What 329 owners told NHTSA about the 2021 Kia Telluride

My wife had placed our two children in the car in their car seats. She attempted to start the vehicle by pressing the brake and the starter button. Though all the dome lights and other normal electrical items were on at the time, as soon as she attempted to start the car, it instantly went dead. There was no power to anything, and all the interior dome lights did not work. No matter how often she attempted, she could not start the vehicle, even with accessory mode. It was almost as if the battery had been suddenly removed from the vehicle. At no point was the car moved outside of park. My wife removed our two kids from the vehicle, and shortly after, they were secured in our other vehicle; without my wife being in the Telluride, the car turned on itself. All interior lights were on, and the car was functional. She found that while the radio was on, the HVAC that had been on was now off. In addition, the fuel performance reset to zero. She turned off the vehicle, and we could not reproduce the issue. From a safety perspective, this was very unnerving as it involved our children in our car, but also that the car started on its own after five minutes. If we were not at home and the car could have been running in the garage without our involvement. All regular maintenance and satisfaction of recalls had been completed by a Kia-authorized dealership before this event.

NHTSA ODI 11518264

While at a red light after exiting the highway, the vehicle lost all power and functionality. The car was in drive, and the brake was pressed in. No buttons had been pressed to shut down the vehicle. I had no power and no ability to restart the vehicle. I placed the vehicle into park and attempted to turn on my hazard lights. Unfortunately, there was no response from the vehicle, and though I was interrupting traffic, I could not provide any visual indicators to oncoming traffic. After moving the vehicle into park, I was unable to move the car into neutral. After approximately five minutes, without the brake being pressed or any button is pressed, the vehicle turned on its own. I was able to move the car into drive and continue to function as expected. Prior to this, I had used the vehicle to drop off my kids at daycare (which required turning on the vehicle, driving, and turning off the vehicle). This event occurred roughly 40 minutes after a mix of highway and city driving. From a safety perspective, this was very concerning as I had no way to indicate to other drivers that my car was not driveable. Fortunately my children were no longer in the car. I was very concerned that not only the car lost all power and functionality, but was more concerned that the car started on its own. I was also concerned that if I had not moved the car to park and somehow it turned back on if left in drive what potential damage could have been done to me, another vehicle and potential injury 30K service and all recalls had been satisfied prior to this by an authorized Kia dealership.

NHTSA ODI 11518268

While driving, an error illuminated (inconsistently), signaling a battery discharge warning. This indicator was not consistent and would come and go at different times. The ambiguity of indicator lights and the inconsistency of how they were displayed raised concerns of safety of the vehicle and operations. All regular maintenance and satisfaction of recalls had been completed by a Kia-authorized dealership before this event.

NHTSA ODI 11518160

While in drive, the battery discharge warning was displayed inconsistently, similar to what had occurred sporadically on January 21 and January 23. Without notice, multiple indicator lights started flashing, including low tire pressure, Safety features such as check forward collision assist system, and more. Power steering failed, and ultimately had to coast into a safe location. This resulted in a tow to the dealership, where after multiple days, the dealership found that the alternator failed and replaced it under warranty. This could have negatively impacted not only my safety but the safety of others as the vehicle safety features were not operational and I lost full functionality of the vehicle such as power steering loss. All regular maintenance and satisfaction of recalls had been completed by a Kia-authorized dealership before this event.

NHTSA ODI 11518162

The alternator fails causing the battery to drain and die while driving and permanently kills the battery. When this occurs all power is lost to the vehicle and in rapid succession multiple warning lights illuminate and a cascading series of messages related to the vehicle saftey features appear one after another. While the engine remains on power steering, headlights, and all other saftey features shut off in rapid succession causing unsafe driving conditions and leaves the vehicle inoperable. The vehicle was towed to a local kia dealer that refused to diagnose the alternator problem until I agreed to pay $350 for a new battery and a $150 diagnostic fee. Once I agreed (would require paying more to two to another local mechanic and two back to have Kia cover the alternator) they immediately diagnosed the alternator problem, but again refused to cover the battery which was less than two years old, but was 3,000 out of warranty.

