27 of the
140 complaints filed about the KIA Carnival Hybrid
are about the throttle and cruise control —
19% of everything owners reported.
The worst model year for it is 2025.
27
Complaints
19%
Share of all complaints
0
Crashes
0
Fires
Acceleration & Cruise Control complaints by model year
While driving on an interstate during a heavy summer thunderstorm, the vehicle suddenly displayed a warning stating, "There may be a problem with the Battery Management System," along with a "Check Hybrid System" message. At the same time, the check engine light illuminated and the hybrid system stopped functioning without any prior warning. Approximately 10–15 minutes before the incident, I had driven through approximately 4 inches of standing water on a surface street at a speed of about 25 mph. After entering the interstate and traveling at approximately 65 mph in heavy rain, the hybrid system suddenly disabled itself. Cruise control was not engaged at any point during the trip. Immediately after the warning appeared, the vehicle experienced a significant loss of power and entered what appeared to be a reduced-power (limp) mode. The gasoline engine continued to run, but acceleration was severely limited, making it difficult to maintain speed or accelerate with surrounding highway traffic. This occurred at night, during heavy rain, on a busy interstate.The unexpected reduction in power created a hazardous situation and increased the risk of being struck by other vehicles while attempting to merge or pull over. After I was able to safely stop and restart the vehicle, the "Check Hybrid System" and Battery Management System warning messages disappeared. The vehicle has approximately 6,000 miles and was purchased new. This vehicle is used to transport my family, including my wife and our three young children. I believe this presents a significant safety concern because the sudden loss of power occurred without warning while traveling at highway speed in adverse weather conditions. Even though the vehicle remained drivable, the reduced acceleration made it difficult to safely maintain traffic flow or move to the shoulder, increasing the risk of a collision. I request that this issue be investigated to determine whether there is a defect affecting the hybrid system.
NHTSA complaint #11753681 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Hello there - I am a fairly new owner of a KIA carnival hybrid 2026. I leased the vehicle in March'26. I have about 2200 miles put on the vehicle. On XXX at around 11am I was driving the vehicle on the left lane of freeway at ~65 mph and there was a sudden flash of Engine Maintenance service light and the vehicle cut out power to the accelerator pedal and started to bring the vehicle to a stop. This is in the fastest lane of the freeway while there was cars behind me. Luckily there was space to stop on the left side of the lane and I parked my car with the EMS light still on. Mind you that cars were going past me at 65+ mph. This is a major safety concern. I switched off the vehicle and turned it back on and the check engine light was still on but I was able to drive the vehicle to an exit and return home. I had the vehicle switched off for a few hours and when I turned it back on, the check engine light was gone. I scheduled a service at the dealership I purchased and explained the situation, they checked the codes/logs and test drove the vehicle and returned the vehicle back to me saying they cannot duplicate the issue. Whether the issue is resolved or not, I am majorly concerned that the diagnosis is incomplete and this issue can happen anytime on a freeway which is a safety hazard. This should not be happening on a brand new vehicle. I have raised a complaint to KIA corporate as well. There are a lot of other users companing similar issues: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11751239 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
On five separate occasions, while turning onto a high-speed roadway and attempting to accelerate to the flow of traffic, the vehicle suddenly lost the ability to accelerate. Despite pressing the accelerator, the vehicle would not exceed approximately 35 mph and then began to decelerate. During both incidents, a "Check Hybrid System" warning appeared, and I was forced to quickly pull over to the side of the high-speed road. The vehicle would only return to normal operation after it was turned off and restarted. This loss of power while merging into traffic created an extremely dangerous situation. Having three young children in the vehicle made the experience especially frightening, and I no longer have confidence that the vehicle can be relied upon to operate safely. Because this defect affects the vehicle's ability to accelerate safely in traffic, I am deeply concerned that it could result in a serious collision if it happens again. I took it into the dealership and the service center experienced the same issue. They thought they had resolved the issue and that it was a "one off" occurrence but it happened to me again just 3 weeks after the attempted repair. This time the engine light came on after the "Check Hybrid System" warning light.
