2021 Kia K5 complaints

AC stopped blowing, vehicle had 62k miles. Took to an autoshop and they indicated that the AC blower and resistor needed to be replaced. I have both of these replaced, the AC work for a few minutes and then stopped again. I took it back to the same shop and the mechanic indicated that the fuse box was melted/burned (I have a picture as evidence). This is a tremendous fire hazard and we have been leaving our car parked outside of our home out of fear that it will catch fire. Their were no warning lamps whatsoever that indicated that there was a problem. Upon further online research, it appears that numerous people are having the same issue and Kia Motors has not done anythins about it, and we are having to pay thousands of dollars for repair when it is a manufacturer defect.

The blower motor goes out intermittently. I replaced the blower motor but found the problem to be much greater. Upon further inspection the fuse for the blower and wiring harness are melting into eachother at the fuse box. This issue is becoming more and more prevalent in model from the year 2021-2024 the remedy is a complete wiring harness and fuse box replacement.

Engine code came on, one interior headlamp works when it wants to, climate control module is bad it has cause the relay to blow and the resistor to go out. The air turns up on the control module by itself and then your ac just stops working and then starts again as it chooses. All of these are electrical issue as stated in MANY OTHER reports. And electrical issue is unsafe it can cause fire at anytime, my car is new 2021 Kia k5 Lxs, 60k miles and now who knows when the car is going to catch fire while my baby is strapped in a car seat and no AC . RECALL before lives are took from heat stroke or possible fire. To be “luxury” it’s sad I just paid my 3rd car payment and now I can’t even drive my car. Over 100 reports on this same problem and y’all do nothing. Kia is maybe at 70k sells a year now meanwhile Toyota and other are at 300k. When my baby is insured do to this crack head wiring system I will sue someone this is ridiculous.

Rotors warp after only a few months. I’ve replaced them multiple times since I got my vehicle 2 1/2yrs ago. Steering wheel will shake really bad while braking and that’s how I know I need new rotors again. Many people with this year/make/model have had the same issue. It’s definitely a safety issue that needs to be addressed.

The fuse pin melted into the wire harness. Kia is not recognizing this as a safety issue although they acknowledge that the melting pin could cause a fire.

I bought my Kia k5, my blower motor went out upon inspection the problem was a multilink fuse for the blower motor. The fuse is burning the wiring harness, I believe this to be a fire hazard. After some research I believe this to be a common issue with this particular car.

Main body wiring harness grounding problem ... hvac blower motor works only some times at dealeship they found fuse melted at fuse block they want customers to pay for a new wire harness when is obvious a factory defect this can cause a fire or an accident if anything else fails while driving

Nspected blower fuse 40A at E/R Junction block and found multi fuse & E/R Junction block melting Need replacement multi fuse and wiring repair at E/R Junction block Service adviser recommends performing repair which is a known issue for Kia, because the electrical short could create a fire The AC stopped working, got it repaired and within a month it failed again, took it to dealership and they said it was a known issue, but not a safety recall.

Underbody dust panels have torn off of mounting bolts without any clear cause of damage, main front panel and right passenger side panel. Loose panels could have fallen off on highway. Only indication they came loose was when they began flapping in air flow from driving.

When I was driving I heard big boom sounds in my backseat which ended up being my fuel tank which expanded and raised the back seat. It slowly got worse impacting my car’s fuel sensor and the tank expanded more and more I drove.

My Gas tank has Expanded in Size and has made my back seat Pop up and gas leaking when it does because the ring around the Gas pump would Loosen Up. I noticed this issue first around April of Last year when it got Warmer. I would have horrible fuel efficiency, and my gas hand acted very Crazy. A few times it felt like I had been hit by a car from the Back a large Boom! When I am have a problem m car would slow down on highway and wouldn’t Accelerate at all. For past few months it started again. But what made me take it in was a louder bang followed by seat not only popping up but not being able to close. Service center kept my car said it was not safe to drive , I have been without transportation going on 3 weeks.

Car will lose power when accelerating and slow down to an almost complete stop in traffic with no pick up it will jerk as it is trying to accelerate it has happen two times in six months

When you get in the vehicle to turn it on the lights are on an everything else accept for the engine. The dashboard says the the vehicle is on, however it is not. Diagnostics shows no problems. This is on going in the New K5 community.

