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What 117 owners told NHTSA about the 2025 Kia Carnival

These are the actual owner complaints behind this car’s reliability verdict, filed with the federal government, unedited. They’re unverified reports, not confirmed defects: read them as leads for your pre-purchase inspection, not a diagnosis.

All (117)Crash / fire / injury (5)Electrical system (81)Engine (15)Fuel system (7)Lights (5)Transmission & drivetrain (5)Body & structure (4)Seats (4)Driver assistance (3)Lane Departure (3)Speed control (3)

5 of 117 complaints match · crash/fire/injury only · clear filters

Jul 7, 2026Electrical systemSeat belts1 injury

The contact owns a 2025 Kia Carnival. The contact stated that while parked in a bank drive-thru, the contact's son mentioned that his seat belt was stuck. The contact parked the vehicle in a parking spot and attempted to remove the seat belt; however, the seat belt retracted tightly around his abdomen as the lower half of his body was turning blue, requiring the contact's husband to cut the seat belt. The contact mentioned that it was discovered that all seat belts located in the rear row seats failed. The contact stated that several unknown warning lights were flickering on and off back in April. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, where it was diagnosed that all the third-row rear seat belts had failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired by replacing the seat belts. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and informed the contact that the seat belts were replaced and that the vehicle was ready to be picked up. The approximate failure mileage was 46,000.

NHTSA ODI 11748893

May 12, 20261 injury

Passenger sliding door failed to detect my son and closed completely on his arm. The doors will push the kids and don’t detect even adults at times. He now has a buckle fracture that they are concerned is a full fracture in both bone on his forearm. He is [XXX] old. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11737299

Mar 12, 20261 injury

Today, my young daughter pressed the button on the inside of the door to close the sliding door. Her hand was still in the way and the door did not stop. Part of her hand was completely closed in the door and she screamed and cried in excruciating pain. Right away I noticed bruising and took her to the ER for an X-ray. Since she is so young, her bones are very pliable and thank goodness the X-ray showed no fracture, just bruising and swelling. The sliding door has previously not stopped for my older daughters as well. This is a major safety issue.

NHTSA ODI 11723970

Jul 20, 2025Body & structure1 injury

The passenger sliding door pinch sensor did activate; but not before child’s hand was pinched in door and it almost drew blood. Door closes forcefully I have noticed compared to other minivan experiences I have with automatic doors. Quite a bit of force is needed to activate the sensor and cause the door to open back up. It needs to be more sensitive to avoid injury.

NHTSA ODI 11674907

Apr 30, 2025Seat beltsSeats1 injury

On [XXX], while folding the second-row seatback to access the third row, as the seatback folded forward, it did so with excessive and unexpected speed, causing the seatbelt housing to swing forward and strike my wife, [XXX] , in the head with great force, [XXX] 's face. The impact caused her to momentarily lose consciousness and rendered her unable to move for nearly 30 minutes, during which she remained slumped and dazed in the seat. Fortunately, I was present to support her, preventing further harm. Although we were forced to board a scheduled flight shortly afterward, she continued to experience facial pain, disorientation, and weakness for several hours. We are deeply alarmed that such a hazard exists in a family vehicle, and that no warnings are present in the owner's manual regarding this risk. As a father of three young children, I am deeply concerned about the potential consequences of this design. This type of violent seatback movement combined with a hard, unprotected seatbelt housing could have caused even more catastrophic injuries - especially if it had happened to one of our children. My wife, [XXX] , is still emotionally shaken by the experience, and the trauma has left her fearful of operating the seats at all. This incident has had a significant impact on our family's sense of safety when using the vehicle. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

NHTSA ODI 11657777

Working with the data? Download all 117 complaints as CSV · fetched from NHTSA July 10, 2026

How to use these: a complaint is one owner’s report, filed voluntarily and published unverified. Patterns matter more than any single story. If several owners describe the same failure at similar mileage, put that system at the top of your pre-purchase inspection list. Back to the full 2025 Kia Carnival verdict →