Kia Carnival Complaints (2025)

197 consumer complaints on file.

#11667760June 18, 2025
POWER TRAIN, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
While I was driving on a highway, my vehicles "check engine" and "batter" lights were illuminated and a warning came across the car screen that said something along the lines of "Battery Management System Failure" and then "Powertrain failure". The car was not able to accelerate by pressing the gas pedal, and the heating/cooling features within the car stopped working. I quickly changed lanes to get to the far left shoulder of the highway, putting other cars at risk of my car that was slowing down to 50mph as I was getting over. When I would press on the gas pedal, nothing would happen. The car did remain on. When the dealership received the car the next morning they conducted what they referred to as a recall, but KIA refers to it as a "Service Action" - SA617 MCU DTC Logic Improvement. This requires a simply software update, which the dealership conducted, and the car was then working just fine, with no issues that I had indicated above. The dealership was Greenway KIA of Rivergate, 1526 Gallatin Rd North, Madison, TN 37115. The warning lights in the car illuminated about 5 seconds before the car was no longer able to accelerate due to the powertrain failure. In talking about the problem with a KIA representative, it was communicated that KIA has looked into this and it didn't pose any serious problems, so they left it as a "Service Action" item, not a recall.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11666909June 14, 2025
ENGINE
On 6-9-25, for the second time in the 10 weeks that I have owned my new 2025 KIA Carnival it has failed to accelerate beyond 30 MPH after pulling away from a traffic light. The vehicle displayed a warning that The Speed Limit Was 30 MPH and would not accelerate beyond that speed. The speed limit was not 30 MPH. I was able to pull onto a side street and take a photo of the warning, I took the vehicle and the photo to Boniface-Hiers KIA on 6-10-25. The dealership was not able to determine the problem but thought it could have some connection with the cruise control system. Once again I was lucky not to be rear ended by the car behind me.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11664744June 4, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE
2025 KIA Carnival Hybrid gets stuck in electric mode. This cause rapid draining of the electric vehicle battery, reduced maximum speed, and reduced acceleration. This has occurred while merging onto the highway. I had to pull over to the highway on ramp shoulder, turn the vehicle off and back, and then merge back until the highway. I have a video of it happening while picking up my kids from school, but it is too large to upload here.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11661724May 18, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Carnival came with DVD players for kids in the back seat. It contains a volume control that can be controlled by the child. The child at any point can blast the stereo insanely high which can distract the driver and could cause an accident. This needs to be recalled immediately. There is no reason for the sound to be able to be blasted that loud. Then if it happens, there is no fast way to turn it down which causes the driver to fumble. Please look into this immediately as it can effect any owner.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11660327May 12, 2025
LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST
The "consider taking a break" feature pops up every 5 minutes when I am driving and it is beyond distracting and leads me to believe I have something wrong with my vehicle. There is no way to turn it off. Please demand that Hyundai/Kia issue a software update so I can turn this off. Thnaks!
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11659865May 9, 2025
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, POWER TRAIN
The Kia Carnival Hybrid wouldn't allow me to accelerate, topping out at 30/31 MPH despite me fully pressing down on the accelerator. It has happened twice now (a few days apart) and can only be resolved by turning the car off and then back on. Compared to similar complaints logged on the NHTSA website, the difference is that this happened when it was roughly 50-60 degrees outside--not during extremely low temperatures as the other examples have described.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11658095May 1, 2025
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, ENGINE, ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
When pulling out onto the highway from my drive way the car would no accelerate when I pressed the gas, the car would not exceed 35mph, when caused me and my kids to almost get rear ended when pulling out since the car would not go..... the car will start to flash a " check hybrid system pull over safely" light and then the car will start to coast and I have to find somewhere safe to coast off to, to turn the vehicle off and then on again, it will run fine after that but it will eventually do it again... I have taken the car to 2 different dealerships to have it looked and and they tell me nothing is wrong with it
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11657777April 30, 2025
SEAT BELTS, SEATS
On [XXX], while folding the second-row seatback to access the third row, as the seatback folded forward, it did so with excessive and unexpected speed, causing the seatbelt housing to swing forward and strike my wife, [XXX] , in the head with great force, [XXX] 's face. The impact caused her to momentarily lose consciousness and rendered her unable to move for nearly 30 minutes, during which she remained slumped and dazed in the seat. Fortunately, I was present to support her, preventing further harm. Although we were forced to board a scheduled flight shortly afterward, she continued to experience facial pain, disorientation, and weakness for several hours. We are deeply alarmed that such a hazard exists in a family vehicle, and that no warnings are present in the owner's manual regarding this risk. As a father of three young children, I am deeply concerned about the potential consequences of this design. This type of violent seatback movement combined with a hard, unprotected seatbelt housing could have caused even more catastrophic injuries - especially if it had happened to one of our children. My wife, [XXX] , is still emotionally shaken by the experience, and the trauma has left her fearful of operating the seats at all. This incident has had a significant impact on our family's sense of safety when using the vehicle. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11657366April 28, 2025
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
My carnival is only a few weeks old. The first week of driving I was on the freeway and I was suddenly unable to accelerate. The started slowing down and pressing the gas did nothing. I was able to get off to the side of the freeway where I turned off the car. Once the car was back on it was fine. However later in the drive while street driving the same thing happened and I again had to pull over and turn off then on the car again. I explained this to the dealership on the phone thinking it may be an issue with the mode I was driving in. The dealer told me he had heard of this before and I need to switch modes. I have since switched to smart mode where it goes in and out from economy to sport and it failed to accelerate again twice this weekend where I had to pull over and turn off the car. I have an appointment with the dealer however I have no seem posts and complaints of others with this same issue and no resolution. This is extremely dangerous.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11657370April 28, 2025
