141 of the 507 complaints about the Kia Carnival (27.8%) concern Electrical, making it the model's largest problem area. That share is 1.8× the Electrical share across all tracked vehicles.
141Complaints · Electrical
27.8%Share of complaints
1.77×vs. all vehicles
46Last 12 months
2.1%Share involving a crash or fire
1Related recalls
Analysis
46 Electrical complaints were filed in the last 12 months versus 28 in the 12 months before — up 64%.
3 of these reports (2.1%) describe a crash or fire, with 6 injuries and 0 deaths mentioned.
1 recall campaign relates to this area, most recently campaign 26V046000 (2026-01-27, model year 2026).
Child's arm was crushed in the sliding door when it failed to properly stop due to the sensor failing.
Electrical · 2026-10-13 · ODI 11770886
I had two very serious incidents. July 8th: Horn just started blaring unprompted. Locking/unlocking doors, turning motor on, disconnecting battery did nothing to stop it.
Electrical · 2026-07-23 · ODI 11752483 · Fire
NHTSA Vehicle Safety Complaint Vehicle: 2024 Kia Carnival Mileage at Failure: Approximately 74,000 miles Incident Date: [XXX] I am filing this complaint regarding a significant safety-related failure involving the power sliding door on my 2024 Kia Carnival.
Electrical · 2026-10-01 · ODI 11768250
The battery is draining due to external things but it’s not attached to anything and now all screens in the car flash on and off and go black including speedometer
Electrical · 2026-10-01 · ODI 11768241
"UPDATE TO EXISTING COMPLAINT NHTSA ID 11747231 LCD CENTER DISPLAY / BACKUP CAMERA FAILURE UPDATE TO NHTSA COMPLAINT ID 11747231 I am submitting an update regarding the same unresolved safety defect reported in NHTSA Complaint ID 11747231 involving my 2025…
Electrical · 2026-10-01 · ODI 11768358
2026 Kia Carnival Hybrid SX. The digital instrument cluster intermittently flickers, goes blank, and displays “NO SIGNAL” while driving, potentially causing loss of access to speed, gauges, warning indicators, and other safety information.
Electrical · 2026-09-29 · ODI 11767908
Excerpts from complaints filed with NHTSA, trimmed for length. The ODI number is NHTSA's record identifier.
Summary: Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2025 Kia K4, 2025-2026 Sorento, Sorento Hybrid, Sorento Plug-In Hybrid Electric (PHEV), 2026 Sportage, Sportage Hybrid, Sportage PHEV, K5, EV9, Carnival, and Carnival Hybrid vehicles. Due to a software error, the instrument panel display may fail. As such, these vehicles fail to comply with the requirements of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) numbers 101, "Controls and Displays" and 138, "Tire Pressure Monitoring System."
Remedy: The instrument panel display software will be updated over-the-air (OTA) or by a dealer, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed March 26, 2026. Owners may contact Kia Customer Service at 1-800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC361. Vehicle Identification Numbers (VINs) involved in this recall will become searchable on NHTSA.gov on February 9, 2026.
