2026 Kia EV9

About a couple of weeks before October 23, 2026, the front passenger door mechanism on my 2026 Kia EV9 suffered a complete failure due to a manufacturer-identified water intrusion issue, causing the exterior retractable door handle to stop deploying. As a result, the door cannot be opened from the outside. No warning lights or dashboard messages appeared prior to the failure. I brought the vehicle to Koons Woodbridge Kia on 10/23/2026, where service technicians inspected the car and confirmed that the door motor failed due to water entry. The dealership verified the defect but informed me that the necessary replacement part is on a national backorder with no clear ETA. I also opened a formal case with Kia America Consumer Affairs (Case #26521387). The vehicle and the defective door component remain at the dealership and are available for inspection upon request. This failure presents a severe safety hazard. Because the front passenger door cannot be opened from the exterior, first responders or bystanders would be completely unable to open the door from the outside to extract a trapped passenger in the event of a crash, rollover, fire, or medical emergency. Despite this clear danger, service staff verbally claimed the issue is "not a safety concern" and pressured me to pick up the un-repaired, unsafe vehicle. When I requested a loaner, they initially offered a small car for only a couple of days—which is completely inadequate and non-equivalent for my transportation and cargo needs while my vehicle remains indefinitely out of service due to a national backorder. Furthermore, despite repeated written and verbal requests, the dealership and Kia Corporate have refused to provide me with a printed copy of my active Repair Order or put their claims regarding vehicle safety and backorder status in writing.

NHTSA ID

11774598

Incident

Oct 23, 2026

Brand new car completely died after one month. The check EV system light came on while driving, could smell burning plastic smell. Vehicle went into limp mode on road and had to be towed to service center. At the service center all power in the vehicle went off and the car could not be driven. Service center diagnosed and reproduced the issue. Active DTC on the the ICCU (integrated charge control unit) unit powering the 12V battery was dead. The entire ICCU assembly had to be replaced

NHTSA ID

11770000

Incident

Sep 7, 2026

The digital rearview mirror system intermittently fails while in use. The image in the rearview mirror will start flickering and eventually go completely black while driving. The system has been inspected and serviced multiple times by the dealership under warranty but the problem keeps recurring.

NHTSA ID

11767310

Incident

Sep 22, 2026

Parts near the rear left suspension area fell off and landed on the inside rear left wheel while driving in I-405. Wheels have never been removed for by reason before this incident after purchasing the car. Car only has 7724 miles on the odometer.

NHTSA ID

11766978

Incident

Sep 25, 2026

So I called KIA about this, but I wanted my report to appear here too. Back in February, my right foot was run over by my car. It was an accident. I had gotten out of the driver's passenger side to check on something that was making noises. The person who ran my foot over didn't realize I was out of the car, and there was no warning; there was no noise indicating my door was open. Then the back driver-side tire ran over my foot. My foot was broken in a few places, and I was in a shoe boot for quite a while. It is very dangerous to think there was no alert; I can't imagine if this happened to a child. I was pretty thorough in telling them what happened, and nobody ever tried to compensate me or do anything about my situation. It is a major hazard to have your foot run over because the car is super heavy because of the battery. I'm lucky my foot healed, and I didn't need any further treatment.

NHTSA ID

11763764

Incident

Feb 27, 2026

I was sold a vehicle with a manufacturer defect. At purchase there was a loud wind noise coming from sunroof. I was promised a swift service department visit to realign the sunroof. At service visit ten days later the dealership replaced sunroof and threw electrical error codes B271100. After a specialist over rode the error the dealership claimed fixed and had me pick up the vehicle. The loud wind noise was still present. When I attempted to return the vehicle the dealership said I would no longer be serviced by their dealership. Kia Customer Care sent me to a second dealership. Second dealership brought in techline specialist that ordered Kia Warranty repair would replace the entire roof. The vehicle is at a third party auto body repair shop.

NHTSA ID

11763485

Incident

Jun 28, 2026

The contact owns a 2026 Kia EV9. The contact stated that while driving 25 MPH and accelerating through a four-way intersection after a complete stop, the vehicle was T-boned on the front passenger’s side by another vehicle that had ran the stop sign. The passenger’s side air bags deployed as expected, and the driver’s side air bag also deployed, causing a fractured right humerus. The contact required emergency surgery. The contact was pregnant at the time and remained hospitalized for two days. The doctors established a post-surgical recovery plan. The contact’s minor child, who was seated in a car seat on the rear passenger’s side, was not hurt. A Police report was filed. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The insurance company had not yet determined if the vehicle was a total loss. The dealer was notified of the failure and directed the contact to an online crash test video suggesting that the front driver’s side air bag should not have deployed in the crash. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 1,200.

