Purchased vehicle approximately 10 days before accident and noticed immediately that the brakes were "mushy" and stopping distance seemed unusual. Individual selling vehicle (not dealer) stated that this was normal for the vehicle. It was hard for me to be certain sinced my previous vehicle is known for very touchy brakes and I thought it might just be an adjustment period. However, I am a careful and patient driver and in 20 years of driving have had only 4 speeding tickets and zero accidents until I drove this car. After approximately 9-10 days the check engine light came on. I was traveling at approx. 15 mph in heavy traffic with about one car length between myself and the pickup in front of me. The pickup driver slammed her brakes and I slammed mine only to have them go all the way to the floor and provide no resistance. I hit the pickup hard enough to severely bruise my arm on the steering wheel and cause several days of back and neck pain. Some of this might have also been avoided if the airbags had deployed, but even though this crash was a full frontal accident they did not. After I left the vehicle, another small car hit the back of my vehicle and severely damaged the rear of my vehicle and the front of hers. Her airbags deployed immediately and she sustained zero injuries. My car had only 58,000 miles on it and the tires were nearly new, so it appears to me that I had both brake and airbag failure resulting in the loss of my vehicle and personal injury as well as damage to the vehicles of the other two drivers. Since my vehicle was not financed, it had liability insurance only. I have noticed multiple complaints on this site regarding both brake and airbag failures in the Kia Sephia, yet I found no recalls for these items by Kia.

- Plano, TX, USA