The contact owns a 2007 Kia Sorento. The contact stated that while driving 50 mph, her vision became blurred and she lost control of the vehicle. The vehicle was then driven off into a ditch and the contact crashed into a concrete block. The air bags did not deploy. The vehicle was towed back to the contact's residence. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, but offered no assistance. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact suffered major injuries to her back and sustained a fractured rib. The vehicle had major damages to the front end. The failure and the current mileages were 120,000...updated 05/23/12

- Fairbanks, IN, USA

Kia Sorento-2007-front passenger-air bag "idiot light". for 2 yrs. Trips back and forth regarding this light to dealer. Unable to assure that air bag system is really working. Light is on when someone is sitting in seat and indicates the air bag is off. Seats and sensors have been replaced to no avail. They just told me today 8-23-2010 that there is no more they can do. Light is still on and their computer still says that it is working. You have many complaints of the same thing-is anything being done? either the light, sensor, air bag or computer is not right. This has been a problem since I bought the car new. This is an intermittent occurrence-doesn't matter when or who is sitting in the seat, if the car is warm or cold. The seat(sensor) has been changed, computer has diagnosed and Kia has talked to the tech's. their machines are not telling them that something is wrong but the service managers and sales people have witnessed it. Are you investigating this?

- Youngstown, OH, USA

Our 2007 Kia Sorento, purchased new, and now with 20,000 miles, has, since purchase, had the passenger airbag not on signal go on, almost every time we use it. The dealership said they must see it happen, and cannot replicate it. When we made our way to the dealership, while the signal was lit, they saw it, visually it, and made a note, however, the "computer" did not recognize it as a problem, so they will not correct the "problem". we have been told that if that is lit up and someone is in the seat during an accident, the airbag will not deploy. I am told that Kia and their dealerships are aware of this problem, and could replace the seat bottom to fix this problem, yet none of the dealerships we have taken it too, will replace it, unless the main office makes it a recall. Our second complaint that they are not willing to do anything about is the strong odor of antifreeze, which literally makes me sick on my stomach when it happens, which is not all of the time. I am afraid these fumes could be harmful.

- Lewes, DE, USA

The passenger air bag sensor in the vehicle is poorly designed and will frequently disable the front passenger airbag while an adult passenger is riding in the proper manner, as displayed by the vehicles owner manual. Moreover, the air bag sensor does not continuously monitor the passenger after it has determined that the air bag should be off - the only way to reset the airbag is to have the passenger lift themselves off of the seat (while remaining buckled) for over 2 seconds. Even turning the vehicle off, removing the key, and turning the vehicle back on does not work very reliably - resetting the sensor ~35% of the time. The airbag sensor on this vehicle is a known issue (tsb# KT2008022001), and repeated calls to service centers re-enforce that the manufacturer has no intentions of issuing a recall or even a simple software update to remedy the problem. Instead, they instruct that the service members find a 'sufficiently large' mechanic, instruct them to sit in the seat to ensure that the device works correctly. Obviously, if you significantly exceed the minimum weight, the sensor works correctly. However, I've had the problem with adult passengers with weights ranging from 120-170 lbs and consider it to be a significant safety flaw with the vehicle.

- Hilton, NY, USA

The sensor for the passenger air bag is nor working reliably. Most of the time it either does not detect my wife at all, or, while I am driving, it suddenly signals that the passenger air bag is off, even though she is still seated. When it does not detect her, the sign 'passenger air bag off' is lit. There is no problem when I (210 pounds) sit on the passenger side, only for my 148 pound wife. I am afraid that our 2007 Sorento will not be capable of performing a possibly lifesaving act in the case of an accident. As a passenger, she is unprotected. A friend of ours has a 2008 sportage that also has a sensor for the air bag in the passenger seat cushion and there it works every time my wife gets in the car. We have visited our local dealership several times; having the program reflashed three times and even the seat cushion was replaced with a new one with a new sensor. Unfortunately, the problem was never resolved. Our dealership informed us after our last visit that they have done all they can do.

- Winter Park, FL, USA

I lease a 07 Kia Sorento with 8700 miles on it. The problem that I can't get resolved through the dealer or with Kia's customer service is the passenger airbag doesn't always work. They say we like to complain, but I don't want to take a chance of being in an accident and hope the airbag will deploy. This is a very big safety issue! the 1st time my husband (who has worked as a mechanic for 15 years) took it to the dealer he was told we weren't the only one complaining but as soon as the seat softened up it would start to work. 10 months later it still isn't working. The second time we took it back they said there wasn't anything wrong with it. The service report says the switch is "fickle" but they don't call that a malfunction. How do I know the airbag will deploy if the light says it is turned off" they said we need to move around in the seat by bouncing on it, sitting back in the seat more, move the seat forward or backwards to find the right spot for the airbag to work. I shouldn't have to and it doesn't make a difference anyhow! the 3rd time was to a different dealer because the car became inoperable due to a major electronic problem and had to be towed. They had my car for almost 2 weeks and said they found some codes and replaced the switch. It still isn't working. I was going down interstate with my 160 lb son and an hour into the trip we noticed the airbag switch said airbag turned off. I had to pull over turn the car off, have him get out, turn the car back on, have him get back in, before the airbag would turn on. I was in the city for an appt. This week and before I left the hospital parking lot, the airbag switch turned to off. We had to shut the car off, and restart it. The switch would say airbag turned on, drive 15 feet, and now says off. Turn car off, get out, restart car, get in airbag on, drive 20 ft, airbag off. We do this 3 or 4 times before switch says airbag on and stays on. Can you put pressure on them to help us out"