NHTSA ID

11761029

Incident

Aug 18, 2026

Mileage

1,200 mi

I am reporting a total of 6 failed lug bolts on the rear tires of a 2026 Kia EV9 GT-Line within 1 year of ownership. This vehicle was purchased in Aug 2025 as a new vehicle from a Kia dealership. In March 2026, vehicle was brought for it's 8000 miles service at a Kia dealership. At the time the vehicle had 9336 miles. During tire rotation, service technicians found passenger rear wheel to have a broken lug stud. From the service records, "No evidence of outside influence." This was replaced with new. Prior to this, the passenger rear tire was never serviced. On 8/7/2026, a bystander informed myself of an abnormal sound coming from my driver rear tire. The wheel center cap was removed and 3 broken lug bolts were found. The broken lug bolts were sheared off at the base of the lug nut. This tire was being held on by 2 of 5 lug bolts, representing a significant safety concern. With 2 of 5 bolts, the remaining 2 bolts are under significant stress and can break at any time potentially causing the tire to fall off of the vehicle causing loss of control, potential accident and injury or loss of life. With the discovery of the broken 3 bolts, the car was taken to a kia dealership for repair. During this service it was also noted that on the same wheel (driver rear) one of the 2 screws that hold on the rotor was broken off as well. For completeness, this tire had been serviced once before at Les Schwab tire, on 9/17/25 (1733 miles on odometer) due to a piece of metal in the tire. All lug nuts torqued to factory recommendations. On 8/27/26, the car was taken to Les Schwab for a tire rotation and balancing (18,627 miles). When the technician began removing the lug nuts from the passenger rear tire, two of the bolts broke. The car is driven only on paved roads at street and highway speeds. No accidents or damage to the car that could explain shearing of lug bolts.

NHTSA ID

11760406

Incident

Aug 27, 2026

TECHNICAL SERVICE BULLETIN: PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT CAMPAIGN: 3RD ROW SEAT BELT REPLACEMENT (PI2604) - This bulletin provides information to replace both third-row seat belt retractor assemblies with enhanced components on certain 2024-2026MY EV9 (MV, MVa) vehicles, as listed in the table below. To improve usability of the third-row seat belts in the subject vehicles, Kia has developed seat belt retractor assemblies with enhanced components. The enhanced seat belt retractor assemblies feature modified seat belt webbing stiffness and retraction speed to reduce twisting at the D-ring under certain usage conditions.

RELEASE NOTES: OVER-THE-AIR: SOFTWARE UPDATE FOR V2X ENHANCEMENT - This Over-the-Air (OTA) software update is designed to update the Vehicle Charging Management System (VCMS), Vehicle Control Unit (VCU), and Communication Control Unit (CCU) logic of certain 2025 -2026 EV9 and EV6 vehicles. This update is designed to enable your vehicle to be Vehicle to Everything (V2X) ready. V2X provides the ability to use your EV as an energy storage system for properly equipped homes. A compatible bi-directional charger (sold separately) is required. V2X can only be used after activating the feature in the Kia Connect store. When discharging your vehicle’s battery using the V2X feature, you must use the V2X charger specified on the Kia Owner’s website. Using any other equipment for V2X discharge may significantly affect your vehicle’s durability and may result in a repair not being covered by the warranty.

RELEASE NOTES: OVER-THE-AIR: PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT CAMPAIGN: SOFTWARE UPDATE FOR BODY DOMAIN CONTROLLER (PI2601B) - This Over-the-Air (OTA) software update is designed to update the Body Domain Controller (BDC) logic of certain 2024 - 2026 EV9 vehicles. Enhanced warning messages in the instrument cluster display upon detection of an obstruction in the windshield wiper area such as snow or ice, and new reminders to clear snow/ice when winter weather conditions are possible. Before operating your vehicle in low temperature conditions, clear snow from the vehicle's roof/windshield wiper area and defrost the windshield. If winter conditions are forecasted and the vehicle is parked outside, place the wipers in Service Mode for easier access to the windshield cowl area when clearing snow or ice before next use. ※ This enhancement requires completion of three software updates; this BDC OTA update, the Cluster (CLU) OTA update and the ccNC OTA update.

This Pitstop provides information related to Electric Vehicle (EV) charging on 2024 - 2026MY EV9 (MV1, MV1a) vehicles. In some cases, high-voltage charging performance may be limited or inoperative and accompanied by an illuminated malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) with DTC P343A98 stored. This condition may occur if the Electric Water Pump #1 (Power Electronics) E65 connector and Electric Water Pump #2 (High-Voltage Battery) E66 connector being inadvertently swapped.

PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT CAMPAIGN: OWNER'S MANUAL INSERT LEAFLET (PI2601B) - This document is the PI2601B Owner's Manual Insert Leaflet that contains revised information for wipers. Vehicle owners are advised to keep this leaflet with the Owner's Manual.

PRODUCT IMPROVEMENT CAMPAIGN: OWNER NOTIFICATION (PI2601B) - This document is the owner notification advising that Kia is conducting a Product Improvement Campaign on all 2024-2025 MY and certain 2026 MY EV9 vehicles to install enhanced windshield wiper software that provides drivers with additional reminders related to the use of the windshield wipers during winter conditions.