2024 Kia Telluride

Safety Complaint I am submitting this complaint regarding a recurring fuel gauge malfunction on my 2024 Kia Telluride. On XXX, the vehicle unexpectedly displayed a warning indicating that the fuel tank was empty and that refueling was immediately required. At the time of the warning, there was still a substantial amount of fuel remaining in the tank, and the vehicle had not been driven long enough to reasonably consume the displayed amount of fuel. After adding approximately one gallon of gasoline, the fuel gauge immediately returned to a normal reading, indicating that the vehicle had not actually been out of fuel. This strongly suggests that the fuel level indication system or fuel level sensor is intermittently malfunctioning. Since the initial occurrence, this problem has happened three separate times under similar driving conditions. The issue appears intermittently without warning and cannot be predicted by the driver. On XXX, while the vehicle was still covered under the manufacturer's warranty, I brought the vehicle to Cerritos Kia in [XXX] for diagnosis. I provided the dealership with video recordings clearly showing the instrument cluster displaying the false empty fuel warning. Despite reviewing the video evidence, the dealership refused to perform any repair because no warning lights or diagnostic trouble codes (DTCs) were present at the time of inspection. I was told to return only if the condition occurred again. No corrective action was taken while the vehicle remained under warranty. The malfunction has continued to occur after that visit. This defect creates a significant safety concern because drivers rely on the fuel gauge to accurately determine the amount of fuel remaining. A false empty fuel warning can cause drivers to unnecessarily stop in unsafe locations, alter their driving behavior, or lose confidence in the accuracy of the fuel gauge. More importantly, if the underlying defect causes INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

The vehicle fails to accelerate from a stop in snow mode. Engine does not respond to acceleration pedal. My wife was stuck halfway in a intersection of a state highway. She had to shut off engine and restart the vehicle to get the car to function. No warning lights appeared. This has happened twice in the last week and after some research on the internet, it seems like this is not an isolated incident. Others have reported this same problem. Here is one particular case ID i saw was #11560843 with the same problem.

When I parked my vehicle I had a little less than half a tank of gas. I started my vehicle again 2 hours later and a low fuel warning appeared. I immediately looked at the instrument panel confused and the fuel gauge had no illumination as if the tank was completely empty and miles to empty showed 121. I turned off the vehicle, waited a minute and turned it back on. Again, the low fuel warning appeared, no illumination on the fuel gauge and this time the miles to empty was a dash line. I parked the vehicle nervous to drive it anywhere in this condition. I checked it again in a couple of hours with the same result. I put 1 liter of gas in the tank and the errors disappeared and the fuel gauge now shows half tank and 140 miles to empty. There is definitely something wrong somewhere.