- Clarion, PA, USA

The contact owns a 2007 Kia Sorento. Three days after purchasing the vehicle, the air bag light illuminated, which indicated that the passenger side air bag was deactivated. While driving between 40-45 mph, the vehicle hesitated and jerked. When the vehicle is stopped at a stop sign or a red light, the exterior lights shut off. The contact has had to strike the dashboard in order to get the air conditioning to work. In addition, none of the windows will roll down. The blinkers, turn signal, and cruise control do not work. After owning the vehicle for ten months, the alternator had to be replaced and it currently needs to be replaced again. The rails to step up into the vehicle had to be replaced twice. During a crash with a deer, both the driver's and passenger side air bags failed to deployed and the seat belts did not work. As a result, the passenger sustained a broken arm. On two occasions, when the vehicle was taken to the dealer, the contact was informed that the tires needed to be rotated and aligned. On the third occasion, she was informed that the vehicle was out of warranty. Since owning the vehicle, she has been to the dealer several times with many complaints, but they have never made any repairs. A Hyundai inspector stated that the entire vehicle was out of specifications. The failure mileage was 600. Updated 09/23/08. The consumer hit a deer and the air bags did not deploy and the seat belts did not perform as they were designed. The transmission would delay in shifting and would not shift in the correct gear. Updated 09/24/08.

- Loachapoka, AL, USA

The passenger side airbag sensor malfunctions intermittently on my 2007 Kia Sorento. There are times when a normal sized person is seated properly, but the airbag sensor indicates the airbag is not activated. Previously, if I restarted the car with the passenger seated the issue was corrected, but I have since encountered times when restarting the car does not fix the problem. I have brought my vehicle to two Kia dealerships and contacted Kia corporate, but was told that there was nothing they could do to help me.

- Maugansville, MD, USA

2007 Kia Sorento passenger side air bag indicates off with adult in front seat.

- Manchester, MD, USA

While traveling about 35 mph, hit brakes but was unable to avoid frontal collision in Kia spectra rented from alamo. The crash was head on. The Kia's airbags did not deploy. I was wearing a seatbelt. Alamo has been completely unresponsive, so nothing further can be learned about the car. I have pictures taken at the scene with a cell phone camera clearly depicting the failure.

- Chantilly, VA, USA

The contact owns a 2007 Kia Sorento. When the passenger is in the passenger side front seat, the air bag light remains illuminated and the system indicates that the air bag is off. The dealer reprogrammed the air bag sensor; however, the failure was not corrected. The vehicle is currently at the dealer and they will replace the bottom of the passenger seat. The contact was given a 2008 Sorento as a loaner vehicle and it has the same failure. The manufacturer stated that the law required them to install a new air bag system for children. They are having problems with the program and have received numerous complaints. The current mileage was 5,000 and failure mileage was 1,000. Updated 01/29/08 the consumer stated there were 2 other vehicles with the same defect. Updated 01/29/08

- Mooresville, NC, USA

When driving vehicle the passengers airbag remains in the off position when my wife is seated as a passenger, but when I ride as passenger the air bag is on. (some time it works and others it does not).

- Indian Trail, NC, USA

Our 2007 Kia Sorento has a problem with the passenger air bag system. This is my wife's car and I ride as a passenger. When I ride 75% of the time the air bag light will not go off, this tells us that the passenger airbag system is not on. We have noticed many things that will correct this and also make it happen. One thing is it normally happens after the car has been left off for awhile. The air bag light may go off are you start the car but when you shift it into gear it pops on. You can also get it to come on sometimes when you remove your seat belt. You can sometimes correct the problems by shutting off and resarting the car. Now this is a very annoying problem and a erratic issue. Being a automotive tech and a electronic tech I can see how the Kia dealer will not be able to help with out seeing the problem. The Kia dealer here is really no help as when we took it in the service manager said "show me the problem" but of course we could not reproduce it at that time. We have since had the car for a few months and have taken notice of how the problem is showing up. We have not taken it in as we have lost confidence in the Kia technical staff as to there capabilities of repair. I should say we first bought a 06 Sorento and had it in the dealership for 5 weeks out of the 7 weeks, we owned it and traded it in for the 07 trying to give Kia a chance to redeem for all the problems before.

- Harvest, AL, USA