2024 Kia EV9

The manufacturer failed to align the vehicle at all prior to leaving the factory. The failed parts all have to do with the alignment. My safety was put at risk because of the persistent pull while driving, shaking while driving, instability at high speeds, and the fact that the tires are now damaged due to the alignment issues. The dealer kept the vehicle for over 60 days, and was able to rectify part of the alignment issues, but there are still areas that they are unable or unwilling to fix, as shown to them by the alignment machine. The vehicle has been inspect by a certified Kia dealership, as it was there for over 60 days. The issues were the shaking of the vehicle, the pull, the instability at high speeds, and the damage caused to the tires. It appear upon first taking the car home after purchase. I was forced to pick up my vehicle because Kia was unwilling to fix the vehicle, and they threatened me with storage fees.

Vehicle was stored in a closed garage prior to operation. I started the vehicle and began to back out of the garage into the driveway. After approximately 3-5 feet of movement backward, several yellow warning icons illuminated on the dashboard and the vehicle's brakes stopped functioning. The vehicle free-rolled several feet down the driveway. After about 1 second, the vehicle brakes engaged, all warning lights went out, and the vehicle began operating normally. I attempted to replicate the fault but was not able to. I feel this is a safety concern because uncontrolled rolling of a 2-ton vehicle could cause a crash or I could have rolled over a small child or a dog on my sidewalk! Ambient temperature 56F with no precipitation and low relative humidity. Garage was at roughly 65F. Vehicle has 3,960 miles on the odometer and was at approximately 40% charge on the main battery. I am currently on hold with Kia to report the issue (20 minutes and counting).

The 12-volt battery for the vehicle was depleted, so the vehicle had to be jump-started to run. I work for a repair facility (it was here for collision repairs, as far as I know unrelated to this issue) and since I was unfamiliar with the vehicle, I inadvertently turned it off before shifting into park. When I took my foot off the brake, the vehicle began to roll forward. I am not sure if the vehicle was in park, neutral, or even reverse (the gear I was in when I turned the vehicle off), but whatever gear it was, the vehicle kept rolling after it was turned off. I tried turning the vehicle back on to shift to park, but was unable to do so due to the depleted 12-volt battery. I tried hitting the park button anyway, and this did nothing. I then tried to engage the electronic parking brake, but this was also inoperative due to the lack of power. With each attempt, I tried briefly taking my foot off the brake, but each time it continued to roll forward. I then called my manager and asked him to jump start the vehicle so I could put it in park and engage the parking brake. No damage was done in this incident, nor was anyone hurt, but this lack of fail-safes to prevent the vehicle from moving after a loss of power is a significant design flaw and safety hazard. If I had not noticed the issue in time and gotten out, the vehicle could have rolled away and caused property damage or bodily injury to me or a bystander. To my knowledge, this is the only such incident with this vehicle, and I do not know whether it is specific to this particular vehicle or replicable in others of the same year make and model. There were no warning lights.

I brought the vehicle in to have recalls addressed on 12/30/24. Starting the next day we noticed the car was weaving without any steering, but thought it might have been icy road conditions and waited to see if it reoccured. The car has since weaved intermittently, but has righted itself after releasing the accelerator. However, on 1/15/25 while traveling about 50mph, the car started weaving on its own and when the accelerator was released the car started to wildly fishtail. Called dealer and they agreed this was a serious issue and agreed to see car the next morning. Service tech said when they drove the car it did the same thing and that the troubleshooting recommended I change the regenerative braking setting to "smooth" and sent me on my way. I did not get even a mile before the car began weaving rapidly again on its own. Went straight back to dealership where manager wanted me to drive the vehicle again with the tech in car which I refused as it is not safe to drive. So he said if I was ok with it tech would take car out again but if it was just acting how regenerative brakes work, there wasn't much else they could do. When manager returned to talk to me, he said he ended up going with the tech and it did replicate the weaving action two times during that drive. The car is steering on its own weaving wildly left and right and imposes a great danger and no longer feels like a safe vehicle to drive.