NHTSA ODI 11510304

I was parked and wanted to bring window down the one in back seat made a weird noise and put the window back up but did not close completely and tried to close it from driver seat and nothing

NHTSA ODI 11466825

The child safety locks will randomly start latching and unlatching until the button is disengaged. I have videos of it and the dealership has been able to reproduce the issue multiple times. If the button is not on, the issue does not occur. This is a problem since I have a 3 year old and he has had opened the door while I drive on at least 1 occasion. The issue began October 2021, I took it in for service in December and had to wait for the replacement part until almost March. At this point I have taken the car in for service 6 times for the exact same issue, they have replaced multiple components, actuator, master key lock system, etc. The issue will be fixed temporarily but will then reappear within as little as a day to a week or two. There are multiple reports of this happening on Kia forums and the issue is not model specific. This also happens with Palisades which happen to share the same frame as the Telluride. I have contacted Kia corporate, case number 14666961, to let them know and will be sending a certified letter.

NHTSA ODI 11462399

What happened: The analog speedometer and digital speedometer were not working. I was driving the car and I would be moving but my speedometer and digital readout remained at 0 mph even with my RPM showing as moving. All other gages and read outs were working except for speed. Safety risk for myself and others: I was unaware of how fast I was driving Problem also happened once prior a few weeks ago I put the car into Park and put back into Drive and it fixed it. This time however when I tried that it did not fix the issue. I even tried turning the car off and back on and it did not fix the issue. The issue was fixed after waiting until the next day to drive and when I got in to drive it worked again. Unable to repeat the issue as it is happening sporadically and does not seem to have a specific cause. There were no warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to failure.

NHTSA ODI 11441954

The instrument cluster failed in less than 30 days on my new 2021 Kia Telluride LX. Bought the vehicle with only 9 miles on it and I am shocked to take in for service so soon. The engine starts up and the car drives but none of the gauges light up or work in the instrument cluster.

NHTSA ODI 11427101

DRIVER'S SIDE WINDOW REMAINED STUCK OPEN ABOUT 1 INCH WHEN DRIVER ROLLED DOWN WINDOW WITH SLIGHT TAP ON WINDOW SWITCH DRIVING MOTION AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS. WINDOW WOULD NOT GO UP OR DOWN WHILE IN MOTION WHEN USING SWITCH TO OPEN OR CLOSE WINDOW EVEN AFTER COMING TO COMPLETE STOP (ON SHOULDER OF ROAD) AND SHUTTING DOWN VEHICLE. WAS ABLE TO FIX WHEN PUTTING VEHICLE IN ACCESSORY MODE (NOT RUNNING OR IN MOTION) AND PLACE HANDS GENTLY ON BOTH SIDES OF WINDOW TO GENTLY MOVE UP TO HIGHEST ALLOWED POSITION THEN CLOSE WINDOW WITH SWITCH. THIS FIXED THE PROBLEM AND WINDOW SWITCH OPERATED AS USUAL. VEHICLE MILEAGE WAS AROUND 3,100. WE BELIEVE THE CAUSE IS A SAFETY SENSOR IN THE WINDOW SWITCH COMPONENT THAT DETECTS OBSTRUCTION IN WINDOW WHICH STOPS WINDOW FROM OPERATING. READ OTHER FORUMS THAT STATED WINDOW GOT STUCK OPEN AT HIGHWAY SPEEDS AND WOULD NOT MOVE. THEIR FIX WAS TO OPEN SUN ROOF AND THEN SHUT DRIVERS SIDE WINDOW. THIS DID NOT WORK FOR US. HTTPS://TELLURIDEFORUM.ORG/THREADS/LESS-THAN-40-MILES-AND-THE-WINDOW-IS-BROKEN.912/ [XXX] INFORMATION Redacted PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6).

NHTSA ODI 11416153

LAST WEEK THE FRONT COLLISION WARNING AND LANE DEPARTURE WARNING ILLUMINATED ON THE DASH AND TODAY THE WINDSHIELD HAS A CRACK IN IT, NOTHING HAS HIT THE WINDSHIELD IT WAS PARKED IN THE DRIVEWAY. 2021 S MODEL 2800 MILES ON THE CLOCK

NHTSA ODI 11372396