I was driving when I heard a loud bang and my 11month old son who was in the back seat woke up then started smelling gas and I looked out my mirror and gas was spewing out of my closed gas cap when I pulled over and looked my back seat was off its mounts and what I assume is the fuel pump was popped out of place as well I have taken it to my Kia dealer and they said it has been escalated to corporate I am still waiting for an update

Air conditioner blower goes on and off intermittently without any pattern. Sometimes it will work for days and then will not turn on again. There is no rhyme or reason to it. Without the blower working I cannot defog / defrost my windshield and gives me poor visibility. Brought it to the Kia dealership they said the fuse wire harness has melted and fused into the engine block. They went on say that it will cost around $5000.00 to fix. Because I drive frequently I am out of warranty. The service desk office manager said she has been seeing more of these come in. Sounds like a manufacturer defect and should be under recall.

My car just stopped working, it was towed to a local Lokey Nissan in Clearwater FL where it was purchased. Since it was a defect Lokey Nissan sent it to Lokey KIA in Clearwater FL. Lokey KIA stated the gas can had expanded and also caused damage to the frame and the cost to repair was more than the value of the car so they sent it up to Corporate for further instruction. This was 6 weeks ago. Nobody will return my calls, KIA still has the vehicle and I am getting nowhere here and am without a car. Please help I don't know what else to do!!!!!!!!!!

Fails to upload contacts. Voice recognition does not work. Does not identify caller. Only way to use their system to answer a call while driving is to physically pick up the phone from the charger, look at the phone and press the bluetooth function twice to answer the call.. I was at two dealers and talked to their corporate customer service reps and an escalation rep who told me they do not support Android any longer and to hard wire Android play for use. I tried that and Android play does not work very well. To answer a phone is basically the same process. The mechanic at one of the dealers has a Kia and told me he has the same issue. How many other folks are driving Kias and have to take their eyes off the road to answer a call? This is Extremely dangerous. Kia will do nothing to fix the problem. The car is my office. I need to have these functions working just like when i purchased the car. This is my business. This is going to cause a crash

Bought the car used and had it in within first two weeks with 6k miles on it for warped brakes. They repaired. Now it has 68k miles on it and had all maintenance. 2nd owner and now we are told the antifreeze is going thru the turbo and into head gasket and Kia will not do anything. We were not aware the 10 yr 100,000 miles was not transferable. 6k miles out of warranty and they want us to buy a motor. This car has always been maintained and should not need a motor with only 68k miles. The optima’s had the same issue as we also have an optima which was covered due to recall. This should be looked at. The dealership charged us 200 for diagnostics and said too bad you pay for it.

I purchased the vehicle on 01/08/2024, less than 14 days later, the brake booster needs repair; it’s currently making a hissing now as the air is leaking out and as a result, my brakes are not working properly.

The fuel lid does not function properly. I owned the vehicle for almost 3 years and the fuel lid did not want to open. It was completely stuck after making sure that the vehicle was unlocked, as I always do, when going to put gas. I stood in the gas line for 30 minutes pushing the fuel lid trying to open it and it never budged

The horn for this vehicle simply stopped working. The horn was used earlier in the day to prevent a different vehicle from changing lanes to avoid an accident. My wife has the same vehicle (year make and model) and her horn stopped working 2 weeks ago. The fuse is not the issue on either vehicle. My wife was informed by local Kia that this issue has been common. I researched this issue online and several Kia customers have experienced the same issue. This does not seem coincidental, and poses a great safety concern! Customers should not have to front the cost for this as it seems to be a defect in the manufactured line.

While on her way from work, my mother was involved in an accident in her 2021 Kia K5 LXS where she was rear ended at a high speed by a driver not paying attention to the road and she ended up hitting the car in front of her. During the accident NONE OF THE AIRBAGS DEVELOPED. My mother was hospitalized for a month and do to the SEVERITY OF HER MAJOR INJURIES (rib fractures, a closed fracture of her T7-T8 with loss of sensation and mobility of lower half of body) she passed away from “Effects Of Blunt Spinal And Rib Cage Trauma.” No recalls were noted for this particular model and year until March of 2023 which was way too late.

Car thermostat failure, car overheats and only 89000 miles

My vehicle is a 2021 Kia K5 GT (2.5L-T), mechanically identical to Hyundai Sonata N-Line (2.5L-T). My car has 24000 miles on it and I have replaced the rotors on my car five times now due to premature warping. KIA OEM rotors, R1 Concepts, Brakenetic Rotors, all have warped. This issue is discussed amongst GT and N-Line owners heavily in the forums stating how the OEM Brake system has some sort of issue that causes premature rotor warp. Some have even resorted to changing their brake system to a old model Cadillac CTS-V system because of how crap these brakes are. Again after less than 2 months with new rotors, they have warped yet again.

