Owner-reported complaints naming the driver-assistance system, filed with NHTSA
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Reports naming forward-collision avoidance, lane keeping, back-over prevention, cruise control and related electronic driver-assistance systems. Every record below is an owner-reported complaint about the 2025 Kia Carnival submitted to NHTSA — not a confirmed defect, not a recall and not a manufacturer bulletin. 9 reports on file name it.
Complaints are reports submitted by owners and drivers to NHTSA. They are not verified and do not establish that a defect exists.
Shown in the owner’s own words, exactly as filed
We have been having persistent safety issues with this vehicle. The issues have ranged from unsecured gas cap to loss of power. We’ve also had severe transmission issues where the car will not shift out of first gear. This happened on the Garden State Parkway and nearly caused an accident as the car wasn’t able to go above 27 mph safely.
For the third time the 2025 KIA Carnival Prestige I own lost power while driving on the interstate! Without warning, the vehicle would no longer respond to the accelerator pedal. No matter what I did I could not get the vehicle to accelerate past 35 mph. The minimum speed limit on the interstate is 45 mph. I had to immediately engage my hazard lights and make my way over to the shoulder of the road from the passing lane. This was a dangerous situation for me and my family and others on the highway. Warning lights came on, check engine light, charging system, and a maintenance service message. Driving in Sport mode, Smart mode, nor Econo mode could change the negative situation. This took place multiple times during the final leg of my last trip to [XXX] , extending for over 120 miles. This is a very unsafe, unreliable vehicle, that should never be driven on public roadways… especially not highways nor interstates. Three negatively, traumatic experiences is ENOUGH!!! I’m DONE!!!! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
I am submitting a safety complaint regarding the driver monitoring/driver assistance system in the 2025 Kia Carnival. The system repeatedly issues “take a break” or inattentive driver warnings during normal, attentive driving conditions. These alerts are overly sensitive, frequent, and intrusive. Rather than improving safety, the warnings are highly distracting. The visual and audible alerts demand attention at critical moments, pulling focus away from the road. This creates a counterproductive and potentially hazardous situation, especially in traffic or complex driving environments. There appears to be no reasonable way to adjust the sensitivity or disable these alerts without impacting other safety features. A driver assistance system should support the driver—not introduce additional distraction or frustration. I request that this issue be investigated, including the calibration, trigger thresholds, and user control options for the system. A redesign or update may be necessary to ensure the feature enhances safety instead of undermining it.
Date/time of incident 03-16-2026 18:09-18:17 * Faulting component: Infotainment screen (screen to the right of gauge cluster) * Incident: While backing out of a parking spot and utilizing the cameras to watch my surroundings, the infotainment screen became unresponsive and began flashing between visual noise similar to 'snow' on old broadcast television, primary colored jagged/blocky artifacts, and a black screen. The screen would occasionally revert back to normal imagery but with severely lagging touch response and stuttering screen transitions. This persisted until I pulled over, parked the car, & restarted the vehicle. After restarting the vehicle the infotainment screen flashed: Solid Black -> Solid White -> Solid Red -> Solid Green -> Briefly solid black -> Briefly Solid Green -> Then the infotainment functionality returned to normal operation after a brief stutter. --I have a video of the last portion of this incident that I can share upon request * All camera related safety functionality became unresponsive/unusable during this incident * I've requested an appointment with the local Kia dealership * As this incident just occurred, I have not yet reached out to other parties * No warning lamps or diagnostic warning appeared during or after the incident
I was stopped in in the left turn lane with my right foot on the brake pedal. Suddenly the car began to rapidly move forward. I jammed my right foot down and stopped the car, avoiding an accident.
The 2025 Kia Carnivals have a safety systems that prompts the driver to, "Take and coffee break". The system cannot be turned off and is extremely distracting. The system prompts the driver even if the adaptive cruise control is turned off. I called Kia and they told me to take the vehicle to the dealer. The dealer was not able to turn the computer nag off either. The car makes a noise and the prompt flashes at the driver every few miles. This happens when traveling at highway speeds and in traffic. The driver has to look down from the road to see what the noise is and is greeted with the infuriating "Take a coffee break" message. It is extremely distracting and annoying to the point it induces road rage. The NTSB needs to investigate this system and require manufacturers to either allow owners to turn it off or do not include this feature in their vehicles. The next question is irrelevant because this happens on almost every highway drive. It is not a one time occurrence.
The main screen dashboard suddenly turned off while driving and will not come back. No odometer, turn signal, lane keeping, anything available.
The "consider taking a break" feature pops up every 5 minutes when I am driving and it is beyond distracting and leads me to believe I have something wrong with my vehicle. There is no way to turn it off. Please demand that Hyundai/Kia issue a software update so I can turn this off. Thnaks!
On July 19, 2024, my 2025 Kia Carnival SXP experienced a significant battery drainage issue, rendering the vehicle inoperable. The cause is currently unknown, but it seems to involve a parasitic electrical draw that drained the battery while the car was parked and turned off. This issue occurred despite no prior warning or indication of battery problems. Compounding the situation, the door locks, including the mechanical lock, were disabled, preventing access to the vehicle. Kia roadside assistance sent a locksmith, who had to jump-start the vehicle to restore operation. After the jump-start, I received warnings that multiple systems were inoperable, including critical safety and driver assistance features such as the integrated braking system, motor-driven power steering, and tire pressure monitoring system. These failures raise serious concerns about the vehicle's reliability and safety, as it became inoperable and inaccessible without warning, potentially leaving drivers and passengers stranded in dangerous situations.
Higher-selling and older vehicles accumulate more reports. Counts are not failure rates and are not directly comparable between vehicles that sold in very different numbers.
Categories with enough reports to have a page of their own
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