While driving our 1 month old car we intermittently heard a loud clap sound, we assumed it was due to it being a hybrid vehicle. Well on Wednesday we were merging on to the freeway at approx 20 mph when we heard an extremely loud bang and the 3rd window imploded. There was nothing that hit the car, no point of origin for any foreign object, but rather an implosion. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? This happened within inches of my child's head and terrified my child. Has the problem been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center? We immediately assessed the vehicle was not safe to drive and filed a complaint with Kia Corporate and called the dealership we purchased it from to be assessed and repaired. Has the vehicle or component been inspected by the manufacturer, police, insurance representatives or others? It is currently at the dealership. Were there any warning lamps, messages or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure, and when did they first appear? The only oddity was the intermittent clapping sound we heard randomly over the past few weeks of driving our new van.

I am reporting an intermittent but serious safety issue with my Kia Carnival involving the backup camera system. Since approximately May 2026, the rear backup camera has failed more than 10 times. When the issue occurs, the display will either: Show a completely blank screen, Flicker repeatedly, or Turn into a solid green screen. Once the failure begins, it continues even after repeatedly turning the vehicle off and back on. The system only starts working again after the vehicle has remained powered off for several hours. This is a significant safety hazard because when the backup camera fails, the parking assist system/sensors also stop functioning. As a result, while reversing, I lose both the camera view and the audible/object detection assistance. This substantially increases the risk of backing into a pedestrian, child, cyclist, or another vehicle, especially in parking lots and residential areas. The problem has occurred more than 10 times over the past several weeks. I have taken multiple videos clearly documenting the failures, including the blank screen, flickering display, and green screen. I have brought the vehicle to the Kia dealership for inspection. However, because the problem is intermittent and could not be reproduced during their inspection, they stated that they were unable to diagnose or repair the issue. Despite this, I have video evidence demonstrating the recurring failure. This appears to be an intermittent electronic or software defect affecting a critical safety system. A backup camera is an important safety feature intended to help prevent backover crashes. The simultaneous loss of both the camera display and parking sensors creates an unacceptable safety risk. I respectfully request that NHTSA investigate this issue to determine whether it represents a broader defect affecting Kia Carnival vehicles and whether a recall or other corrective action is warranted before this defect contributes to a serious injury or fatality.

I had pickup my vehicle from the dealership where it had been since the 29th of May due to a previous incident exactly the same as what occurred this time. The vehicle had been returned to me as the service department could find nothing wrong from the May 29th incident. On my way home from the dealership, the vehicle started the same as on May 29th. When accelerating from a stoplight, I lost all propulsion. After about 60 seconds the vehicle recovered and I turned to go back to the dealership. At the aforementioned intersection (crossing over I35) it again lost propulsion, only this time for a longer period of time. I was in heavy traffic and the car behind me was honking even though I had my hazard warning flashers operating! I made it to the dealership where the service manager agreed to do a ride along. We were about to the end of the ride along when the vehicle lost propulsion power. It wasn’t as severe and recovered quickly. The service manager said he had noticed the brake pedal move at the time I accelerated. His theory was that the brake being applied at the same time as the acceleration cause the computer to get confused and it’s reaction was to remove propulsion. No offer was given to take the vehicle back for further testing. I dropped the service manager off and proceeded to return home, being cognizant of my foot placement and insuring it was well away from the brake when accelerating. KIA Care has so far refused to get involved. While I recognize braking at the time of acceleration is counterproductive, it should not cause a catastrophic propulsion failure. Plus the system sets no flags that it had this event! I have tried recreating this failure by using my left foot on the brake while accelerating with my right. This doesn’t recreate the problem so it must be a timing issue. I do not know if this issue is unique to my vehicle or is shared with other hybrids! If KIA Care refuses to investiga, the lemon law might have to be invoked!

While driving a brand new Kia Carnival Hybrid (purchased yesterday), I experienced a severe, life-threatening powertrain acceleration lag from a rolling start. My children were in the car and this was very scary. When attempting to accelerate into oncoming traffic on a wet road surface, the vehicle completely hesitated and dropped power for approximately 1.5 to 2 seconds, leaving the vehicle stranded in the path of oncoming traffic. When the power finally engaged, it delivered a violent surge of torque that caused the front tires to break traction and squeal aggressively. This software-driven hesitation and power-distribution lag represents a severe safety hazard.

We were driving on highway, approximately 2 miles from home, when we suddenly lost power to the drive train. Eventually it started moving again but after a short distance we again lost power to the drive train. It appeared that whenever it transferred from gasoline to hybrid or electric, we would loose power. We were in traffic and this was not a desirable situation. We applied hazard flashers and were able to limp home. We had no way to lock the hybrid into gasoline mode so every time it switch to electric we stalled out and had to wait several minutes before it would transfer back to gasoline mode. Vehicle is currently at dealership for repair but at this time they have not run any diagnosis on the vehicle.