NHTSA complaint #11749457 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I live in [XXX]. On the way to [XXX], out of no where the car stopped accelerating. Was in eco mode at the time and dropped completely while trying to accelerate in the middle of the road. Pulled over completely turned off the car checked the engine nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Ran the diagnostics from the car and didn’t show any errors. Turned off again for a bit and turn on and everything was fine. Moved from eco to smart and turned around worked fine for about 5 m so we thought everything was on and tried to go back north to finish our trip and while on smart mode started to accelerate again and didn’t want to accelerate. Turned around and decided best to take it to dealership Monday. We have about another 1 hour to 2 hours to get home and it’s working fine in smart mode but it shouldn’t randomly drop acceleration at all in the middle of driving. Only at 16,487 miles. Doing it again only driving 33 m an hour and in smart mode. Not even going uphill just dropped acceleration while driving around town. About 15 m after. There’s still no error happening when it happens each time. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
NHTSA complaint #11748283 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
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.
NHTSA complaint #11740932 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
-A "Check Hybrid system. Stop safely. " warning has come on 7 times now. The vehicle loses power and slows down abruptly before coming to a complete halt. This has happened on railroad tracks, the highway, and an intersection where my wife and children were almost hit by other motorists. The dealer has not been able to reproduce the code, but we have pictures and videos of said incidents. The vehicle has been inspected by Kia technicians and "fixed" multiple times, but this keeps happening and I will not risk my family's lives any longer. There has been zero warning every time this system failure has occurred. We are undergoing a buyback process with Kia corporate and are prepared to take legal action under Georgia state lemon laws. Thank you for your time.
NHTSA complaint #11734512 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Driving on freeway with the heater on, Cold weather, car had multiple issue messages (transmission control unit and adaptive cruise control) as well as a check engine light come on as the car went limp and would not accelerate. Has to pull off of the freeway after nearly getting in multiple accidents due to losing speed from 65 mph to 30. Had the gas pedal all the way to the ground and the car would barely accelerate.
NHTSA complaint #11713243 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The contact owns a 2025 Kia Carnival Hybrid. The contact stated that while driving at undisclosed speeds, the vehicle hesitated before accelerating while depressing the accelerator pedal. There were no warning lights illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, who was able to duplicate the failure; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed, and the cause of the failure was not yet determined. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure, and a case was opened. The failure mileage was approximately 3,000. The VIN was not available.
NHTSA complaint #11697908 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The car fails to accelerate sporadically, occurred multiple times in a 2 day period. First time was getting on an on ramp to the highway, I got up to 55 MPH then couldn’t accelerate anymore even with my foot on the gas. I dropped down to 32 MPH and had to merge onto the highway at that speed. I had a semi fly up behind me and swerve around me because I was going so slow, I’m thankful there wasn’t an accident, I had 6 passengers and it could’ve been a very bad situation. It finally gave some acceleration but even then later gave out when driving on the highway. I went from 70 to 53 MPH before I could accelerate again. Other times it happens I was on a road going 35 MPH and it wouldn’t accelerate anymore, dropped down to 26 MPH. I can only coast and pressing the gas just revs the engine, going up to 4000 RPM. It only happens when already driving, not from a dead stop (at least so far). This has happened in all 3 driving modes, Eco (happened the most in this mode), Sport and Smart mode. This has to be addressed and fixed, I’m nervous to drive the car or have my family ride in it. There were no warning lights showing and the diagnostics are stating normal. I’m taking it to a dealership today. The one detail I noticed that happened consistently was the car seemed to be stuck in a mode not being able to determine if it’s in charging, electric or hybrid mode and tries to combine them. There’s a graphic on the display that shows the power either coming from the battery to the front wheels OR from the front wheels to the battery, never arrows both ways. When this happened, there were arrows going both ways from the batteries to the front wheels and from the front wheels to the battery at the same time. Finally when I could accelerate again, the arrows were going one direction. Please report this and make Kia fix this terrible safety issue.
NHTSA complaint #11693029 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The car gave alert of "hybrid system failure" and showed a picture of a drained battery. After about 20 seconds, we were unable to drive over 30 mph. After about 30 more seconds, the car shut off and had to be jumped to work again. Luckily we were pulling over into a parking lot when it shut off, but were blocking the entrance. This is the 4th time this has happened in a couple of months since we bought the car.
NHTSA complaint #11688400 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The hybrid car intermittently switches into EV mode after coming to a complete stop (e.g., at a traffic signal or after briefly stopping to pick up my child). When this happens, the vehicle does not accelerate properly once back on the road and feels stuck in EV mode, unable to accelerate beyond ~45 mph. This creates a safety concern when merging or crossing intersections.
