What 119 owners told NHTSA about the 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid Hev

The vehicle's passenger cabin continually has a strong odor smell after longer drives or after the vehicle idles for a longer duration in time. The vehicle was brought to Horne, KIA in Gilbert, AZ twice in June for same. Both times the service department stated they could not duplicate the problem and could not ascertain that it has anything to do with recall SC368. The problem continues at time of this writing (07/14/2026). The strong fuel odor is causing headaches to family and young children. The problem could not be reproduced but matches the SC368 recall. KIA Customer Service was contacted today, and they advised the only thing they can do is trust their authorized service department that there are no concerns (Horne KIA). I requested the matter be escalated, but my request was denied.

NHTSA ODI 11750451

We purchased this vehicle toward the end of 2024. Within the first 10 months, there were two major recall issues with this vehicle. The recalls were for the 2nd row seating becoming detached from the frame of the vehicle and the other recall was for the computer logic board having the chance of dying and/or frying. These recalls were less than 10 months since date of purchase. There is now another National Recall on this vehicle that was initiated on April 10, 2026. We are a non profit organization and this vehicle is part of our necessary fleet. We called the dealership and was told to bring it in. We brought it in the following week and was told they were not notified yet of a recall. We were told to call back in like 2-3 weeks. We then called back three weeks later and were scheduled to bring the car in for repair. When we arrived at the dealership, we were told "Oh we don't have the parts to fix this. Call back in a few weeks." We waited another three weeks and called back and were scheduled to bring the car in for repair. Now today (June 11, 2026) I went to the dealership and was told once again..."Oh we don't have the parts. Call back in like a month." Now, this recall states that the car should not be driven as the fuel leak is a high chance for a fire. We are desperately trying to have this taken back to the dealership as a lemon car because after we bought this car there have now been three emergent recalls on this car. We paid a lot of money to be able to use this vehicles for our non profit work and over an 18 month period, the car has been out of service for well over 6 months. Dealership seems unable or unwilling to help us. Dealership is: Mark Kia 3333 N 89th St. Scottsdale, AZ 85251

NHTSA ODI 11743531

The contact owns a 2025 Kia Carnival. The contact received the recall letter for NHTSA Campaign Number: 26V320000 ( NA) The local dealer was contacted but the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not contacted. The contact had not experienced a failure.

NHTSA ODI 11737633

I was on the on-ramp getting on the highway and whenever I started to increase speed and try to get over into the next lane, I noticed the car all of a sudden jumped a little bit and then it started consistently jumping in the check engine light was flashing, and I couldn’t keep the car over what ended up being 50 mph anytime I tried to go over 50 mph. The car jumped in was shaking pretty pretty aggressively I was able to finally make it to a gas station at the very next highway stop and after I shut the car off and turn it back on it seems like it was OK, but I’m still very scared to drive it. I then took it to the dealership to have them check for any store or pending codes because after we had stopped and turned the car back on it no longer had the check engine light on, and the dealership was not able to locate any stored codes in the system to see what it happened nor were they able to replicate the issue that we had found. Is a rec out on my vehicle, but no remedy is available and notices will not be sent for another month and a half at this point I am extremely uncomfortable driving my vehicle as I have young children and anything with a fire hazard is not safe.

NHTSA ODI 11733125

Kia has a recall (Campaign SC 368) on a fuel pipe that may be defective causing a gas leak leading to fire. I called the dealer I bought the vehicle from to request an inspection of the part. I was told Kia will not send letters out until June 2 so dealers are under no obligation to inspect the impacted area before then. Why should a family have to wait six weeks or more on such a critical issue for it even to be visually inspected. Kia's direction is simply to be on the lookout for gas smell and park the vehicle outside. The length of time that they are going to be taking shows a lack of concern for safety, especially since the initial step simply requires inspection of the part. Does the NHTSA have any plans to require car manufacturers to handle all recall matters in a more expedient manner?

NHTSA ODI 11732656

Was driving to work this morning and the first time I tried to get accelerate, I was unable to get above 31 MPH no matter how hard I pushed the pedal. Had to stop and restart. Not sure if it is due to the -1 degree weather this morning?

NHTSA ODI 11712026

I was turning onto a main thoroughfare fare, and the van was slow to accelerate, Engine light briefly blinked, then went off, and then when I was on the interstate I had to pull over the van was running rough. Once I went back on the road, the steering wheel was shuddering and finally the engine smoothed out. This has happened more two other times to me.

NHTSA ODI 11669584

While I was driving on a highway, my vehicles "check engine" and "batter" lights were illuminated and a warning came across the car screen that said something along the lines of "Battery Management System Failure" and then "Powertrain failure". The car was not able to accelerate by pressing the gas pedal, and the heating/cooling features within the car stopped working. I quickly changed lanes to get to the far left shoulder of the highway, putting other cars at risk of my car that was slowing down to 50mph as I was getting over. When I would press on the gas pedal, nothing would happen. The car did remain on. When the dealership received the car the next morning they conducted what they referred to as a recall, but KIA refers to it as a "Service Action" - SA617 MCU DTC Logic Improvement. This requires a simply software update, which the dealership conducted, and the car was then working just fine, with no issues that I had indicated above. The dealership was Greenway KIA of Rivergate, 1526 Gallatin Rd North, Madison, TN 37115. The warning lights in the car illuminated about 5 seconds before the car was no longer able to accelerate due to the powertrain failure. In talking about the problem with a KIA representative, it was communicated that KIA has looked into this and it didn't pose any serious problems, so they left it as a "Service Action" item, not a recall.

NHTSA ODI 11667760