2025 Kia Carnival
Complaints about this year name battery far more often than the model's other years — 44% of them, about 59× the usual rate of 0.8%.
NHTSA opened a defect investigation into this model year.
| Complaints filed | 178 |
|---|---|
| Median for this model | 49 |
| Involving a crash | 1 |
| Involving a fire | 1 |
| Recalls | 1 |
| EPA combined | 27 mpg |
What the complaints were about
- battery — 44.4% of this year's complaints, against 0.8% across the model's other years (59×).
- mode — 9% of this year's complaints, against 0% across the model's other years (44.9×). Owners wrote it as: mode, hvac, put car.
- jump — 11.2% of this year's complaints, against 0.8% across the model's other years (14.9×). Owners wrote it as: jump, roadside, 12v, roadside assistance.
Words owners used for the same problem are counted together, so a fault written four different ways is measured once. Grouped by which complaints they appear in, not by a list anyone wrote in advance.
Also unusual this year
- accelerate — 17% of complaints, 9× usual
- parasitic — 9% of complaints, 22× usual
- battery drain — 9% of complaints, 22× usual
What owners wrote
Parasitic battery drain. The battery died and required a jump six times in one month and 1k miles.
Parasitic battery drain. Battery dead at 244 miles when left in garage for two nights with no explanation of drain.
Verbatim from NHTSA complaint filings, with identifying details removed.
Recalls for this year
- 26V232000 FUEL SYSTEM, GASOLINE Fixed free of charge.
How this was worked out
Every year of the Kia Carnival was compared against its own history rather than against other cars, which removes popularity and age from the answer — a common car draws more complaints at equal reliability, and an older one has had longer to accumulate them. A year is flagged when it drew at least 2.5× this model's median and at least 50 complaints.
This is a fault record, not a review. Nobody files a federal complaint to say the car was fine, so it shows what tends to go wrong — not whether owners liked it, and not whether it is a good car.
Source: NHTSA complaints, recalls and investigations, retrieved . Look this vehicle up directly on NHTSA's site to check anything here.
Own a 2025 Kia Carnival? What happened to yours?
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