Loss of power. Check engine light came on

Very bad transmission slip during acceleration from stop and at highway speed

The contact owns a 2021 Kia K5. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 23V149000 (Air Bags) however, the part to do the recall repair was unavailable. The contact stated that the manufacturer had exceeded a reasonable amount of time for the recall repair. The manufacturer was not made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

Vehicle will occasionally fail to properly initialize its safety systems, causing ABS, Traction Control, FCW, warning, auto stop, auto hold lights to come on and the aforementioned systems to fail. This disables driver assist features and important safety systems. Kia Dealer does not attempt to resolve. Claims that “we parked too close to a tree and the vehicle thinks it was in an accident” would like further investigation from Kia to be performed regarding this issue.

Vehicle radio fails to initialize wireless Apple Carplay. The process to get it to work varies. This has been an ongoing issue with the car. Dealer will not update vehicle software.

The contact owns a 2021 Kia K5. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the Lane Assist feature would illuminate without other vehicles nearby. The contact also stated that the vehicle would independently switch lanes independently; causing the contact to forcefully adjust the steering wheel into the desired lane to prevent a potential crash. The contact manually disabled the features; however, the features independently reactivated. In addition, the defroster failed to operate as needed which obstructed her vision due to fog on the windshield. The vehicle was initially taken to a dealer, but the contact was offered no assistance. The contact then took the vehicle to Kia of Irvine (45 Oldfield Building B, Irvine, CA 92618) where two mechanics acknowledged the failure while test driving the vehicle. The contact was assured by the dealer that both safety features where disabled; however, within minutes of leaving the dealer; the features independently reactivated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure and the contact was given a case number. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was 17,951. The consumer called to make an appt due to the check engine light illuminating and informed vehicle will not be repaired for a few weeks. In the meantime the gas smell is pouring through the vents.

My vehicle has been experiencing shifting delays when accelerating. Often times when I stop accelerating my vehicle has a delay and remains revved up for a few seconds before the RPM's go back down. The sluggish/delayed acceleration presents a safety issue when the vehicle is not operating as it should. This issue has been occurring for about 6 months. I informed the dealership where I purchased the vehicle and have the routine maintenance done and they say there are no issues reported about the issues I have been having. I addressed the issue again over the weekend when I had my oil change and tire rotation on April 1, 2023 and I have been told the same thing that there are no issues reported. But the dealership fails to report the issue I had addressed the first time.

BRAND NEW VEHICLE PURCHUSED OFF SHOW ROOM FLOOR WITH 4 MILES ON IT. 3 MONTHS AFTER OWNERSHIP, WHEN PUSH TO START THE CAR. THE STEERING WHEEL WILL LOCK UP, UNABLE TO DRIVE AND A SYSTEMS CHECK WILL DISPLAY ON THE DASH. IT DOES NOT STOP, UNTIL YOU TURN THE CAR OFF AND ON SEVERAL TIMES, WITH NO SET AMOUNT OF TIMES UNTIL THE CAR IS DRIVABLE AGAIN. THE CAR HAS BEEN BROUGHT TO KIA SEVERAL TIMES FOR SERVICE, BUT THEY HAVE NEVER BEEN ABLE TO DETERMINE A REASON. A LEMON LAW WAS FILED AND COMPLETED IN 2022. THE CAR SINCE THEN HAS CONTINUED TO HAVE THE STEERING WHEEL LOCK UP RANDOMLY WHEN STARTING IT AND HAS EVEN PROGRESSED TO DOING IT WHILE DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY!!! NO RECALL FROM KIA HAS BEEN ISSUED. THEY ARE JUST WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO DIE!

One day I was driving my car when suddenly I heard a loud explosion sound from the back. I continued to drive the car until I could pull over to inspect the car. In the midst of pulling the car over I began smelling a strong odor of gas in the cabin of the car. Prior to stopping the car started skipping and missing badly. I pulled over checked the car and discovered something malfunctioned and caused the rear seat to pop up and be bent from the frame. I proceeded to look under the seat and saw where what appeared to be the fuel pump almost popped out, the bracket above the fuel pump was broken and popped up from the explosion, the seat would not go back in place. I looked at the gas hand I went from 3/4 tank of gas to E in less than a few miles. The exhaust also sounds like something blew or came apart the car runs very loud and you can hear the car sounding like the exhaust have a hole. After the sequence of events the engine light never came on. This is huge life safety problem that should have never happened.

I was rearended into another vehicle at a speed of about 50mph, then rearended again by and SUV, not one of my 9 airbags deployed.

The contact owns a 2021 Kia K5. The contact stated that the driver assist feature would activate independently. The contact stated no warning light was illuminated. The contact was able to park on the side of the road and shifted from park to drive to deactivate the driver assist feature and continued driving to his destination. The contact called the local dealer and made them aware of failure. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer had been informed of the failure. The failure mileage was 32,077.

