We first took it to edwards kia in council bluffs, ia on 2/11/15. When I originally took it to them, the service engine light had just come on and the car had just started doing the lunging and hesitating when shifting in lower gears. It was as if the accelerator was sticking. They downloaded a couple updates and turned the service engine light off. They advised the light came on because of the update that was needed and said that the shifting /idling issue was better. As soon as I drove it, I noticed it was still doing the same thing. On 2/23/15 I took it back in and they advised that there were two parts to the download and that they had put the second part on and thought it was better. They also gave me a kia tech support sheet on how to address the problem. This included warming the car up for 10-15 minutes, driving with the eco on the start of the trip, and to depress the accelerator 10 % more. They advised that was the nature of the hybrid vehicle in the cold weather but it didn't do it the year before. We then took the car to h&h kia in omaha, ne on 3/3/15 and the car is still there 7 weeks later. They have replaced the transmission twice with remanufactured transmissions. I am not sure why they wouldn't put a new one in since the car only has $19,663 miles on it. The have replaced the generator now and still hasn't fixed the problem. The car still isn't showing any codes on the computer and they are waiting for the kia "experts" to arrive. I have not had my car for 8 weeks and they want me to take the car home until the experts arrive but I do not feel safe with it lunging and shifting erratic like it is.
2012 Kia Optima Hybrid engine complaints
Page 4 of 4: complaints 71 to 73 of 73, newest first, as owners wrote them.
(my report is exactly the same as id 10552403) this car severely hesitates/stalls after coming to a stop (red lights, stop signs, yield signs, and etc). Car hesitates/stalls for ~2-3 seconds before accelerating while at a dead stop. This has caused several near accidents. When it happens, I push the gas pedal to the floor and the car doesn't respond at all for about 2-3 seconds. This seems to be a serious problem when pulling out into traffic as incoming cars can close the safety gap quickly in 2-3 seconds. Cold weather causes the car to hesitate/stall more often than warmer weather from my experience, but it's happened when car has been running for over 20 minutes, as well. I hope kia will check into this problem as my local dealership has no answer.
This car severely hesitates/stalls after coming to a stop at intersections (red lights, stop signs, yield signs, and etc). Car hesitates/stalls for 2-3 seconds before accelerating while at a dead stop. This has causes several near accidents and scares to my family, friends, and myself. This morning, I pushed the gas pedal to the floor and the car did not accelerate/respond until 2-3 seconds later. This is serious and dangerous problem, while pulling out into traffic incoming cars can close the safety gap quickly in 2-3 seconds. Cold weather causes the car to hesitate/stall more often than warmer weather. I urge the federal government to step in and force kia to find solution to this problem before this issue cause a fatality. Fuel economy is another issue in this car (hybrid), I typically don't get the estimated 35 mpg/city that the dealership sold me on, it is usually 28-30 mpg/city.
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