Noises During Shifting problems of the 2012 Kia Motor Sorento

I purchased this vehicle used with 98k+ miles on it from stevens creek Subaru. They did not disclose any recalls nor any issues with the vehicle. This week, I began hearing a clicking noise in the gear shift console every time I braked. Its sounds like something hitting piece of plastic. It hasn't changed the performance of the car that I can easily tell. However, this evening, my maintenance light came on and is not turning off. The dealership says the car was serviced before I drove off the lot, but given it didn't even have washer fluid, I'm not convinced it was serviced properly. I'm also noticing that the vehicle doesn't shift easily when I am needing to pick-up speed when entering the highway. The shift transition isn't smooth. Another issue is the heat feature on the driver seat does not work - it worked a week prior when I test drove the vehicle.

Problem: 7 year old was able to pull console shift lever on automatic transmission without keyless ignition out of park and into neutral and/or reverse (we didn't try pulling further down the shift column) without the key in the ignition/vehicle turned on. The vehicle rolled out of our slightly inclined driveway, across the street and stopped resting against the curb on the other side of the road (despite my best efforts to stop the heavy vehicle and later to find out that the parking brake was about half way depressed, by my 7 year old since that was as far as she could push it). This incident occurred after returning from grocery shopping and the tailgate was open all the way with my 5 year old in the rear cargo area "helping" us with the groceries. Luckily no body was injured and neighbors helped stop traffic as I frantically tried to get my vehicle to stop and my children to safety. I understand that I should have engaged the emergency parking brake and children should not play in the driver's seat of a vehicle, but this incident has been reported by others (after searching this website) and no matter what an automatic transmission vehicle should not disengage from park, no matter how hard one pulls on the shift lever without the vehicle turned on; a safety measure since at least 1994 when I first started driving. I should also note, that when the brake is applied while the vehicle is in motion there is a clicking noise that comes from the area of the shifter on the console, which was repaired about a year ago under warranty. I inquired at that time exactly what the issue was, but did not receive an answer from the dealership's service center, only I noticed that the issue was no longer there. Now the issue had reappeared before this incident and I have not had the time to have it fixed again, but was assured the broken part did not affect safety, maybe.

The problem I am having is intermittent. When I push the start button sometimes the car the lunges backwards while the car is still in park it only does this when I am starting the car. It also makes an audible noise at the same time it is " buck jumping". I have taken it to the dealer several times an on the first visit they heard the noise and figured it was the starter. They put in a new starter and I am still having this problem. The transmission also seems to slip during city driving but it is very subtle. Now after about the fifth time being in the shop every time they say they can't reproduce my description of the problem to make a diagnosis so they can't fix it. However, they have already heard the problem because they put in a new starter and told me if the problem persists to bring it back. On one of the visits they rewired the electrical parts to see if it was an electrical problem and it was not. I am afraid that one of these days the car is actually going to move out of park and hit something. Every time I push the start button I hold my breath and go stiff because when it "acts" up the whole car jumps backwards as if it is trying to shift itself in reverse and the noise was described as the starter is hitting the flywheel or some other terminology I can't recall. I always pick my car up from them without it being repaired because they continue to say they were unable to reproduce the problem, but how is it that as soon as the same day of picking my car up or within the next few days my car starts jumping when I push the start button. The dealership has kept my car a full week on more than one visit and the mechanic has put as many as 85 miles on it starting it frequently and you guessed it - has not been able to reproduce the problem!!!!! somebody is not forthcoming with the truth.