2019 KIA NIRO PHEV Complaints

The contact owns a 2019 Kia Niro PHEV. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V534000 (Power Train); however, the part to do the recall repair was not yet available. The local dealer was contacted. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The manufacturer informed the contact to ship the vehicle to the United States for the repair. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

When accelerating from a dead stop, sometimes the car makes a very loud 'clunk' noise and lurches forward. Similar to the feeling when someone drives a manual transmission and takes the clutch out too fast. The car eventually finds the first gear and keeps driving, but this problem happens daily. Maybe around 5-10% of the time after every stop. There are multiple similar complaints on the NHTSA website and on online forums. It is a well-documented issue.

My 2019 Kia Niro LX PHEV is or has recently been the subject of multiple including NHTSA Recall Number [XXX] and Service Action [XXX]. Despite coordinating repair of these defects with the University Kia dealership located at 5105 Durham Chapel Hill Blvd, Durham, NC 27707 (hereafter 'University Kia"), and taking my vehicle to University Kia for those repairs twice, University Kia has been unable or unwilling to repair the defects over a 4-month period. This delay has not been due to parts availability, as I have received multiple assurances that parts needed to repair the defects were available. After three separate service appointments, University Kia has been unable to address these defects, and my vehicle remains in an unsafe condition. P.S.: The numbers on the prior page of the form where I can nominally report these issues (888-327-4236 & 800-424-9153) don't seem to be working. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

12 volt battery will suddenly and without warning loose capacity to power the vehicle operating controls and displays including remote key access, start sequence using push button start, and traction battery charging through charging port. While parked and connected to a charging station vehicle ‘died’ in place. This occurred within 10 minutes of last use of remote key to unlock doors, open doors, place shopping bags, close doors, and use driver door push button feature to relock doors. Outside air temperature was mid 20’s Fahrenheit. Traction battery was fully depleted per dashboard miles available display as vehicle driven 20 plus miles using hybrid vehicle mode just prior to parking at charging station. Vehicle was removed from charging station connection and 1.5 hours later jump started using connection under hood. After start was driven just under 4 miles to home garage where plugged into 110 volt home charger. Multimeter on 12 volt system after recharge of traction battery read over 12 volts. Appears that control system for maintaining charge on 12 volt system using traction battery has a flaw that fails to detect 12 volt battery condition and react correctly. While this occurred this time while vehicle stopped and shutoff there is potential for such to occur while vehicle in a roadway at highway speeds causing vehicle to loose all power as 12 volt system powers all operating logic. As a practicing engineer over 50 years and college instructor of engineering for about 40 years it appears that there is a software error in assuring 12 volt system intact and a failure of the software to identify potential problem, notify operator, provide a manual reboot of operating system before 12 volt system reaches failure level if it ever did. Unlike alternator equipped vehicles that show failure of alternator no such given on hybrid.

This complaint references the open recall with the Kia reference SC276 and the NHTSA reference of 23V534. Kia has not been able to provide me with repair despite a notice from them stating a remedy is available, and appears Kia may be sending out faulty notices. I first received notice in July/August, 2023 that this recall was in process but remedy was not available. This week, I recieved a letter dated December 29, 2023 that explicitly states remedy is available (attachments will be added). However, the NHTSA website, the Kia recall website, and my local Kia dealer all as of today (01/04/24) say that remedy still is not available. I have attempted to call Kia customer care at the number on the letter, but every attempt has resulted in their system hanging up on me before I could reach anyone.

On 7-31-2022 while traveling on the freeway the gas engine shut down, HEV triangle came on and the information center on the car displayed "turn off car restart" on this trip it happened three times. I took the car to the dealer and they had it for a month and could not get it to act up. On 5-5-2023 it did it again twice, I called the dealer and they did not have a loaner car, they said they would let me know when they do. On the 6-30-2023 it did it eleven times. I called the dealer and they checked the car into service a mouth later 7-2023. The car has been at the dealer since then, now it is 12-2023. The dealer has not been able to get it to act up. I call KIA customer service and they told me they would not do the recall unless the dealer can repeat the problem. When this happens, I have only a limited amount of room to get the car off the road. This problem has only happened on freeways and the mountain pass with limited pull outs. This exposes me and any passenger's to a rear end collision. I feel the manufacture is playing roullet with me and my passenger's lives. All my dealer paper work is in my car a two hour trip at Sunset KIA 3317 Auburn way N Auburn WA 98002

Recall letter from KIA states "WARNING: You may experience illumination of the HEV warning light. If this occurs, pull over to a safe location and contact Kia Roadside Assistance ... to request to have your vehicle towed to the nearest authorized Kia dealership as soon as possible." This implies that the car is not safely driveable if the HEV warning light illuminates. My HEV warning light illuminated, but neither of two local Kia dealerships is willing to take responsibility since the "remedy is not available" from Kia. This means I have lost the safe use of my car for an indefinite period without any compensation from Kia.

My car sometimes lurches when I am moving from a stopped position. This is dangerous as it causes the car to hesitate when I am sometimes pulling out across traffic for a left turn. It is especially frequent when I am on a slight incline. It feels like it might have something to do with the transmission shifting from the EV mode. I have read about other people having the same problem with this car on online forums but there have been no recalls and they have the same trouble getting their dealerships to fix it. I took my car to the dealership multiple times, and they were able to reproduce the issue and thought it was initially something to do with calibrating the computers. It seemed to temporarily "fix" it so I picked it back up, just to have the same problem a week later. Since it happens sporadically, it has been difficult to get the dealership to fix the issue as sometimes they are unable to reproduce the issue.

From a stop, I step on the gas quickly and it feels like the transmission has just broken. It causes my pulse to increase and scares and distracts me so much I've almost had an accident a several times. I have scheduled an appointment with Kia to assess the problem. I will provide an update once they have concluded their assessment.

The rubber pad on the brake pedal came off almost causing me not to be able to stop effectively. What was left is a small steel pedal which sometimes is challenging to feel.