2012 Kia Optima: adaptive cruise control problems

Filed Sep 12, 2021 · WV

I was coming home from work doing around 75 mph on cruise control when all of the sudden the car jerked violently and lost all power, the car behind me would’ve rear ended me if they weren’t paying attention. I just hold the throttle down to get home, misfiring terribly, and the best way I can describe, it smelled hot if that makes sense. I had it looked at and was told it doesn’t have compression in one of the cylinders and that it wasn’t covered under warranty or recall. So now I’m paying for a car that I can’t drive.

Filed Jun 29, 2021 · Brakes · IN

While in cruise control hitting the breaks resulted in the car not wanting to slow down or stop. Had to go off road inorder to not hit vehicles in front of me. I turned off ABS and this issue isn't there. I have no warnings for my ABS system and this doesn't happen often. However it's getting worse now this is the worse it has ever been.

Filed Jan 23, 2020 · Acceleration, Driver assistance · 71,000 miles · FL

Issue started 2 months ago. Noticed that vehicle acceleration is sluggish. Sometimes I have to take foot off the acceleration pedal then depress it again in order for vehicle to accelerate. Acceleration is unreliable and dangerous. Electronic stability sensor also started lighting up and cruise control became inoperable. Also noticed that my tail lights lit up on its own (and did not turn off) while vehicle is parked and fob not near vehicle, draining the battery. Police came by in the middle of the night to report that my tail lights were on. Tail light did not turn off when pressing the fob unlock/lock button. Had to restart the engine, drive around the block then turn off engine before the tail lights came off... But it turned back on again on its own that same night (in the middle of the night) and had to repeat the process. My battery was drained and had to replace it 3 days ago. I thought it was a battery problem (and was informed by dealer that it was probably a battery related issue) but problem persisted. Read reviews and this seems to be a running complaint with issues on brake pedal stopper or brake sensor stopper. Will bring vehicle to dealer in the morning.

Filed Sep 23, 2019 · Engine · 138,000 miles · TX

Tl* the contact owns a 2012 kia optima. While driving 65 MPH with the cruise control engaged, the vehicle began to decelerate and made an abnormal noise. The contact was able to park on the side of the road and turn off the vehicle. The contact stated that the check engine warning indicator was illuminated. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer and manufacturer were not notified. The failure mileage was 138,000.

Filed Aug 28, 2019 · Brakes, Driver assistance · 77,770 miles · TX

Brake light switch malfunctioning. Brake light on all the time rendering cruise control and electronic stability control inoperable. Loss of power in engine as it thinks brakes are applied making it dangerous to drive. Root cause is brake pedal stopper (kia part 32876-36000) developing a puncture hole over time making the brake switch believe brakes are applied. Known issue on other kia models. Believe the sorento already have a recall for something very similar.

Filed Oct 29, 2018 · Airbags, Electrical · 75,000 miles · AZ

Clockspring failure causes on-steering wheel controls to fail. Kia service did not find any service codes produced when the steering wheel volume control switches, cruise control switches and cellphone switches displayed intermittent functionality. Failure of the switches generally displayed upon initial start of the car after sitting overnight or at the end of a work day. Temperatures were consistently over 100 degrees f. During an approximate 1 hr 15 min surface street and freeway commute (each way),switches would function after a few minutes driving, but then fail again. Correct functionality was inconsistent. And did not persist. Car was taken in several times for these issues but no codes were produced. Service rep suggested that the clockspring may be involved, but recommended only the replacement of the faulty switches. Volume and cruise control switches replaced, but again showed intermittent failures that would not produce codes. Finally, the replacement volume switches and the cellphone switches completely failed; again, no codes were produced. Kia service noted that the clockspring is integral to the correct functioning of the steering wheel airbag system along with all the steering wheel switches. Kia service now confirms that a faulty clockspring shorted out the steering wheel switches; a new clockspring, volume controls and cellphone controls are being installed. Again, prior to the repair, no codes were generated for kia service to observe. Prior to releasing the car, the switches were checked for correct function, but failed. At that point, the clockspring replacement was initiated. Note: kia service also performed the recall work on the acu wiring harness during this service incident.

Filed Aug 7, 2018 · Brakes · 58,000 miles · AZ

Brake lights stayed on when car was off cruise control light stayed on problems with acceleration took to dealer they said it needed new brake pedal sensor $160 to replace

Filed Nov 21, 2017 · Acceleration, Brakes · 74,000 miles · AL

I first noticed a problem with my vehicle when the cruise control would randomly disengage while going down the interstate. Then a couple of weeks later I was making a left turn across a two lanes of traffic on a city street. When I first pushed the accelerator the car started to go and then suddenly I lost all acceleration. I let my foot off the accelerator and then pushed back down and was able to go. This was a very dangerous situation as I was stuck in the middle of two lanes of traffic for several extra seconds longer than necessary. A similar situation happened a couple of more time and when I parked the vehicle at home I noticed that brake light was staying on after I got out of the car. I took the car to the local kia dealership and they replaced the brake sensor which fixed all of the above problems. I would like to not that hyundai issued a recall on the nearly identical sonata for this same issue and did so years ago and yet nothing for the optima.

Filed Apr 14, 2015 · Steering · 61,018 miles · WV

While taking a curve on the interstate, the steering wheel would hold itself in position as if it were almost in the locked position. Had been driving the car for almost 2 hours when this occurred. Took next exit to check power steering fluid and tires. Everything checked ok. Got back on the interstate and it continued to happen until the car was shut off and parked overnight. Very dangerous, especially for someone new to driving. The steering g wheel would hold itself into any position I left it in. It would never try to re-center itself while driving. May be coincidence, but the cruise control would not maintain the set speed at the same time this was occurring. Dealership stated no error codes were stored on the cars computer.

Filed Sep 7, 2014 · Acceleration · 34,800 miles · NC

Cruise control "cancel" button needs repeated pushing to activate. A single push of the cancel button actually seems to accelerate the car.