2025 Kia Carnival

On or around [XXX] the rear occupant sensor warning light came on. We scheduled a service appointment with the dealership for 7/15/25 at 7:00 a.m.. We were informed later that morning that it was a defective module that could affect the air bags and it wasn’t safe to drive the car. It is 7/26/25 and we still wait on the part. Yesterday we were told by the service department that they didn’t know when the part would be available, it is back ordered due to the number of vehicles with the same issue. While our car waits at the dealership we got an email from Kia Connect giving us a 12 volt battery discharge warning. We don’t know if this is related or not but when looking online we found several people with that same problem as well. Our mechanic agreed that the 12 volt battery should not be discharging that fast due to just not being driven. The car sits at Russ Darrow Kia in Madison WI where parts and other information should be available. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

This is the second time, while I was driving that the car would not want to pick up speed and shuddered. The engine light came on again. And stayed on this time. I brought it back to the Kia dealer. They ran a diagnostic. They first wanted me to pay the cost. It is under the warranty. Now I am waiting for the parts and was told to not drive my car until it gets repaired. No loaner was offered. They said to drive it home and they will contact me.

The passenger sliding door pinch sensor did activate; but not before child’s hand was pinched in door and it almost drew blood. Door closes forcefully I have noticed compared to other minivan experiences I have with automatic doors. Quite a bit of force is needed to activate the sensor and cause the door to open back up. It needs to be more sensitive to avoid injury.

I was turning onto a main thoroughfare fare, and the van was slow to accelerate, Engine light briefly blinked, then went off, and then when I was on the interstate I had to pull over the van was running rough. Once I went back on the road, the steering wheel was shuddering and finally the engine smoothed out. This has happened more two other times to me.

While I was driving on a highway, my vehicles "check engine" and "batter" lights were illuminated and a warning came across the car screen that said something along the lines of "Battery Management System Failure" and then "Powertrain failure". The car was not able to accelerate by pressing the gas pedal, and the heating/cooling features within the car stopped working. I quickly changed lanes to get to the far left shoulder of the highway, putting other cars at risk of my car that was slowing down to 50mph as I was getting over. When I would press on the gas pedal, nothing would happen. The car did remain on. When the dealership received the car the next morning they conducted what they referred to as a recall, but KIA refers to it as a "Service Action" - SA617 MCU DTC Logic Improvement. This requires a simply software update, which the dealership conducted, and the car was then working just fine, with no issues that I had indicated above. The dealership was Greenway KIA of Rivergate, 1526 Gallatin Rd North, Madison, TN 37115. The warning lights in the car illuminated about 5 seconds before the car was no longer able to accelerate due to the powertrain failure. In talking about the problem with a KIA representative, it was communicated that KIA has looked into this and it didn't pose any serious problems, so they left it as a "Service Action" item, not a recall.

On 6-9-25, for the second time in the 10 weeks that I have owned my new 2025 KIA Carnival it has failed to accelerate beyond 30 MPH after pulling away from a traffic light. The vehicle displayed a warning that The Speed Limit Was 30 MPH and would not accelerate beyond that speed. The speed limit was not 30 MPH. I was able to pull onto a side street and take a photo of the warning, I took the vehicle and the photo to Boniface-Hiers KIA on 6-10-25. The dealership was not able to determine the problem but thought it could have some connection with the cruise control system. Once again I was lucky not to be rear ended by the car behind me.

Carnival came with DVD players for kids in the back seat. It contains a volume control that can be controlled by the child. The child at any point can blast the stereo insanely high which can distract the driver and could cause an accident. This needs to be recalled immediately. There is no reason for the sound to be able to be blasted that loud. Then if it happens, there is no fast way to turn it down which causes the driver to fumble. Please look into this immediately as it can effect any owner.