IllustrationAt around 200 miles, I could no longer gain access to my vehicle via via both keys and the Kia app. My vehicle has been sitting at the dealership for 20 days without a resolution and little communication from Kia
2025 Kia Carnival
Owner reports · Recalls · Investigations
Limited comparison data
There is not enough comparable history to draw a useful model-year comparison.
About this comparison →How this year compares
Owner complaints by model year
Compare all Carnival years →Counts vary with age, sales and reporting. They are not failure rates.
What owners reported most
All reported categories
Tap a category to read its complaints. One report may name several components.
When problems were reported
Mileage at the reported incident
Limited mileage data: 6 of 124 reports include usable mileage. There isn’t enough coverage to show a useful chart.
NHTSA’s mileage field refers to the reported incident, not necessarily the filing date. This shows report counts, not the likelihood of a failure.
What to inspect
Issues worth paying extra attention to based on owner reports.
- Electrical System. Review the 82 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Engine. Review the 15 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
- Fuel/propulsion System. Review the 8 owner reports in this category and discuss these concerns during a pre-purchase inspection. Read reports →
NHTSA owner reports · September 18, 2026 snapshot.
0 crash reports0 fire reports5 injury reports
What owners actually said
124 reportsParasitic battery drain leaves car dead and unusable no matter how many jumps/replacement batteries. It happens overnight. This is WIDESPREAD - there are entire Facebook and Reddit groups with thousands of people with the issue. We need to have a fix so we can drive our cars. Driving it home from the dealership just to have it j…
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Parasitic battery drain leaves car dead and unusable no matter how many jumps/replacement batteries. It happens overnight. This is WIDESPREAD - there are entire Facebook and Reddit groups with thousands of people with the issue. We need to have a fix so we can drive our cars. Driving it home from the dealership just to have it jumped or towed back to Kia and have it sit for weeks without a solution is UNACCEPTABLE. $60k for a car we can’t drive. Absolutely insane. It’s so unsafe to have a family vehicle - a minivan - have dead batteries with no warning on brand new cars. There were less than 75 miles on my car when it first happened. I had made one trip home from the dealership and one trip to the grocery store. This problem is affecting EVERYONE and Kia is about to be out of service techs and out of loaner cars with everyone in the shop until this is sorted out. Unbelievable. This is going to lead to thousands of new 2025 carnival owners going through lemon law to get cars replaced.
Battery died without warning. Took 30 minutes to jump start. Nothing was left on, no warnings prior. Took it to the dealership the next day. They ran some tests. Everything appeared fine with the battery.
We bought the car one month ago. 2 weeks ago the battery completely drained. it happened again a few days later. The car is currently at the dealer as they are trying to figure out what is causing the batter to drain when the car is off. Dealer acknowledged its wide spread but Kia does not have a solution yet.
Battery died after 3 days of not driving it.
I purchased my 25 Carnival on July 8 and by the third week my battery died overnight. I was able to jumpstart the car but since the incidence, I wake up to a dead battery every morning. A lot of Carnival owners (especially SX and SXP) are experiencing similar parasitic battery drain and dealerships are clueless while KIA has re…
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I purchased my 25 Carnival on July 8 and by the third week my battery died overnight. I was able to jumpstart the car but since the incidence, I wake up to a dead battery every morning. A lot of Carnival owners (especially SX and SXP) are experiencing similar parasitic battery drain and dealerships are clueless while KIA has refused to acknowledge the problem exist.
2 weeks after purchase, battery died with no warning. Nothing was left on in the car. Called roadside assistance who inspected the battery and alternator which are in good health. Roadside assistance said most likely a parasitic draw.
Parasitic battery drain. The battery died and required a jump six times in one month and 1k miles.
We have had the car a little under two weeks with no issues. Drove it yesterday and all was good. Went to start it this morning and it was dead. We grabbed the jump starter and it measured at 5.2V to start. It slowly went up but not back to 12V. There is a battery drain somewhere in the system.
Battery wouldn’t started several times. Car was purchased within a month and within two weeks started having issues
Official recalls
126V232000 · Fuel System, Gasoline:delivery:hoses, Lines/piping, And Fittings
Apr 10, 2026
Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2022-2026 Carnival vehicles. Fuel may leak at the pipe connection between the fuel pipe and fuel rail.
Consequence & remedy
Consequence: A fuel leak increases the risk of a fire.
Remedy: Dealers will inspect and tighten, or replace the fuel pipe as necessary, free of charge. Owner notification letters were mailed June 2, 2026. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC368. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will be searchable on NHTSA.gov on April 24, 2026.
Model-level recall history does not show whether a particular VIN is affected or has received a repair. Check a VIN with NHTSA ↗
NHTSA investigations
0No exact-year investigations in this snapshot.