I was in a crash and I have to say that this is a problem. After I received my car back from the body shop the car has been malfunctioning ! the 2.7L has stumble on and at acceleration the failure is the throttle position switch this is a safety problem for all driver's that drive a 2007 Kia Optima. The malfunction occurs five time's in one day. This problem may cause severe or fatal injuries to the occupants in the vehicle. Nothing was done to correct the failure and the old throttle position switch is available! I really thank that this is found to have a defect that affects safety and the automakers need voluntarily announce a recalls on all the 2007 Kia Optima that have the same throttle position switch as this vehicle.

- Bartow, FL, USA

Had ongoing issues in which the car got "stuck" and would not accelerate past 25 mph, even if I "floored" it. I had to take my foot completely off the gas pedal, wait a few seconds (by then the car would be down to 10-15 mph), then try to accelerate again, which sometimes took several tries. I was very worried about getting into an accident when this happened because there was no warning and if you suddenly stop moving at the speed of traffic with no indication you are slowing down, you could easily be hit. In one case, I was trying to pass a slow-moving vehicle going 25 in a 40. I attempted to go around the vehicle, which should have been a pretty low-speed pass, as I only needed to get up to about 35 mph, but the car stopped accelerating at 25 and I could not get past. I had to take my foot off the gas, wait, try again, and repeat this a couple times before the car would accelerate again. This became a very scary situation because by that time, there was oncoming traffic approaching and I was literally stuck in the passing lane. I also had the car just completely lose power and shut off while I was at a red light at a busy urban intersection. Took it to a repair shop. They diagnosed it as a throttle position switch problem, and it cost almost $800 to get it fixed. At first I thought I just had bad luck, but I later found this message board in which people with this same model describe the exact same problems. repairpal.com/faulty-throttle-position-switch-355 according to this, Kia released a part to fix the situation. It seems that losing all power/the inability to accelerate in traffic poses a very serious safety concern. It bothers me that Kia apparently knows about it and would just issue a new part that costs owners several hundred dollars to repair (cost prohibitive to many people), rather than issuing a recall, or at least notifying owners of the issue.

- Indianapolis, IN, USA

I have had intermittent issues with acceleration while driving my 2007 Kia Optima. When accelerating with the pedal depressed moderately the car will begin to accelerate and then will all of a sudden loose all power. Essentially it seems as though the pedal were completely released. When this happens however, I will try and give it more gas to compensate and tried to release the pedal and reapply pressure to no avail. It will usually take five seconds or so until I regain any sort of acceleration. During one occurrence I have to guide the car to the side of the road and stop for before it would respond again. This problem seems to happen within a few minutes of starting the car in the morning and has occurred about ten times in the last year. This is a dangerous problem because it has happened a few times while crossing a busy intersection without a traffic light. I have almost been hit twice. The car will begin to accelerate and then will just coast, which is particularly problematic with oncoming traffic.

- Hauppauge, NY, USA

My 2007 Kia Optima seems to be having issues with the driver side airbag and randomly with the radio/cruise control setting on the steering wheel. My problems did not appear to start until after the steering column was replaced back in October of 2009 due to the noises that was coming from it. The air bag light has recently come on and stays on. One dealer said that the code that they were getting is that clock spring in the steering column need to be replaced again and would not be covered. Another dealer states that they are not getting any codes and the air bag would need to be replaced at $1200. The noise from the steering column can still be heard and I was told that it is the bearing in the steering column and there is nothing that they can do about that. The issues with the controls on the steering wheel is random and the dealer states that it never duplicates for them. Now that the warranty period is over I would have to pay out of pocket even though some of the issues started before the warranty was out and it was supposed to be noted in their system. Kia headquarters open up a case with no resolution other than no of the dealers called their helpdesk for help or made any claims of my issues. They suggested they I take the car back and have the dealer call them and reference the case number. I have check to see if there has been in recalls on my particular vehicle and it appears to have not been any. Although there have been other Kia owners to post this same issues on the internet and basically have the same results there are still no recalls. Just the dealers try this and that. The owners paying for what supposed to be the resolution to the problem and it really is not. The problem may go away for a while and then shortly return. It is more like getting the run around with wasted time and money.

- Charlotte, NC, USA