Steering is very unstable. Extremely afraid of this car - I feel like I am not in control when driving, I constantly have to fight to stay straight. Veers/pulls left and right as if im bouncing in between the lines on the interstate. My stomach stays in knots in fear I will hit another vehicle, or worse a concrete barrier in the construction on the interstate. It feels as if 3-5 seconds I am not in control, my arms are exhausted by the time I arrive to my work, home, or elsewhere. Have complained several times to Kia dealer when having oil changed & I am always told nothing is wrong or cannot duplicate problem. Four mechanics have driven my car elsewhere and agree there is a safety issue and Kia should recall and fix before it cost someone/a family their lives. My dash lights also surge to maximum brightness at any random moment while driving - all on their own. I recently started having issues with starting my car, I bought my car in March 2012 and currently have 14K miles (highway for work). Recently, twice my car felt as if it was not going to start, sputtering, smell of exhaust inside car. I also have issues if I am at a red light/stopped and when I accelerate sometimes the car feels as if it dies out for a second - misfiring. I can not pass in traffic out of fear my car will not respond when I try to accelerate. My car constantly will not connect to my phone, or keeps a call display on the radio after the call has ended (freezes) until I restart my car. I feel there is something terribly wrong with the wiring/electrical/steering with my car and several others according to other complaints on here! Toyota recalled only after a death, Hyundai/Nissan/Dodge all just recalled immediately - what about us Kia? I have a family in this sedan that is going to end up costing my life or worse, my entire family's lives! please address this problem!!!!! steering is not normal or safe!!!

- Gonzales, LA, USA

First thing car was not shifting gears. Dealer replaced transmission. Second occurrence pulled out and car lost power was able to pull off road turn ignition off and restarted car was ok. Dealer replaced engine control module. Next occurrence Nov 2012 car did same thing restarted was ok engine light went off after 2 days. Now Jan 2013 cold morning started driving engine had no power. I got to a open road slowly pushed accelerator to floor with no response. Car is now in dealership I'm waiting for my phone call.

- Reading, PA, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. The contact stated that while driving 70 mph, there was a grinding noise coming from the front driver's side of the vehicle. The vehicle was taken to the dealer and after inspection, they informed her that the front axle shaft detached from the transmission. The technicians removed and replaced the right axle shaft, and also reassembled and re-tested the vehicle. The contact stated that the failure recurred twice. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 16,000.

- Grand Forks, ND, USA

After warming up engine I drove onto the road and onto a freeway entrance Ram a quarter mile from my home. While entering the freeway, the car "lost power", ie no throttle response, car would not go faster than 60 mph. RPM was peaking over 3,000 RPM (higher than normal). I put the auto/manual floor-shift into manual and the dash showed 4th gear. I shifted back and forth between auto and manual with the same results several times, 4th gear, over 3,000 RPM, loss of power (no throttle response), max speed 60 mph. I nearly got rear ended, cars were dodging me. I was about to pull off the road and everything returned to normal. I read a similar report a few months ago from another "new" owner of an Optima and the dealership "couldn't find" anything wrong. I now have read lots of warranty-denied horror stories with Kia. This seems like a transmission problem. I imagine it could be a "computer problem" as there are lots of computers in these new cars. I can't find any tsb's listed for transmission related problems, but am wondering how many others have this "elusive" condition?

- San Diego, CA, USA

While driving approximately 25mph I heard a loud 'bang'. shortly thereafter, my Optima would periodically shift gears very roughly on downshifts. There was also a 'clanking' noise present on the rough downshifts or when the Optima was shifted into reverse. Upshifts while accelerating seemed to function normally. I immediately brought the car to the dealership where it was purchased. The dealership determined a bolt had snapped on the transmission mount causing the transmission to knock into the engine when it shifted. It was the belief of the dealership that the bolt had been under torqued when it was assembled in the factory. The subframe and a dented piece of the exhaust had to be replaced. This seems very dangerous to me, especially had it occurred on an expressway at a high rate of speed.

- Frankfort, IL, USA

The contact owns a 2012 Kia Optima. The contact stated that when the accelerator pedal was depressed the rpms revved abnormally high but the vehicle failed to accelerate properly. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 400 and the current mileage was 10,500.

- Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

Was sitting at light and went to take off car felt like it didn't want to shift into gear and had a loud rough grinding noise, all lights on the dashboard came one. Brake light, check engine light, coolant, etc and none of the gauges were working. I stopped at the store and went to leave the car would start up but wouldn't go into gear, it was stuck in park. I had to get it towed to the dealership to have it looked at. I had just had this same problem 1 week ago where all the lights were on and the gauges weren't working and the dealership had supposedly replaced the fuse panel box but that apparently didn't fix the problem. I think that it's a computer or engine issue.

- Mcdonough, GA, USA