Kia Motors Corporation: Exterior Lighting › Brake Lights › Switch
Kia Motors Corporation reported this defect to federal regulators on Apr 1, 2013 and put the number of vehicles at risk at 980,377. The repair is free for as long as the recall stands.
The defect
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.
The risk
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.
The remedy
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.
30 model years covered
Newest first| Vehicle | Complaints | Recalls | Fires | Crashes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 Kia Optima | 594 | 5 | 33 | 23 |
| 2011 Kia Sedona | 65 | 6 | 1 | 3 |
| 2011 Kia Sorento | 1,520 | 8 | 63 | 42 |
| 2011 Kia Soul | 194 | 3 | 5 | 27 |
| 2011 Kia Sportage | 181 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| 2010 Kia Forte | 221 | 3 | 4 | 21 |
| 2010 Kia Optima | 75 | 1 | 2 | 7 |
| 2010 Kia Rondo | 9 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| 2010 Kia Sedona | 32 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| 2010 Kia Sorento | 3 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2010 Kia Soul | 135 | 3 | 15 | 23 |
| 2010 Kia Sportage | 20 | 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 2009 Kia Amanti | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2009 Kia Borrego | 88 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| 2009 Kia Optima | 116 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 2009 Kia Rondo | 72 | 2 | 0 | 5 |
| 2009 Kia Sedona | 48 | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| 2009 Kia Sorento | 55 | 3 | 1 | 2 |
| 2009 Kia Sportage | 80 | 3 | 8 | 4 |
| 2008 Kia Amanti | 25 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 2008 Kia Optima | 144 | 3 | 4 | 20 |
| 2008 Kia Rondo | 97 | 3 | 0 | 14 |
| 2008 Kia Sedona | 170 | 5 | 10 | 4 |
| 2008 Kia Sorento | 217 | 3 | 9 | 15 |
| 2008 Kia Sportage | 98 | 3 | 24 | 2 |
| 2007 Kia Amanti | 15 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2007 Kia Rondo | 117 | 3 | 2 | 13 |
| 2007 Kia Sedona | 157 | 6 | 8 | 7 |
| 2007 Kia Sorento | 154 | 4 | 5 | 10 |
| 2007 Kia Sportage | 77 | 2 | 5 | 10 |
What this page is, and what to do next
A recall is not an opinion. It is a Part 573 report a manufacturer is required by federal law to file once it decides a defect poses an unreasonable risk to safety, and it commits them to repairing the vehicle at no cost to the owner. The three passages above are the manufacturer’s own wording as published by NHTSA.
This page describes the campaign. It cannot tell you whether one particular car has already been through the shop — that is tracked by VIN, and only the manufacturer knows it. Check yours at nhtsa.gov/recalls or with a franchised dealer, quoting campaign number 13V114000.
Full record for the 2011 Kia Optima → · Recalls carrying a do-not-drive advisory → · Where this data comes from →