2022 KIA CARNIVAL Structure Problems

Vehicle: 2022 Kia Carnival Component: Liftgate — right-side support/strut (shoulder) failure Safety Issue: The right-hand side trunk strut/support has completely broken, causing the liftgate to drop unexpectedly. The trunk will not stay open and can fall abruptly during use. This creates a significant safety hazard for adults and children standing underneath, and while loading/unloading cargo. There was no prior warning or misuse. The failure is structural and sudden. Resulting Risk: Risk of head/neck injury, especially for children or anyone attempting to open or hold the liftgate. The sudden drop makes the rear of the vehicle unsafe to use. Request: Investigation into whether this is a defect affecting other 2022 Kia Carnival vehicles.

The Kia Carnival was parked a slight decline and when the button to close the passenger sliding door the door closed rapidly like a guillotine. Thankfully no children or body part were in the path of the door because it would have severely damaged them. After it closed rapidly the door was unable to be opened. The dealership is still working on the Carnival and it has been over 3 weeks and they said they have never seen anything like this since it tore off a bolt in the body frame and caused damage to the body frame and they were unable to open it. Still don't have a timeline for repair. Also concerned it may happen to the other side and the safety issues around it.

The contact owns a 2022 Kia Carnival. The contact stated while driving 50 MPH, the driver's side windshield exterior A-Pillar trim flew off and struck the vehicle behind, almost causing a crash. The contact pulled over to the side of the road temporarily. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer, and the vehicle was inspected. The dealer determined that the trim needed to be replaced; however, the repair was not covered under the bumper-to-bumper warranty. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and referred the contact to the dealer. The failure mileage was approximately 22,023.

Mileage: 22,023

Driver side sliding door closed COMPLETELY on daughter's finger causing significant damage and laceration down to the bone. Required extensive laceration repair.

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)

The passenger side sliding door would not respond to any button pushed to open the door. Once I get it manually opened, it will not latch upon closure resulting in a beeping and warning in my dash. I can turn off power doors and manually force it to shut and most of the time that works but this specific incident it was not working. I ensured that there was nothing blocking the door from shutting and finally got it to shut and latch. I drove out of the location I was at and the sliding door flew open at about 20mph.

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.

Door took waaaaayyy too much pressure to stop it from closing The recall before literally added beeping noises but it NEEDS more sensitive sensors this is ridiculous

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.

The powered sliding door sensor is inadequate. My son pressed the door closed button and I had to push the door off of my body as it started to crush me.

When helping my child into the car, she pressed the door close button and the sliding door closed on my body and did not stop. The door sensors on this vehicle do not work and it will close on anything in its path, including tiny fingers. I have not personally called the dealership regarding this issue but I will have them reproduce this issue at the dealership at my next service appointment. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone. There is no warning that the car sliding door sensors will not work and will close on anything in its path.

Both situations have happened numerous times. The sliding doors do not stop or back off unless an adult size person pushes body force against them to open. My daughter got stuck in the door and she is 2.5. I have to push my entire body against the door to make it open back up. The second thing is the emergency braking system will automatically slam on the brakes after forcing for a long period of time, when I am on the highway. It happens on road trips after cruising for a while. And is not happening at an appropriate time.

The passenger sliding door continues to fail to lock intermittently which is obviously a safety hazard since the door is not completely closed. It is available for inspection upon request. It has not been seen by a dealer or inspected by police or insurance. My father is a mechanic and has looked at it. He is unsure how to fix the broken or why it keeps happening. The door ajar warning light is on indicating the door is not locked but even if the auto door is shut off I can’t get it to close enough manually shutting it so the warning light will turn off. It happened about three months ago then stopped and now has begun again. Nothing that I know of caused this. I use both sliding doors equally and only one is having the problem.

The contact owns a 2022 Kia Carnival. The contact stated that the passenger’s side rear power sliding door auto-reverse failed to engage. Additionally, the contact stated that while her husband was buckling a child in the car seat located in the rear driver’s side seat, her daughter who was also inside the vehicle pressed the door switch button, and the driver’s side rear power sliding door engaged. The door closed in on her husband instead of stopping and engaging the auto-reverse function. The contact's husband was able to release himself and advised the children that were inside the vehicle to not move for their safety. There was no warning light illuminated. The dealer was notified of the failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The contact referenced NHTSA Action Number: PE22004 (Structure). The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 500.

Mileage: 500

The safety feature on the sliding back doors is not safe for children. Previous vans I have owned had a sensor that would trigger the door to open back up if it were closing and ran into something, like a child getting caught in the sliding door. I am a grown adult and the door closing on the Kia Carnival is too strong for me to even stop with my entire body weight. A child is going to get crushed in those sliding doors.

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.

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.

Sliding doors do not stop closing if something is in the way. Have closed myself and children in the door and it doesn’t stop.

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

There is either no sensor, or one that is too weak/defective, in the sliding doors to stop it if a person’s (particularly a child’s) fingers, hands, arms, or other body parts were in the way. Anything in the way would just get crushed by the door! This is not just my vehicle. All Carnivals seem to have a very weak or defective sensor and it’s a serious safety hazard, particularly considering it’s supposed to be a family vehicle! I have prevented injuries so far (thankfully) but have tested the door and it in fact will not stop if something is in the way.

The power sliding doors fail to stop closing unless excessive force is used. If an arm or hand is in the way it gets hurt and the door will try to close on it. The dealership inspected it and said it's a known issue that extra force is needed. There's nothing they can do. How was your safety or the safety of others put at risk? My child's was being closed in the door and when I tried to stop it to save my daughter my arm was bruised. Yes, the dealer knows of the issue but plays it off as just a door that requires more force to stop. Yes, Kia inspected it, found you need to apply more force then normal but has no solution but to make sure to keep far away when it's closing. They However said nothing can be done, it's just how the van comes.

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.

The automatic doors will close even if a child or something is in the way. Kia has acknowledged that the sensor may not work, but this is a huge safety issue when dealing with small children. I was loading the car and pressed the button to close the door. Then, I realized I forgot something and placed my hand in front of the sensor to stop the doors from closing, but the sensor failed.

'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".

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.

Mileage: 1,020

My passenger doors do not appear to have a sensor and do not stop when someone or something is in the way. Could be very dangerous. My arm almost got stuck in it. Had it been a child, they may not have had the reflexes to get out in time. Also. If the door is accidentally opened when pumping gas, will it stop? Likely not.

The automatic doors are supposed to stop when they sense an interference but they don’t stop. My daughter got her hand smashed in ours. I thought maybe it was just where her hand ones but I used my own arm to test the door and it smashed by arm before re-opening. Left an awful bruise. I have heard many other carnival owners have had little hands smashed in their doors

Power sliding doors are way to powerful. They take a lot of force to be stopped.

Rear passenger sliding door shows that it is still open, even when closed. Rear passenger sliding door will open while driving even if the automatic doors are turned off.

The contact owns a 2022 Kia Carnival. The contact stated while driving approximately 10 MPH, the sliding door inadvertently opened without warning. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer where it was diagnosed with needing the latching mechanism replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was informed of the failure and was awaiting a response. The failure mileage was approximately 820. The VIN was not available.

Mileage: 820

Sliding doors seem unsafe. They take a tremendous amount of force to stop the automatic door from closing. There is no safety mechanism to prevent a child from getting stuck and/or extremely hurt due if caught in sliding doors while closing. Seems like there should be a lesser resistance necessary to cause doors to open back up if encountering an object to prevent injury.