NHTSA complaint #11683507 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
The Kia Carnival Hybrid wouldn't allow me to accelerate, topping out at 30/31 MPH despite me fully pressing down on the accelerator. It has happened twice now (a few days apart) and can only be resolved by turning the car off and then back on. Compared to similar complaints logged on the NHTSA website, the difference is that this happened when it was roughly 50-60 degrees outside--not during extremely low temperatures as the other examples have described.
NHTSA complaint #11659865 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
When pulling out onto the highway from my drive way the car would no accelerate when I pressed the gas, the car would not exceed 35mph, when caused me and my kids to almost get rear ended when pulling out since the car would not go..... the car will start to flash a " check hybrid system pull over safely" light and then the car will start to coast and I have to find somewhere safe to coast off to, to turn the vehicle off and then on again, it will run fine after that but it will eventually do it again... I have taken the car to 2 different dealerships to have it looked and and they tell me nothing is wrong with it
NHTSA complaint #11658095 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
My carnival is only a few weeks old. The first week of driving I was on the freeway and I was suddenly unable to accelerate. The started slowing down and pressing the gas did nothing. I was able to get off to the side of the freeway where I turned off the car. Once the car was back on it was fine. However later in the drive while street driving the same thing happened and I again had to pull over and turn off then on the car again. I explained this to the dealership on the phone thinking it may be an issue with the mode I was driving in. The dealer told me he had heard of this before and I need to switch modes. I have since switched to smart mode where it goes in and out from economy to sport and it failed to accelerate again twice this weekend where I had to pull over and turn off the car. I have an appointment with the dealer however I have no seem posts and complaints of others with this same issue and no resolution. This is extremely dangerous.
NHTSA complaint #11657366 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Car would not allow me to accelerate. It seemed to keep me running only on the electric motor vs the gas engine (the vehicle is a hybrid). This has happened multiple times. The fix is to turn the car off and on again.
NHTSA complaint #11651616 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
When driving my van to work in the morning, I would get an alert on my screen that says to check the driver assistance system. Then I turned on to the freeway on ramp and my car lost all power, not letting me drive faster than 30 mph. I was able to get off of the freeway and on to a side street when another alert, accompanied by loud beeps, came on saying “Check Hybrid System. Stop safely.” I was able to pull to the side of the road and turn the car off. When I turned it back on it seemed everything was fine. I took it to the dealership and they couldn’t replicate the problems and the car didn’t register any errors. So they returned it to me. This morning I drove to work and the exact same thing happened at the exact same place. Only this time I wasn’t able to get over as quickly and my car shut down in the middle of an intersection. Luckily I was able to coast to the side of the road. The dealership is still saying they can’t fix what they don’t know is wrong. Which I get, but it’s weird that these major events aren’t being recorded by the car. And it is terrifying to suddenly lose power on the freeway.
NHTSA complaint #11648981 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
I own a 2025 Kia Carnival SX Prestige Hybrid, and the vehicle intermittently fails to exceed 31 mph when the outside temperature is cold, typically in the single digits or low teens. This issue occurs when I use the remote start system and get into the car to leave for work around 6:50 to 7 am. I have not attempted to replicate this without using the remote start. I have taken the vehicle to the dealership, and they are aware of the problem. They have attempted to recreate the issue but were unable to do so. I have also provided them with a video of the situation and have multiple videos documenting the occurrence.
NHTSA complaint #11645673 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Vehicle not be able to accelerate over 31 mph, seems to happen when its cold outside. This is unsafe especially on highways. Dealership was not able to reproduce the issue. No warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms prior to the failure. The issue first appear under cold weather.
NHTSA complaint #11644224 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.
Car would not accelerate past 30 or 31 MPH no matter how hard gas pedal was engaged. The RPMs increase, acknowledging the gas, but the speed stays the same. Stopping the vehicle and putting in park doesn’t fix it. This is particularly dangerous when going from city street to highway or interstate driving. It eventually self-corrects after about 5 minutes. We’ve experienced multiple instances now, and all have been in cold weather (<10° F).
NHTSA complaint #11644227 — an unverified report by a vehicle owner.