2025 KIA EV9 Complaints

The Kia EV9 Wind I bought several days ago worked fine for a couple of days with a slight vibration, but yesterday I experienced 3 incidents. 1. As I was coming to a full stop at a stop sign, there was a mild grinding noise from the rear of the vehicle. 2. I continued for 100 yards and came to a stop light and the car made a louder grinding sound of gears grinding as I was coming to a full braking stop. 3. I continued for about 1/2 mile. As I was coming to a stop at a stop light, there was a very loud grinding sound from the back of the car, like gears were being stripped, and the vehicle came to a full stop. At that point I was in the middle lane of a busy 3 lane road. I jumped out to inspect and saw nothing. I continued through the intersection and immediately pulled into a parking lot. I got out to inspect and there was a very strong burning smell coming from the driver side rear wheel well. I did not smell it on the passenger side rear wheel well. I had it towed to the nearby Kia dealership, and left it. This morning the dealership reported the initial diagnosis showed that the emergency brakes were activated while I was driving and they would report back later today on further diagnosis. They said the brake pads and rotors may need to be replaced and they would need to determine why the emergency brakes activated while I was driving. When I told them I was equally concerned about the grinding sound and the possibility of stripped gears, they replied that Kia Corporate does not pay them to explore potential problems that are not visible or obvious. My main concern is that there may be stripped gears to be replaced in addition to a software or other fix to prevent the emergency brakes from activating while driving. They also reported to me that there were 2 notifications with updates that had not been performed. One was for a software update for the rear powertrain and the other was for a sunroof issue and they would perform both.

Took my 4-month old Kia EV9 to a tire shop b/c I heard a rattling on the right side at low speed. Turns out both of the locking lug nuts had popped out of the front and rear hubs on the right side. Seems like someone at the port install facility in West Point Georgia didn't use the correct tools or torque settings. Turns out this is a known issue among a few customers per this Reddit thread: [XXX] I notified Kia CS. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Vehicle was delivered with an active safety recall on it. The safety recall is second and third row seat mounting bolts may be missing. Recall was announced December 2024 and car was purchased/delivered on March 20th 2025

My display with my backup camera started flickering. It then turned black and I couldn't see anything anymore and it was very dangerous to back up.

Vibration at highway speeds above 65mph. Online forums make it seem like a common defect.

The drivers seat rocks and shakes or wobbles while you drive. They need to change the frame to fix the issue.

While driving on the freeway I suddenly lost control of the vehicle, with the vehicle swerving left and back across several lanes. Thankfully, I avoided a catastrophic accident and managed to pull over safely. There were no warning lamps or messages of any kind prior to the failure. Upon inspection of the driver’s side rear wheel, I discovered that multiple lug nuts had snapped off, with the studs still attached to the lug nuts. The remaining lug nuts were extremely loose. I have never heard of such a dangerous defect in a brand-new vehicle, and it appears as if the wheel may not have been tightened properly before I took possession or they loosened since then (possibly due to having had just driven through freezing temperatures). I had only had the brand new car for 5 weeks and added 400 miles to the odometer (total mileage 544). Inspection report was provided by the nearest Kia dealership “Found 2 lugs snapped off taking the stud with it, and the rest of the lugs were loose. Damaged rotor screws, lug studs, and the wheel. Recommend replacing the hub assembly, lug nuts, wheel, and recheck vehicle operation.” Kiais claiming this is not covered by Warranty and is so far refusing to make repairs.

We had a snow the last couple of days and when it mostly cleared up we went out to the grocery store. We had done on best to clear of the car of snow. While driving the windshield wipers were working fine until a small chuck of snow came down from the roof of the car. The wipers immediate started to glitch and not move which caused a big visibility problem. I was able to pull over and clear it but was concerned that small amounts of snow would cause the wipers to completely stop.

There is an "i-pedal" feature that sets regen braking to bring the vehicle to a complete stop when letting off the accelerator pedal. In this mode, the vehicle only moves when pressing down on the pedal, and it stops when the pedal is released. When shifting the vehicle into reverse, "i-pedal" is automatically and silently turned off, causing the vehicle to suddenly start moving when releasing the brake pedal and no longer stop when releasing the accelerator pedal. This is dangerous because the pedals suddenly and unexpectedly behave differently with no input from the driver. If "i-pedal" is enabled by the driver, it should not switch out of "i-pedal" without the driver choosing to do so.