What 131 owners told NHTSA about the 2022 Kia Carnival Hev

My 2022 Kia Carnival, approximately 80,000 miles, had intermittent dashboard warning lights and grinding brake noise for a few weeks. I brought the vehicle to Tasca Kia White Plains first time on 4/14/26 then again on 5/8/26. The dealership initially could not reproduce the issue, then later suspected an ABS sensor issue and ordered the part. On 5/12/26, before the repair was completed, I was driving downhill with my children in the vehicle when the brakes failed to respond properly. I had to steer off the roadway and go over rocks/boulders to stop the vehicle. At that time, the brakes would not respond normally, and I could not immediately shift the vehicle into Park. Police and towing services were involved. The dealership later replaced an ABS sensor. However, when I reviewed the codes with the service manager, I was told the ABS sensor code did not appear on the date of the brake incident. I was also told that an ABS sensor failure itself would not typically cause hydraulic brake failure. I am concerned that the sensor replacement does not explain the brake failure and that this may involve a brake/ABS/electronic stability control safety issue.

NHTSA ODI 11738446

The driver side passenger door will open by itself when the key fob is near. Today it injured me while pumping gas and almost knocked the gas tank door off and gas pump out. I locked my vehicle to go inside to pay for gas. When I came back to my car to open the gas tank door and inserted the gas pump, the sliding door opened and smashed my wrist in between it and the gas tank cover door. It almost knocked the tank door off but I was able to keep fighting it and pushing it back and it closed. I have deep indents in my wrist and it scuffed the gas tank cover. The sliding doors do not stop when someone is going in or out. It is a safety hazard and should function like a garage door. Stop when it senses something there. I almost lost my wrist today!!!

NHTSA ODI 11719347

On [XXX], my kids were getting into the vehicle to go to a playdate. My [XXX] got in the car and into his seat. I was on the driver's side buckling my [XXX] in her car seat and my [XXX] was climbing into the door/her seat on the passenger side. The passenger side sliding door shut on my [XXX] 's hand. I immediately tried to open the door with the button next to the steering column and it would not respond. I then ran around to the other side of the car and used the button on the handle, but the door did not respond to open. I had to manually pull on the handle to force it open off of her hand. No fingers were broken, but the door was shut on her hand completely and she had bruising. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11663748

The sensor on the sliding doors failed to detect that my daughter’s hand was in the way. She hit the button to close the door, carefully was getting herself down, and did not get her tiny hand out of the way in time. The door slid closed and latched on my daughter’s thumb. It was stuck in between the drivers door and the sliding door. Attached you will find a photo of her hand and the instant bruising that it caused. It was not just a finger tip. It was her entire thumb that was stuck. I took her to the emergency dept at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh, to where she received X-rays. Thankfully her hand was as not fractured or broken. I posted this in my KIA carnival Facebook group and multiple families said that this is happening to their children as well.

NHTSA ODI 11656630

The back tailgate door, when opened, will go up to desired height set in car settings, then slam back down 1/4 to 1/2 of the total height. Turning off auto open and close it continues to do so. When manually pushing the door to the open position, it will continue the problem. We have had numerous incidents of heads being hit by the door, arms and hands have also been hit. We took the car to the dealership and they said the door actuator would be over $2000 to fix. It seems like this is a similar issue to the side door actuators that had to be replaced via recall.

NHTSA ODI 11648679

air condition system was putting refrigerant into cab over the summer making us sick. We could not tell ,because there was no smell. I was in car with a/c on and got a blast of refrigerant in my face were in I almost pasted out. I turned of a/c and opened windows. My being a retired mechanic helped me to control the situation, but average person probably would have passed out and recked the car. I was treated for exposer to a chemical and my wife was too. I can not tell if a/c is fixed, as there is no smell or visibale way to tell.08

NHTSA ODI 11638495

The sliding doors do not reverse like they should. The sensors are not good. Yes Kia added the warning sounds but it isn’t good enough. My LO’s entire hand was shut in the door.

NHTSA ODI 11611930

The contact owns a 2022 Kia Carnival. The contact stated that while opening the passenger-side sliding door, she placed mangos on the seat with the key fob and her cell phone in her hand. The contact stated that the doors closed and she was pinned to the door.  There were no warning lights illuminated. The contact was able to call her spouse and 911, and medical attention was provided at the emergency room. The contact was referred to her primary physician, where an MRI was provided, and it was determined that there was a rip in her shoulder. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed. that the vehicle was operating as designed. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and sent a field tech expert to inspect the vehicle. The expert determined that the vehicle was operating as designed. The approximate failure mileage was 42,581.

NHTSA ODI 11593932

The right passenger sliding door failed to sense my daughter’s hand and it crushed her ring finger causing a cut, bleeding, and bruising. She is in a lot of pain from the injury and now terrified the door will malfunction again causing another injury. We don’t think this vehicle is safe to drive with our family anymore. Yes it’s available for inspection. Since it’s a holiday weekend I’ll have to wait until the nearest dealership is open to have it inspected. We were able to reproduce this failure ourselves. There was no warning.

NHTSA ODI 11542410

The contact owns a 2022 Kia Carnival. The contact stated that both the driver's side and passenger side electronic sliding door had malfunctioned and would erroneously open and close. The contact indicated that while the daughter was retrieving items from the vehicle the passenger electronic side sliding door erroneously closed on her daughter and causing minor injuries to the arms and ribs which did not require medical treatment. The vehicle was later the taken to the dealer and serviced under a manufacturer's campaign to reprogram the door sensors. The door sensors were reprogrammed but the failures continued to occur. The contact indicated that after the door sensors were reprogrammed the doors would randomly open and close while the vehicle was turned off. The cause of the failure has not been repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failures. The failure mileage was 705.

