2025 KIA CARNIVAL Complaints

The vehicle (2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid) has suffered from a systemic parasitic 12V battery drain since the first month of ownership. The first occurrence was July 20, 2025, requiring a jump-start from Kia Roadside Assistance. On 02/26/2026, the vehicle was presented at Moritz Kia Alliance for the same issue. The dealer diagnosed the 12V battery as defective (Code R04) and replaced it under warranty. However, the defect persisted. On 03/10/2026, only 12 days later, the vehicle suffered another total electrical failure. I had to utilize Kia Roadside Assistance for a jump-start and drive the vehicle directly to the dealer without turning the engine off to ensure it could be serviced. This marked the second official repair attempt for this recurring defect. The vehicle has remained in dealer possession since March 10 (21 consecutive days). On March 11, only one day after drop-off, the Service Director threatened that the vehicle would be "impounded" after 60 days, despite the vehicle being the subject of an active Texas DMV Lemon Law Case (#26-0012638.CAF). On March 26, a critical safety failure occurred: during a start-up attempt, the Integrated Power Brake (IPB) system malfunctioned, causing the brake pedal to pulsate and physically "kick back" with significant force against my foot. I have serious concerns that this braking failure could occur while in motion, posing an unreasonable risk of high-speed collision, serious injury, or death. No root-cause diagnosis has been made. Furthermore, the main fuse box cover was left off during service, exposing critical electrical components. The vehicle is available for inspection.

Date/time of incident 03-16-2026 18:09-18:17 * Faulting component: Infotainment screen (screen to the right of gauge cluster) * Incident: While backing out of a parking spot and utilizing the cameras to watch my surroundings, the infotainment screen became unresponsive and began flashing between visual noise similar to 'snow' on old broadcast television, primary colored jagged/blocky artifacts, and a black screen. The screen would occasionally revert back to normal imagery but with severely lagging touch response and stuttering screen transitions. This persisted until I pulled over, parked the car, & restarted the vehicle. After restarting the vehicle the infotainment screen flashed: Solid Black -> Solid White -> Solid Red -> Solid Green -> Briefly solid black -> Briefly Solid Green -> Then the infotainment functionality returned to normal operation after a brief stutter. --I have a video of the last portion of this incident that I can share upon request * All camera related safety functionality became unresponsive/unusable during this incident * I've requested an appointment with the local Kia dealership * As this incident just occurred, I have not yet reached out to other parties * No warning lamps or diagnostic warning appeared during or after the incident

Today, my young daughter pressed the button on the inside of the door to close the sliding door. Her hand was still in the way and the door did not stop. Part of her hand was completely closed in the door and she screamed and cried in excruciating pain. Right away I noticed bruising and took her to the ER for an X-ray. Since she is so young, her bones are very pliable and thank goodness the X-ray showed no fracture, just bruising and swelling. The sliding door has previously not stopped for my older daughters as well. This is a major safety issue.

The vehicle shows a Driver Assistance System Warning randomly. Then the vehicle is unable to accelerate past ~30MPH. We almost got hit when this happened. The warning does not show up in notifications nor does it show up in diagnostics. It gets reverts back to normal when the vehicle is turned off then turned back on. It seems to reset.

While driving the car it will stick in the electric mode and not go back into gas mode. You will only be able to go up to 30-35 miles an hour and in order to fix this issue as of right now all I could do was have to pull over to the side of the road put the car in park turn it off and turn it back on. I worry that this issue will be even worse if I was on the interstate and my car was getting stuck in electric mode and then it’s a safety issue, especially since I have kids in the car. I’m majority of the time being a minivan. I have seen other people post on forms about this issue and it not being fixed by Kia

When driving my vehicle would not go over 31 MPH. Had to turn the vehicle off then restart to get it to clear.

12v Battery died 2 times first on 12/26 then on 1/25. We had to call in roadside assistance for jump start. This was reported to Kia Dublin and Kia Manteca in California. Kia Dublin ran the diagnostics and couldnt find anything. Kia Manteca later found the battery logs showing issues. But said it could have been related to the HVAC recall which is now fixed. But the problem re-occured. This is a brand new vehicle less than 1 year old, still unders warranty. Have reported this to Kia customer care as well. Kia Customer Care Case#XXX So far, we have had the following issues: 1. The front passenger seat recliner stopped working. Kia Manteca replaced the seat frame under warranty. 2. Both rear entertainment screens stopped working. Kia Dublin has ordered them under warranty. Replacement planned for 1/26. 3. Battery died 2 times, luckily car was in the garage we were not stranded anywhere outside. But its frustrating how the new car is not working as expected and stalls so frequently. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Was driving to work this morning and the first time I tried to get accelerate, I was unable to get above 31 MPH no matter how hard I pushed the pedal. Had to stop and restart. Not sure if it is due to the -1 degree weather this morning?

My 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid produces externally audible audio while the vehicle is locked, with all doors and windows fully closed. Private phone calls, navigation instructions, and other in-vehicle audio can be clearly heard from outside the vehicle indefinitely, even after locking the car. This behavior occurs without warning to the driver and cannot be disabled or controlled through any user setting. The dealership and manufacturer have confirmed this behavior is “by design” and have declined to correct it. This presents a safety and security concern, as it exposes private communications, signals whether a vehicle is occupied, and may attract unwanted attention or increase the risk of harassment, stalking, or theft—especially in parking garages, residential areas, or public locations. The vehicle appears secure to the driver (locked, windows closed), yet continues to broadcast audio externally, which is unexpected and undocumented behavior. I believe this constitutes an unintended external output of vehicle systems while secured, creating a potential safety vulnerability.

TL;DR : Vehicle engages limp home mode without any notification to the driver that it is in limp home mode and doesn’t generate any codes for technicians to identify why the vehicle went into limp home mode. During oil changes, a significant amount of residual oil remains in the engine. When the lube tech fills the oil using the recommended amount, engine is actually over full of oil as indicated on the dip stick. The vehile will start and run fine for a while. Later however, an oil pressure sensor will detect the over full status and put the car into limp home mode. No check engine light, no oil light, no indicator saying it’s in limp home mode, and when the service tech investigates, no code thrown for the issue. A manual checking of the dip stick will reveal the oil is over full. The fix is to drain oil to normal levels as shown on the dipstick. It isn’t a defect considering that it’s reasonable to expect a vehicle to be operated with the correct amount of oil. A future software update for the oil sensor to throw a code for the tech would be appropriate.