NHTSA Complaint #10888077 — 2011 KIA OPTIMA HYBRID

WHILE DRIVING (IN FORWARD MOTION), WITHOUT ANY PRESSURE BEING APPLIED TO EITHER THE BRAKE OR PARKING BRAKE, THE VEHICLE BEGINS TO SLOW ITSELF RAPIDLY; AN AUDIBLE RUMBLE CAN BE HEARD AND THE VEHICLE BEGINS TO VIBRATE SLIGHTLY; A YELLOW TRIANGLE WITH AN EXCLAMATION POINT AND THE WORDS 'CHECK BRAKE' APPEARS IN THE DRIVER'S DIGITAL DISPLAY; ATTEMPTS TO ACCELERATE INCREASES THE RPMS BUT THE VEHICLE CONTINUES TO SLOW RAPIDLY - NOT IDLE AS IF IT WERE NOT IN GEAR, BUT JUST AS IF THE DRIVER WAS BREAKING SUDDENLY. THE ONLY KNOWN METHOD OF CORRECTING THIS IS TO TURN THE VEHICLE OFF AND RESTART IT. WHEN THE VEHICLE RESTARTS YOU CAN FEEL THE BRAKE PEDAL RELEASE. THIS HAS OCCURRED RANDOMLY AT LEAST TEN TIMES IN THE PAST TWO MONTHS, AT SPEEDS RANGING FROM 25 MPH ON NEIGHBORHOOD STREETS TO 70 MPH ON BUSY FREEWAYS. I SINCERELY FEAR THAT IF NOT CORRECTED IT WILL LEAD TO A (POTENTIALLY FATAL) VEHICLE COLLISION. I TOOK THE VEHICLE TO A NEAR-BY KIA DEALER SERVICE DEPARTMENT ON 21 JULY 2016 BUT THEY WERE UNABLE TO DIAGNOSE OR DUPLICATE THE MALFUNCTION. *TR