Brake warning alarm on Kia Optima Hybrid

firemaiden

I have a 2013 Kia Optima Hybrid. Bought it about 8 months ago from dealer (just hit 7500 K for mileage).

Overall has run great but in past month, twice the "brake malfunction alarm" has gone on. Asked dealer about it when it went for last oil change and they said nothing seemed amiss with car. That maybe it was because the car had sat idle for several days and was a glitch in the system. That seemed reasonable until it happened again today while I was driving.

Started/shut down car a few times. Each time fewer alarm icons were lit until only check engine light remained on. Car drives fine, no apparent issues with brakes.

Has anyone else experienced this? Potential causes?

Mr_Shiftright

Well if no trouble codes are apparent (or maybe they didn't look hard enough) then the only way to nail this is to have it happen while the technician has his equipment hooked up, so he can "freeze" the data coming in and figure out what sensor or module is creating this alarm. Chasing a "ghost" in the system can be very frustrating and time consuming, so I can sympathize with all parties involved. It may have to get worse. You might catch the problem on video with your phone to show to the dealer next time. If this is something like a glitch in the CAN bus (the "highway" that multiplexes many inputs from various parts of the car), that could take a while to track down. No easy answer for you here. You might check your brake fluid level, and also jiggle your hand brake when this happens, to see if those have anything do to with it. I'm not familiar with what events must occur to trigger this alarm--maybe your owner's handbook is more specific.