Kia Carnival Complaints (2025)

197 consumer complaints on file.

#11629402December 7, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The vehicle is brand new. We drove it home from the dealership and parked it in the garage, and after just a few days, the battery was totally dead and unresponsive.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11627633November 27, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, EXTERIOR LIGHTING
While driving at highway speeds the exterior and interior lighting/electrial system shut down completely. My headlights shut off, as well as all electrical/lighting inside the vehicle for approximately 1 minute before turning back on as if I had turned the car off and restarted it. I have a low tire pressure warning that comes on when the car is started, and it came on again as if my car had just started, while I was still driving. This poses a safety risk to myself and other drivers depending on the headlights for visibility. The incident did not cause my vehicle to stop driving although I did break due to the sudden loss of all electrical components.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11625838November 18, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Brand new car and the battery is draining. Leaving the vehicle unable to start.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11625614November 15, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The battery has died twice within 3 months. I couldn’t leave my house to collect my kids. The problem has been commented on by a dealership. No.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11625430November 15, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Battery went dead. Been at dealer 2 weeks. They are waiting to hear from Kia but nothing is being done.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11624531November 11, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Battery died without cause
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11623696November 5, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
There seems to be a very common problem of the 2025 Kia Carnival having a battery drain issue, leaving people stranded. I had a dead battery today with only one month and 300 miles of use. Thousands have had the same experience and have discussed this on various forums.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11623423November 4, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
12V Vehicle battery drained. Unable to start Vehicle.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11623349November 3, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, POWER TRAIN, ENGINE
I'm getting an alert in the car app that says low battery and will not perform any lock/unlock/start, etc features. It says the battery level is under 40%.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11623060November 1, 2024
EXTERIOR LIGHTING
In the general design of the Kia Carnival, among other vehicles from the same manufacture (i.e. Kia Sportage) and different manufacturers (i.e. Chevy Bolt), the false taillight cluster has created a safety issue when signaling. With specific mention of the turn signals being in the lower third of the vehicle height, and not in the taillamp cluster, drivers may not ever see the turn signals from the rear of the Kia Carnival, as most drivers are looking at the large taillamp cluster, not the bottom of the rear bumper for turn signals. The poor visibility is further enhanced when combined with the height or size of other vehicles (trucks with lift-kits, large front end vehicles, or large A-pillars) or poor driving from either the vehicle mentioned, or others. Attached photo taken from the Autopian [XXX] ) as a visual reference. No warning lamps appear, and no failures occurred, as it is normal function. This is a manufacturer-created/designed problem. I believe it was done intentionally by the manufacturers to circumvent other design limitations on signaling lamps not being placed on moving surfaces such as liftgates or trunks, and thus crated a new safety issue with large false taillamp clusters that are just the dim lights for illuminating the vehicle. 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
#11611009August 26, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
I purchased brand new 2025 Kia Carnival SX less than 2 months ago and it is back at the dealership for service for the second time. First time it had an airbag light stay on the dash and the battery kept reading low voltage and would not allow us to use any features on Kia Access app such as remote start and 360 view. The dealership fixed the airbag light but did not find any electrical issues with battery after testing. The car is driven daily and after sitting for approximately 16 hours the car battery is completely dead. Tried to do a quick jump and would not crank over. I am convinced it has a parasitic draw. It is currently at second service center in hopes of a resolution. So far Kia has not been very supportive.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11610666August 24, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Purchased brand new, went home to put car seats in and that's when we discovered the rear sliding door did not lock. Took the vehicle in on the 7th, took until the 23rd for it to be "fixed". Picked up the vehicle came home and the car now does not lock again. Kia customer care team has been little to no help and it was suppose to be escalated to the Kia escalation team but we have yet to hear from them.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11610563August 23, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM, ENGINE
Started about a couple weeks ago. Just bought my car and my battery drained 3 nights in a row. Had to jump start it Found out some fan run, when car is off, hours after it has been parked.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11610202August 22, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The battery on this car drains despite standard operation. Battery replacements do not work and it must be jumped. Some programming aspect clearly is wrong and drains the battery when not in use. It needs to be fixed asap for safety and to avoid stranding.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11610104August 21, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
After day or two purchasing the car, I started getting notifications at the car battery was low eventually after two weeks it completely died, and I was locked out with no way to enter the car because they no longer provide a manual key in the key fob. Multiple chargers and charging with another car for hours with no luck to get the car back up once I finally did get the car open. Seems like the dealerships themselves are aware of this issue and they have no way of fixing it. They keep playing games and making circles about how they’re escalating they’re doing they’re doing that and they have not provided me with a loaner.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11609018August 16, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
My bran new 2025 with 3,000 miles has a completely dead battery. The Kia roadside assistance person was unable to jump start it.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11608729August 15, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Battery inexplicably drains to death. I purchased the vehicle new and, within 5 days, had battery failure. The first sign of the issue is the inability to utilize remote commands via the Kia app, receiving a message that the vehicle's battery is at a low charge of <40%. Without intervention, the battery will then drain to death.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11608327August 13, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Brand New 2025 KIA Carnival SX model - experiencing major electrical failure within the first month (around 800 miles). There's a battery negative draw issue, and the car battery will die completely within 3 days, if not driven. Had to jump-start the car 4 times within the first month. One of the incidents had me stuck right in the middle of the road - When the battery is low, turning on the AC will result electrical system flickering, and then shutting the car down entirely. The dealership acknowledges the issue but stated no solution has been found yet.
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11608271August 13, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Battery randomly died in the car overnight
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0
#11608173August 13, 2024
ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
Battery drain which results in vehicle not starting. There have been a series of events that ended in my Carnival not starting. Purchased new on July 6, 2024. Picked up from to Dealership July 8, 2024 and drove home. The below events started Aug 2, 2024 1. Side mirrors didn’t “wake up” when I approached with key fob 2. Truck wouldn’t close (had to manually pull shut) 3. Received app notification when attempting to lock doors through app that battery was less than 40% 4. Received dashboard warning when attempting to start 5. Lights remained on for a few seconds after attempting to start 6. Vehicle wouldn’t start 7. Turn signal - Action required via app 8. Towed to Dealership 8/5/2025 a vehicle would not start
Crash:
No
Fire:
No
Injuries:
0
Deaths:
0

← Back to Kia Carnival