This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
We have had the car a little under two weeks with no issues. Drove it yesterday and all was good. Went to start it this morning and it was dead. We grabbed the jump starter and it measured at 5.2V to start. It slowly went up but not back to 12V. There is a battery drain somewhere in the system.
I have a dead brand new car after not driving it for 3 days. And, the dealer is unable to tell me how to get into it because the key fob does not have a physical key in it. This appears to be a slow battery draining issue that is being reported heavily online it appears on Reddit, Facebook and multiple forums related to the 2025 Kia Carnival EX and SXP.
Having battery drain issues. Brand new vehicle with less than 2,000 miles. After locking the car at night, the remote start would not work in the morning because it stated battery under 40%. Vehicle started with key no issues. One week later, after one day of not driving the vehicle, battery would not unlock remotely or start. Battery was at 6.25 volt. Jumped battery and vehicle started no problem. No accessories were left on to cause this.
- Swansboro, NC, USA
Search CarComplaints.com for these popular complaint phrases...
Component: Battery Safety concern: Not yet Dealership feedback: Not reported to the dealership yet Inspection: No such inspection happened yet Warning sign: The warning is on the app, currently impacting only convenience (unable to send remote commands via the app), but I am afraid that it will start impacting other areas soon. Description: I brought the car home only 3 days ago. I already had a low battery notification on the app. I am afraid that this will result in a dead battery soon and I will be stuck on the road. Currently I am not able to send remote commands to the car due to the low battery voltage.
The battery is completed dead after overnight parking. Had to manually open the door from the key and kia roadside assistance was requested to jump start the battery. We kept the car running so that the battery would be charged and drove about 10-15 miles and the battery is dead again the next morning. Did some research and figured out many 2025 Carnival SX prestige owners reported the battery parasitic drain and not been able to identify the cause. None of the lights or doors were open and this was confirmed after the jump start.
Battery died within 2 days on purchasing vehicle. Took to the the dealer and they replaced the battery but said to keep key fob away 32 ft at night. I carry around a portable charger with me since so many other people are having this issue if not worse.
This car was purchased new on [XXX]. In the ~30 or so days since purchase, the battery has died on 4 occasions and would not turn over, requiring it to be jump started, and began just 3 days after purchase on [XXX] and as recent as [XXX]. This is my wife's vehicle and she was left stranded with our newborn child on one of these occasions in the 110+ degree Arizona weather. We ensure that everything is off before leaving the vehicle and the problem still persists. This is not an isolated issue, as there are thousands of posts online of others dealing with this exact problem with the 2025 model year Kia Carnival. We are extremely uncomfortable when leaving the house and not knowing whether our brand new vehicle will simply start as expected. However, we have no choice since we traded in our previous vehicle to purchase this car and are forced to risk continued dead battery issues. This is extremely dangerous given the temperatures found in Arizona. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The battery was completely dead after just 300 miles. And then it happened again at 450 miles. The car must be jumped and then the battery has to charge again. This is on a 2025 Kia Carnival (brand new).
Battery is continually draining while vehicle (2025 Kia Carnival SX Prestige) is off due to some unknown electrical system failure. I have owned the vehicle for only 24 days. In that time, I have experienced 4 instances where the battery has drained that has required the vehicle to be jump-started to operate. Upon jump starting the vehicle, several vehicle safety systems (automatic emergency breaking, blind spot warning, forward collision warning, lane departure warning etc) indicate a malfunction evidenced by error messages/lights on the dash. The vehicle is a high risk for leaving me stranded and potentially providing unreliable operation while driving. The vehicle has now been with the dealership for service for 8 consecutive days and a timeline for resolution of this issue has not been established.
I purchased my 2025 Kia Carnival SXP on July 10th. Since then, I've encountered significant issues with battery drain and camera errors. I've had to jump-start the car and drive it at least every other day due to these problems. On Monday, July 22nd, I sent my car to the dealer for repairs. Six days later, they informed me it was ready for pick-up. However, when I arrived, I found the car battery had died in the dealership. While they claimed the camera issue was resolved, they admitted they needed to investigate the battery problem further. As of now, my car has been with the dealer for over ten days, which is longer than it has been parked at my house. The battery drain issue is clearly persistent, yet Kia continues to assure owners that the vehicle is fine and denies any widespread problem. Despite over 60 cases being filed internally, Kia Customer Care insists no battery issues exist when contacted. It is unacceptable that a vehicle costing over $50,000 needs to be returned to the dealer within less than ten days and 300 miles of use. Furthermore, there has been no communication from Kia regarding the status of my case, no estimated time for a fix, and my car remains held at the dealership without release. This situation is unacceptable, and I urge the NHTSA to investigate Kia's handling of these battery drain issues.
07/23/2024 13:48:24 Dealership confirmed battery is fine and did not need to replace it. I'm going to delete the Kia Access app and see if that has any affect on the battery drain. This needs to be fixed ASAP. 07/23/2024 05:25:47 The 2025 Kia Carnival appears to have some parasitic battery drain, leaving vehicles unable to start or use functions/features like remote start, AC and others. This has affected many Carnival owners and no one knows what to do. I know other owners have towed their car to the dealership and they're clueless. It could be the app draining the car's battery, a feature like the climate auto dry... no one knows. It's frustrating to have a new vehicle with constantly dead batteries. There are many posts in the FB group, but I'm probably having issues sharing those links because it's a closed group. [XXX] (Not a solution for me): [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Battery is dying repeatedly due to electric system failure. Dealership mechanics suspect a parasitic drain but have not been able to identify the cause. There are many other 2025 Kia Carnival owners reporting the same issue. Our car has been at the dealer multiple times for 17 days (so far) without a cause identified.
Brand new 2025 Kia Carnival models are experiencing major electrical failure right off the lot, which is my experience. Kia will not acknowledge the issue but there is parasitic draw issues with the vehicle and mine is rendered unable to drive and dealer service departments won-??t accept my vehicle for repair.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Loveland, OH, USA