2019 Kia Sedona

Dear NHTSA Customer Service Representative, I am writing to file a safety complaint regarding the sliding side doors of a 2019 Kia Sedona operated by our church. Currently, neither side door closes properly, creating a serious safety concern while the vehicle is being driven. Because this vehicle is used for church-related transportation, the safety and proper operation of its doors are especially important. I contacted both an authorized Kia dealership and Kia Customer Care regarding this issue. However, I was informed that the applicable recall covers only vehicles manufactured through the 2018 model year and that my 2019 model is therefore excluded. The problem initially developed in one of the sliding doors approximately three years ago. At that time, I took the vehicle to an authorized Kia dealership, but I was not informed of any recall involving this type of door malfunction. The dealership performed only a routine repair or adjustment. Afterward, we used the vehicle cautiously and avoided using the affected door whenever possible. The same problem has now affected both sliding doors. Although our vehicle is one model year newer, it appears to have the same type of sliding-door system, and the malfunction is identical to the problem addressed by the recall. Therefore, I believe this vehicle may have the same safety-related defect. I respectfully request that NHTSA investigate this matter and consider whether the existing recall should be expanded to include affected 2019 Kia Sedona vehicles. Thank you for your attention to this serious safety concern. I would appreciate your review and guidance regarding the appropriate next steps. Sincerely,

Driver's side power sliding door stopped latching and alarms, but doesn't hinder the vehicle from moving. This is an obvious safety risk, especially when our kids sit in the back next to that door. Evidence indicates that this was a known issue for the previous years of this vehicle, but the recall didn't include 2019 models, even though the issue looks to be the same.

Sliding doors have an issue where the car alarms like the doors aren’t shut. Took it in and paid a diagnostic for them to tell me a sensor was bad, it still beeps. Seems to beep more when turning away from that door (driver sliding door beeps more when turning right or when stopping, passenger beeps more when turning left or stopping). This was a problem with previous generation to where the warranty was extended and seems a decent amount of complaints for this model are related to the same.

When using the power sliding doors, specifically the driver's side, it will not close and latch 100% of the time. It usually beeps and indicates it has not closed and has to be manually closed but on two occasions has opened on it's own. Fortunately it's been while parked, which poses a whole different issue, but I've read that others are having this happen while driving.

Right power sliding door stopped closing all the way and would constantly beep. Now, power sliding door opens too far which has broken the motors causing the beeping to resume. This is an safety issue as anything hanging out the window would be crushed (such as a child's head or extremity). We have done a fuse reset as suggested by Kia, then also replaced the motor and the actuator, and it still opens too far which broke the motor again. We again brought it to Kia and they do not know what to do. Now, the left hand door is starting to have the same problem. Yesterday, the door stopped mid-way. When replacing the door actuator system, we learned that the left side door actuator was in the right side door. It was not made correctly.