Kia Carnival Complaints

397 consumer complaints on file.

#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
#11656630April 24, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The sensor on the sliding doors failed to detect that my daughter’s hand was in the way. She hit the button to close the door, carefully was getting herself down, and did not get her tiny hand out of the way in time. The door slid closed and latched on my daughter’s thumb. It was stuck in between the drivers door and the sliding door. Attached you will find a photo of her hand and the instant bruising that it caused. It was not just a finger tip. It was her entire thumb that was stuck. I took her to the emergency dept at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, to where she received X-rays. Thankfully her hand was as not fractured or broken. I posted this in my KIA carnival Facebook group and multiple families said that this is happening to their children as well.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
1
Deaths:
0
#11656474April 24, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
Sliding doors do not have a safety feature to open back up if a person is still in the way. My [XXX] mom got pinned between the door and side of car where it shuts. Doors were still trying to close with her in them. 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
#11656201April 22, 2025
STRUCTURE:BODY
The passenger automatic sliding door closed on my arm and required a lot of effort to push it back open. I’d it was my child standing there he would have been seriously injured. The problem has been reproduced, but I’m terrified to actually leave my arm there to see if it will close on it again. Nothing was inspected and there were no warnings prior to this happening.
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
#11650731March 26, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
I was driving down the highway, and I heard what sounded like a seal breaking. I thought that someone had put one of the windows down on accident. After pulling up on all the buttons, I determined no window was open. When I got out of the car, the plastic molding on the driver side A pillar had flown off. I don’t know if this would have caused damage to another vehicle. I didn’t know until I was several miles down the road what had caused that sound. It does affect my car in that the wind catches in those holes and will push my car around.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11650351March 24, 2025
Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness
Unknown as to what exactly happened, but my husband put my daughter in her car seat buckled her and was just fine. We arrived to our destination no more than 15 minutes later and her chest clip buckle had busted apart. I do have video of the chest clip and how it was apart, however, as soon as I get the new piece and I will not have it to show due to needing the car seat. I do have video of the incident right after I noticed it and other videos showing the parts and pieces. My daughter ended up having the pieces that you press together to unlock the magnetic chest clip apart in her mouth. The magnet circle was still in the chest clip keeping it closed and locked in place. However, it very easily could have came open and out and her eat the magnet. I have contacted the manufacturer and she let me know that other car seats have had the same problem, but there is no recall. She just said she will send me a replacement piece.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11648937March 18, 2025
SEAT BELTS:REAR/OTHER:RETRACTOR
The contact owns a 2023 Kia Carnival. The contact stated that the seat belt located in the rear middle row was inoperable. There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact stated that the seat belt failed to retract. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed and determined that the seat belt needed to be replaced. The dealer ordered the part, which was on backorder. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11648679March 17, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The back tailgate door, when opened, will go up to desired height set in car settings, then slam back down 1/4 to 1/2 of the total height. Turning off auto open and close it continues to do so. When manually pushing the door to the open position, it will continue the problem. We have had numerous incidents of heads being hit by the door, arms and hands have also been hit. We took the car to the dealership and they said the door actuator would be over $2000 to fix. It seems like this is a similar issue to the side door actuators that had to be replaced via recall.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
3
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
#11647905March 12, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Sliding doors closed on my oldest son’s fingers leaving severe indentation on his pointer, middle and ring fingers. My youngest son has his head dragged inbetween the door and the exterior of the vehicle. I was able to dislodge his head by the base of his neck. My dealership was unhelpful and went as far as to gaslight me into thinking any of this was my fault as a parent. I was shown where the sensor was (a thin strip of garbage) and was told that unless the sensor detects depth it will not stop. I was questioned why my child’s head was on the ground of the car and was judged as a mother. I simply explained he’s [XXX] and fell as the door was opening to which the door dragged him by his head. Thankfully my children were unharmed physically but emotionally are scarred. It’s not a matter of IF something tragic happens to another family but WHEN. Make the recall and get this garbage van safe for all families who think it’s safe. I tried to recreate a situation where the sensor should stop using a stuffed bear. The door not only struggled to shut making creaking noises but then completely shut on the child sized stuffed animal 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
