Problems with 2007 Kia Sorento AIR BAGS

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. *tr

I have a 2007 kia sorrento that was purchased partly because of the 5 star safety rating. however, in my particular vehicle the passenger side airbag deactivation sensor designed to deactivate the passenger side airbag when the seat is occupied by a child also deactivates the airbag more than 50% of the time when an adult occupies the seat. i have reported this issue to my dealer 3 times and the service manager tells me that there is nothing they can do because there is no "fix" from the factory. he also told me that he is not aware of anyone else having this problem ( i doubt that) and that kia was not particularly concerned about this problem because the passenger side airbag was a "secondary protection device" which was not really necessary to protect the occupant if the occupant was wearing his/her seat belt. i called kia customer service and they basically "blew me off" saying that kia would fix the problem in "due time". how can kia advertise a 5 star safety rating when in fact they are aware of this sensor issue and are not willing or able to fix it? appears to me that there is some false advertising going on and really we have about a 2 star safety rating! *jb

Purchased a new 2007 kia sorrento on 3/30/07. left the dealership with the passenger side airback disconnect light on with an adult sitting in the seat. have taken the car into two different dealer service departments and they have refused to address this safety issue. reported problem to kia usa consumer affairs and no action has been taken other than refer us to another dealer for service. a service manager i spoke with said this was a "known problem" with the 06 and 07 sorrento but that the company could not "reproduce a hard error". the service manager went on to tell me that there are sensors in the seat cushion and seat back and that a passenger has to sit in the seat in a particular way in order for contact to be made properly. the manager went on to say that he had seen a lot of 06 and 07 sorrento's with this problem and was waiting on kia to take action. other than pursue the lemon law process, what other recourse does a consumer have with a clear engineering defect of a key safety feature? *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2007 kia sorento. the passenger side air bag light illuminated intermittently when an occupant was in the seat. the dealer stated that the ocs "occupancy classification system" malfunctioned. the dealer replaced the seats and sensors; however, the failure still occurred. the failure mileage was 20 and current mileage was 5,600.

Tl*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. *lj 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. *jb