The contact owns a 2021 Kia K5. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, the power steering malfunctioned, and the steering wheel failed to turn in either direction. Additionally, during the failure several unknown warning lights were displayed. After turning off and restarting the vehicle, the failure self-corrected on several occasions. Recently, the failure failed to self-correct and the vehicle was towed to the local dealer. While the vehicle was at the dealer, the mechanic experienced the failure but was unable to determine the cause of the failure. No repair was performed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 16,000.

1. Car has completely lost power during normal driving. Transmission failure. Loss of Motive power. It is available for inspection upon request 2. Car lost all motive power while on the highway, car had to coast to a stop. This was very dangerous. 3. Car was taken to the Kia dealership, diagnosed by their techs, and transmission replaced. This has occurred two times since the car was purchased new. First at 4,600 miles (6/13/2021) , second at 16,600 miles (9/7/2022). Both times dealership replaced the transmission 4. Both times this occurred the check engine light illuminated and a warning to pull over immediately. There were no prior symptoms when this occurred. The failures happen suddenly. There is apparently already a recall for this issue for the Hyundai vehicles that have this very same engine/DCT combination. Recall #236. This same issue is also occurring on the 2021+ Kia Sorento and 2021+ K5 GT 2.5L

This report is being filed as a duplicate to 11488885, as this issue occurred twice. Please see 11488885 for details, as issue was exactly the same. I have attached the dealership repair invoices for both incidents as I forgot to do so in 11488885.

The Wheels Guards fell off mid drive, another part that fell off was the underbody cover that is made out of cardboard. I know many Kia K5 owners who have had this problem. It fell off due to rain. Since it is made out of a cardboard like material, the rain makes it fall off while driving.

The bumper is way to low so if you try going up a hill or if you park and there are stoppers, the bottom of the bumper scratches and rubs on the bottom causing it to pop off. You may not realize this until you are driving and it falls off

In this car, when braking or using the adaptive cruise control, the car shakes a lot, making yo lose control of the vehicle.

The front seats electrical adjustments do not work properly, I have had ir switch mid drive and stying to adjust them is a hassle. They do not work properly.

The contact's son owns a 2021 Kia K5. The contact stated that while her son was driving in the rain at 50 MPH, another vehicle hit her son's vehicle from behind which sent the vehicle into a concrete barrier. The vehicle was sent spinning after it hit the barrier; the vehicle was facing oncoming traffic once it came to a stop. The air bags did not deploy upon impact. The contact's son was not injured and did not seek any medical attention. The other driver fled the scene of the accident. A police report was filed. The vehicle was towed independent collision center where it had yet to be inspected or repaired. The dealer nor the manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown. The VIN was not available.

While driving on 7/6/2022, upon acceleration, the vehicle began jerking and applying the brakes as if it was trying to attempt to avoid a rear end collision. Moments after that incident, the instrument cluster displayed warning lights of the following: check forward safety system, traction control, front end collision avoidance, electronic parking brake, and auto hold all in an orange color followed by a check engine light shortly after. Safety was put at risk due to the vehicle suddenly and uncontrollably braking without any warning on prior indication. The vehicle has not been inspected by anyone yet, but is schedule for a dealer diagnostic on August 9th, 2022. Currently, this vehicle has 10,900 miles on the odometer.

Does not always shift like it is supposed to

The undercarriage of the vehicle fell as I was driving down the highway. Yes it is available upon request. My safety was put at risk because part of the undercarriage piece started to rip and go underneath my tire. The problem was inspected by a dealer. The component has not been inspected by anyone else. There were no warnings prior to this occurring.

Can is going 4000rpm at 70 mph. Feels like no power, won't go over 80 mpg. To it the dealer but didn't do anything unless the check engine light is on. Can is 10 months old.

Had the windshield replaced on March 14, 2022. i drove the car for approximatly for two weeks with no issues. i left my car parked while on vacation and took a cab to the airport. after i returned home from vacation and drove my car for the first time in almost two weeks i noticed the cracks on the windshield. one on the lower area of the passenger side and another that is on the driver side about mid ways. both have spread and since then there are two smaller ones starting. i have been constantly contacting the dealership who is giving me the run around. but on may 3 they are wanting to see the car windshield. the glass company the dealer uses has no warranty for their work. The cracks are inside the glass you cant feel them at all. i know the service guy wanted to know if i had a telluride i told him no i have the K5.

Horn went out? No explanation

The windshield cracked and spread very quickly without any known reason. I made an appointment with the dealership and was told that they do not handle that situation and was dismissed without a proper check. Will be checked by an auto glass company soon. There was no indication of any failure/warning lamps. There were no prior chips in the windshield that were prone to further damage, no loud sounds and the crack appeared while the car was parked on my carport.