2024 Kia EV9

Vehicle Information: 2024 Kia EV9 Light Long Range Mileage: 850 miles Issue Summary: I am reporting a serious safety concern with my 2024 Kia EV9 Light Long Range. Within the first three weeks of ownership and with less than 900 miles on the odometer, I experienced multiple instances of the vehicle entering "turtle mode" while driving at high speeds on the freeway. This mode significantly reduced the vehicle’s speed without warning, creating a dangerous situation. Incident Details: While driving at 80–85 MPH on a California freeway with my family, my 2024 Kia EV9 LLR suddenly entered "turtle mode" without warning, drastically reducing speed to 30–40 MPH. I had to quickly activate hazard lights and navigate to the shoulder. At the time, the battery level was around 15%, and I initially thought it was a low battery issue. However, the following day, after fully charging the vehicle, the issue recurred with approximately 82% battery remaining. Over the next few days, this happened a total of four times while driving at freeway speeds. On the fourth occurrence, the vehicle shut down completely after coming to a stop and would not respond to acceleration until multiple restart attempts. Current Status: The vehicle has been towed to the dealership by Kia Roadside Assistance. The service team is currently investigating the issue and has opened a case with Kia corporate, but no diagnosis has been provided at this time. Given the severity of this recurring issue, I have also opened a buyback/refund request with Kia corporate. Safety Concerns: This defect presents a severe safety risk, as the sudden loss of speed while driving at high speeds on a freeway could easily result in a rear-end collision or other accidents. The inability to accelerate or maintain control over the vehicle creates an extremely dangerous situation, especially in high-traffic environments. I urge the NHTSA to investigate this issue to ensure the safety of other Kia EV9 owners.

The main screen which displays the vehicle speed, state of charge and side view cameras, amongst other items, was completely black. Not knowing the speed I was traveling was dangerous to my safety. I have read of other complaints online of other users having this issue. They stated that if you turned off the car, locked the doors and didn't charge for around 30 to 60 minutes, the screen would reset and work. It did. The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer or law enforcement.

After starting and backing the car out of a parking spot, I noticed the instrument cluster display screen behind the steering wheel was completely blank, except for the letter of the gear I was in (P, R, or D) in the bottom center of the screen. The symbol for the parking brake also appeared in the bottom left of the screen, and the Door Ajar symbol at the top of the screen. The Heads Up display was also not working at all. When the turn signal was used, I could not see the light flash on the screen, and there was no audible noise telling me the turn signal was on. In fact, many audio notifications did not work. I had no ability to see my speed as both the speedometer and Heads Up Display were not working. I also could not see what mode of regenerative braking was being used, or any other vehicle status that normally appears on the status display. This is dangerous situation for multiple reasons: 1) I can not see how fast I was going 2) There were no safety indicators, visual or audio, that the seat belt is not used. 3) I can not tell if my turn signal was on, which could result in an accident when changing lanes if it wasn't working 4) I can not see how much range is left, potentially resulting in a situation where I get stranded. 5) I could not see what mode of regenerative braking I was in. This is important to ensure the car can be stopped in a safe manner, as each mode affects the stopping distance required. The problem can be reproduced. I am unable to get the display cluster screen to reappear. I have turned the car off and on and it still remains blank along with the heads up display. I have also changed settings for the display cluster in the main menu, but it does not work. I have not had an oppty to have this car inspected yet, but it is available upon request. I plan to call Kia to schedule an appointment. There was also no warning this could occur. I have not had an issue like this appear before.

My car is 7 months old. Today, while driving, the driver display went blank. I had no speed indicator, no blinkers, I do not know if the brake lights were working, nothing in the driver display dash. I understand that this is an issue with this particular car. This is very dangerous. Nothing I did would make the display come back on. The car is currently at the dealers being worked on so I don't know what the problem is or how it is being resolved. But, based on EV9 forums, this is a known problem. That I of course knew nothing about.

Another car parked around 12 inches from the driver's door of my Kia EV9. I was unable to electronically unlock any of the doors nor the rear hatch to let me get inside my car. I tried the key fob, the Kia app on my Android phone, and touching the both front door handles. The side mirrors extended and the lights flashed and the horn beeped each time I attempted to unlock my vehicle, but the side handls wouldn't extend out. I tried opening the rear hatch via the key fob but it didn't open; also I tried opening the rear hatch by pressing the switch near the license plate, again, it didn't open. I was standing in a parking lot for 30 minutes before the driver of the other drove away.