#11645778March 2, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Purchased new KIA Carnival in May 2024. In August 2024 ALL of the warning lights came on and started cycling through to check every system. The warnings were the only thing that worked on the instrument cluster. All of the analog instruments stopped working: the speedometer, the tachometer, the fuel gauge, etc.. The blinkers didn't even indicate that they were working. I drove the vehicle directly to the dealership and they could see the problem, but then as quickly as it started it stopped. They said diagnostics did not indicate any problem so they were not able to find the issue to fix it. It started again in February.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11644274February 22, 2025
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
En lo que vade compra me ha dañado 2 baterías las que he tenido que comprar. También daño la bomba de la gasolina. Tuve que pagar la limpieza de las líneas. Casi alrededor de $ 1,000.00 dólares he tenido que pagar de mi bolsillo para un vehículo que lo tengo desde nuevo y que aún pago. También quemó los fusibles y ahora tampoco le funciona la bocina. Es obvio que el problema es eléctrico . Tampoco me han llamado para revisión de las puertas corredizas que no retroceden en muchos de estos vehículos.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11644271February 22, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
While driving spare tired became detached causing vehicle to have major damage to undercarriage. If speed was higher it would have caused a major accident with injury to passengers in vehicle and other vehicles.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11644208February 21, 2025
VISIBILITY/WIPER
The contact owns a 2025 Kia Carnival. The contact stated that the vehicle was taken to a dealer for service, and the contact was informed of a washer fluid leak. The water fluid hose was replaced. However, the failure persisted. Most recently, the contact stated that the sensors failed to function as intended, and the windshield wipers would turn on independently. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic where it was diagnosed that the water fluid hose had failed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 600.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11644102February 21, 2025
SEATS, SEATS:MID/REAR ASSEMBLY
See attached document for complaint.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11642856February 14, 2025
Chest Clip, Buckle, Harness
The car seat harness fails to stay engaged in a safe and secure position. When tightened to the correct position it becomes loose. I contacted Nuna and they advised I should clean the harness adjuster button from debris but I did that and the harness is still coming loose. I don’t know how many times my children have been transported while wearing this faulty harness over time since purchasing our seats in 2021 but we are in our vehicle daily so my guess is upwards of 100’s of times. The manufacturer refuses to take accountability and recommends we wait indefinitely for a new car seat fabric cover, cleaning kit and instructions to alter the car seat for the purpose of cleaning the harness adjuster button ourselves.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11639618January 30, 2025
UNKNOWN OR OTHER
On [XXX], I was in a busy parking garage holding my [XXX] child on my hip and pushing the stroller, with my [XXX] safely procured inside, as I approached my Kia Carnival 2025 to load the children and depart. To avoid active traffic while allowing enough room for the automatic doors to open safely, I moved as close to the Kia Carnival as possible with my [XXX] and infant in the stroller, engaging the safety breaks of the stroller. Due to the tight space, I underestimated the length the door needed to fully open by approximately 3 inches; this should not have been an issue as there is a sensor in the door that stops when it senses any object in its way. However, the sensor failed. The door did not stop when it came in to contact with the stroller that had my [XXX] baby in it. With the safety brakes engaged to prevent the stroller from rolling away, I desperately tried to drag away the locked stroller as quickly as possible. The door hit the stroller, continuing to open regardless of the object (my infant in her stroller) in the way, hooking the stroller on the lip of the door and pushing it up and over. If I did not have my hand on the stroller and acted so quickly, my daughter could have been seriously injured or worse. If the stroller had been facing the other way, I fear what would have happened. In addition, had it been my toddler standing there, she would have been crushed. I also endured bodily injury, physical strain, and mental anguish while keeping my children safe from this malfunction. I was in shock by the pure fear created by that situation. It was devastating. The door will not physically stop opening if you try to pull on it. The sensor does not work in detecting any body when opening. It needs physical force exerted against it, the size of an adult male to kick in. It is negligent. (Kia was already sued for this in previous models- they know it’s an issue!) 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

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