ENGINE
On April 22, 2025 my Kia Carnival Ex would not accelerate more than 30 mph after pulling away from a traffic light. A warning appeared on the dash display saying The Speed Limit Was 30 mph and the Kia Carnival would not go beyond 30 mph. The Speed limit was Not 30 mph. I took the vehicle to the Boniface-Hiers Kia dealership on April 24, 2025. They could not find a problem but did re-set the computer for the transmission. I was very fortunate not to have been rear ended by another vehicle.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11653011April 6, 2025
SERVICE BRAKES, FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: AUTOMATIC EMERGENCY BRAKING, BACK OVER PREVENTION: WARNINGS
While coasting at very low speed with foot off accelerator or brake, into a crowded parking spot, the brakes failed after foot applied to the brake petal. This caused our vehicle to collide with a vehicle in front of us, pushing it a few feet backwards. Despite strong effort to push brake pedal down further, car would not stop. Pushed circular park button simultaneously with emergency brake tab which we believe ultimately stopped the car. No usual parking system alerts, beeps, lights, etc., turned on during the collision or near pre-collision. Finally, when car reversed to go home, the car made an unusual jerking movement without the usual reverse 'beeping' noise for the hybrid. Car then behaved normal for the 10 minute tense drive home. We are afraid to drive the car for fear of fatal brake failure to ourselves or others. Vehicle is intact and currently at local Kia dealer for past several days, though purportedly they 'found nothing' and are offering to return the car. Auto claim still pending and once car returned to us, we will have auto insurance rep evaluate the car.
Crash:
Yes
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11652939April 5, 2025
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM, POWER TRAIN
Vehicle lost power and would not accelerate past 30 mph even when fully pressing down on the accelerator. After a few minutes a warning flashed to check vehicle hybrid system. Pulling over to the shoulder and restarting the car returned the car to normal operation.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11652570April 3, 2025
VISIBILITY/WIPER
In February I was driving on the highway at the speed limit, 65MPH when a rock flew back from a truck and hit the bottom middle part of the windshield. This formed a small dime sized crack, which eventually formed into a 3FT crack that spanned from the dent, up and to the right side of the windshield. In March, while waiting for the windshield to be repaired, another rock was launched from the back of another vehicle while driving on a local road going the the speed limit, 35MPh stuck the right side of the windshield making a nickel size crack. This can be a safety concern given the fact that the windshield can crack that easily and possibly injure someone inside. I have never had a windshield break so easily on other vehicles that I have owned when such event happened. A real bad injury can occur if an object going a a bit faster or bigger were to strike the windshield and shatter it. Can this type of windshield be thick enough or the material strong enough to prevent this to continue to happen?
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11652019April 1, 2025
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
Cold winter day, the car would not accelerate past 30-35 MPH. The engine would rev but would not be able to get past about 35 MPH.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11651616March 30, 2025
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL, FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM, ENGINE
Car would not allow me to accelerate. It seemed to keep me running only on the electric motor vs the gas engine (the vehicle is a hybrid). This has happened multiple times. The fix is to turn the car off and on again.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11648981March 18, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE, VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
When driving my van to work in the morning, I would get an alert on my screen that says to check the driver assistance system. Then I turned on to the freeway on ramp and my car lost all power, not letting me drive faster than 30 mph. I was able to get off of the freeway and on to a side street when another alert, accompanied by loud beeps, came on saying “Check Hybrid System. Stop safely.” I was able to pull to the side of the road and turn the car off. When I turned it back on it seemed everything was fine. I took it to the dealership and they couldn’t replicate the problems and the car didn’t register any errors. So they returned it to me. This morning I drove to work and the exact same thing happened at the exact same place. Only this time I wasn’t able to get over as quickly and my car shut down in the middle of an intersection. Luckily I was able to coast to the side of the road. The dealership is still saying they can’t fix what they don’t know is wrong. Which I get, but it’s weird that these major events aren’t being recorded by the car. And it is terrifying to suddenly lose power on the freeway.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11648498March 15, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Bought the car after 2 months of owning it and not driving for 3 days car wouldn’t start had to charge the battery Happened again over my kids winter break didn’t drive for 2 weeks and wounds start when I went out in January 7th to star it had to charge the battery
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11648181March 13, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The vehicle's battery drain after turning off and cannot restart. It can cause to stall the vehicle on road. Kia Connect sent "Our backend team has determined that a TSB ELE341 (Network Reset) is needed to refresh your vehicle’s connection to the Kia Connect servers. To resolve this, please contact your preferred official Kia dealership to schedule an appointment and mention TSB ELE341 for the network reset." Took the vehicle to a Kia dealer's service; they reset, but problem remains. I just received from Kia"Dear [XXX] , This is nothing that we can troubleshoot. You will have to wait for your appointment to have them handle the issue. Thank you Sincerely, Kia America INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11648010March 12, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, STRUCTURE:BODY, EXTERIOR LIGHTING
One night while driving all lights went out even panel radio too and in a couple of seconds came back to normal..a few weeks after that while driving a loud warning sound came on and the info panel turned Red when I felt a breeze my door was opened by inself
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11647191March 9, 2025
POWER TRAIN
The shifter would indicate it's in neutral but the car would think it's in drive. The car was immobilized and could not be moved when hitting the accelerator. This happened in the middle of Baltimore. I had to 'reboot' the car to get it to work, 3-4 times, while sitting in traffic. Problem has surfaced multiple times and is currently at the dealer for this issue. Was recreatable at the dealer. This was after some issue with the hybrid system on the highway where the electrical part of the drive train was inoperable and I had put it in park at a stop light to to try and see if that would fix it. I know the electrical part was inoperable because of how sluggish the car was and the car itself was saying Regen options were not available and the hybrid battery was drained to 0.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

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