head, neck and shoulder. The vehicle was completely destroyed and towed to an authorized dealer. A police report was filed of the incident. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 43,040. Updated08-30-12 updated 09/07/2012.