2008 kia sorento check engine light and ESC OFF light is on

We also have a 2008 Kia Sorento. We bought it in December 2007 and it has 12K miles on it. We've been having the same problem for about 2 months. In our case the check engine light comes on along with the esc off light however in our case the car then immediately loses power! We've had it to the dealer 4 times as it continues to occur even after they've claimed to fix it. The loss of power poses a serious safety hazard.

I am having the same issue with my Kia (2008). I found this answer on another forum. Hope it helps me and you. By the way at the same time I was having issues with my brake lights.

Mine is doing the same thing....as of this morning.
I took it to Auto Zone and they did a simple diagnostic test and it read that my brake switch is not working (it turns the brake lights on and off). the part cost $16....but they didn't have it in stock. He said my husband could change it (but my husband can't even change light bulbs...lol) but he said to avoid going to the dealership because they will charge ALOT.
SO be careful....you have NO brake lights until you get it fixed.

This is unbelievable. I have exactly same problem with my car. I have a 2008 Kia Sorento, 18000 miles and start having problems first with the air bag light for passanger seat last year and now all of the sudden my check engine light and esc off light came on and lost power completelly. Also TPMS light keeps coming on and off. The light stayed on for the last couple of day and today " miraculosly" when I went to the dealership the lights turned off..and of coutse their answer was "oh well, as long as the light are not on you have to pay $103 to diagnose the problem" unbelievable! Completelly disatisfied with them! I don't know what should I do especially that I have to drive over an hour for my school start with today...

I just took in my 2008 Kia Sorento today for this exact problem. Coincidentally, I just received a Safety Recall notice in the mail that reports "Carbonization at the point of contact for the stop lamp switch in your vehicle can intermittently interfere with electric current through the switch circut. As a result, one of the switch functions can affect your vehicle's brake lights and they may not come on when the brake pedal is depressed or may remain illuminated when the pedal is released. The malfunction of the stop lam switch may put you at risk of a crash." The solution Kia proposes is: "Kia has advised authorized Kia branded dealerships to replace the stop lamp switch at no cost to you."
There is no clear recall number, but there is RC084 written on the notice.
I too had earlier problems of the AirBag light coming on intermittently.
Hopefully this can get this common problem rectified for all!

Have a 2008 Sorento, also, the issues are that the Check Engine Light comes on but gives no codes, the ESC light comes on when the switch is off, Just intermitten, and too add the acceleration is blah... no pickup, nothing, very dangerous.. Brought it to the dealer said because i'm over the 60k the TCU is the problem and it cost 500$ big ones.. This is the solution... i'm reluctant to believe it yet. I haven't got my vehicle back from the dealer. They have had it for over a week. They came back just the other day and stated it was the ECM and the ABS modules, looking at a $2500 bill... This is an issue that KIA Corp needs to address... Anyone out there got any lawyers working on this/these issues? If so post back, please.

Just had same problem with my 2008 sorento with 10,000 miles ESE light and Check engine lite came on when I restarted car just Check engine light came on dealer said showed code P2138 Accelerator Pedal seems there is a sensor on it for throttle position also even though my car was running good. They replaced the Pedal Assembly so we will see if that fixes that. As had TPMS lite come on a few months ago was on for several days, naturally the day I was taking it to dealer it went off and has not come on since. Also had problem with passenger air bag lite coming on with passenger in seat it was a know software problem but they would only fix it when they saw it do not take your word for it, was a drove to dealer with wife in seat and did not shut engine off( it will reset if you do that when they saw it they fixed it in about 15 min's. I had a problem with that as they knew the fix as it was a known problem for several years but would not fix ubtil they saw it guess if had a crash they did not care so make sure everything is documented even if they can not simulate the problem so you have proof of your complaint they do not like to give you that documentation so be ready to ask for general manger or owner.