NHTSA ODI 11539997

The contact owns a 2022 Kia Carnival. The contact stated that while her daughter was inside the vehicle, the door closed on her rib cage and arm, but medical attention was not provided. Additionally, the taillights were inoperable. While driving, the vehicle stalled. While accelerating and making a turn, the vehicle hesitated and stalled. The engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer, where it was diagnosed that the weather stripping sensor needed to be replaced. The bulb was broken, and a wiring harness replacement was needed. The system was reset. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 1,187.

NHTSA ODI 11535422

These doors need a sensor to reverse the sliding doors upon resistance. It has smashed me and my young children multiple times. The update did not solve this issue and it’s a major safety issue. My 4 year old and 1 year old both had their hand smashed in the automatic sliding doors.

NHTSA ODI 11535594

Sliding door closed on 21 month old daughters arm breaking it.

NHTSA ODI 11516428

With very low miles on our Carnival, I had just left a stop sign and someone ran their stop sign at high speed and tboned my vehicle in the driver's side. I woke up from being unconscious while still in driver seat and my car was still limping down the road not far from the intersection. Pretty serious head, back and other injuries and was taken via ambulance to the hospital. The problem is that despite a high speed impact into the side of my vehicle, NOT ONE of the airbags deployed! I am confident that my injuries, that now seem permanent, would have been MUCH less if the airbags had deployed as designed. The car was totalled by Insurance. I do have pictures of it.

NHTSA ODI 11505365

My toddler, 3 years old climbed into my 2022 Kia carnival to get into his car seat. I was standing outside the door waiting to buckle him when the sliding door started to close on its own and my toddlers leg got trapped under the track of the door and he started screaming. I then had to put my whole body between the door with force to prevent it from closing all the way. I was then able to pull his leg out. There has been no inspection to the vehicle yet as it happened last night. There were no warning or messages about the problem prior and we have had no issues like this before.

NHTSA ODI 11489378

Sliding door closed on a child's arm and bruised it. We have had multiple situations where the door does not stop if it hits something, it just continues to close.

NHTSA ODI 11487649

The handle to release the back of the middle passenger seats is on the front inside lower part of the seat. This requires the passenger to lean in to pull and release. The seat then comes forward with such force that it slams the passenger in the head or face. This has happened several times in my vehicle leaving adults and teens in tears. It happened to me today striking me just under the nose. The impact caused me to black out for a second. I have a slightly swollen lip and am concerned that the root of my front tooth may be damaged. I’m convinced that the rate at which the seat comes forward could easily cause concussion, break someone’s nose or possibly a jaw. Please consider adjusting the rate at which the seats come forward. This malfunction could easily be inspected and reproduced, but I have not brought it in for inspection.

NHTSA ODI 11487418

Side sliding doors fail to automatically retract open when they encounter something in the way. Both doors present the same problem. Door failed to retract when child was in way, resulting in an injury.

NHTSA ODI 11472272

Child got hand smashed in rear sliding door. There is no pressure sensor to avoid the door closing on hands or fingers.

NHTSA ODI 11471224

The doors sensors do not work. I am 200+ lbs and have to push with force to get it to stop closing. My 2 year old last minute stuck her hand into the car while the door was closing to get a blanket and it CRUSHED her fingers. These doors are extremely unsafe. Then we took it to Kia and they said “just keep the kids away from the doors” which is INSANE when you’re talking about little kids.

NHTSA ODI 11468938

My daughter was closing the left sliding door with her right hand using the button and her left hand was in the doorway. There is no worthwhile sensor in the car to detect her hand and thus the door crushed her hand. She now has a fractured left thumb due to the Kia Carnival. I have tried to see if the sensor would detect my entire hand and it didn’t! I am appalled that a car could be sold that has ZERO sensor

NHTSA ODI 11466619

The middle seats seem to be spring loaded, when pushing them back into position the spring back with significant force if not "clicked" in. This resulted in a significant bruise after hitting me in the head.

NHTSA ODI 11465687

'Auto reopen' feature of power sliding side door FAILS TO REOPEN by not 'sensing' a SOFT item obstruction (i.e. arm, leg, hand, pet) when closing. Daughter had severe bruising to arm (i.e. sliding door significantly squeezed arm). Sensor replaced by KIA dealership, safety problem still persists. Continued talks with KIA eventually resulted in KIA stating (in written letter) that "the auto-reverse feature is supplemental feature and should never be relied upon as a primary safety feature".

NHTSA ODI 11461462

The contact owns a 2020 Kia Carnival. The contact stated that while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle stalled. The check engine warning light was illuminated. Additionally, the rear driver's side automatic sliding door sensor malfunctioned, causing injury to the contact's daughter's shoulder when it closed while she was exiting the vehicle. No medical attention was received. The vehicle was taken to the dealer where it was diagnosed with an unknown failure. The dealer informed the contact that an unknown part needed to be replaced and deactivated the rear-powered sliding doors. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 1,020.

NHTSA ODI 11458125

I was tboned on 3/10/2022 at high speed in the back driver's side 1/3 of the car by another who ran stop sign at high speed (I am guessing 50 or 60 mph). I have some amnesia about the impact now....but with large hematoma on left side of my head & concussion, my head must have hit the left side body/frame of the vehicle without the benefit of side curtain airbags that sure would have made this accident less traumatic to my body and brain. Currently the vehicle is being moved from an impound lot to State Farm' lot. We have not seen any warning lights or had any problems with this car up til now. It has not been inspected by any mechanics yet either.

NHTSA ODI 11456403