Kia America Inc. is recalling 51,568 vehicles for power sliding doors that have closed on occupants, resulting in nine reports of injuries. The recall includes all 2022 and certain 2023 Carnival vehicles.
In the summer of 2021, Kia began to identify customer complaints that alleged the power sliding door injured children. As of November 2022, injury reports included one fractured thumb, one broken arm, seven bruises, swelling and minor cuts or scrapes related to the power sliding door.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Office of Defects Investigation opened a preliminary evaluation into the 2022 Kia Carnival on April 10, 2022. The office has received five consumer complaints alleging auto-reverse malfunction since July 2021. Three of the complaints reported arms, hands or shoulders getting "trapped against the door." Consumers also said "excessive force" was needed to reverse the direction of the door.
Kia called the auto-reverse feature of the sliding door a "supplemental feature" that "may not activate in all situations" in a document submitted to NHTSA.
The affected Carnival vehicles were produced at a Kia assembly plant in South Korea, the company said, but a cause related to a manufacturing design has not been identified.
"Kia believes the cause of injuries may be associated with customers' unawareness that the PSD is closing," the Kia service department wrote in a letter to dealer parts and service managers.
The recall is an "effort to increase customer's awareness" that the power sliding door is closing to mitigate injury risk, the letter said.
Dealers will be tasked with reprogramming the power sliding door control module with updated software. Two warning chimes will sound when the door begins opening or closing. The door will also open and close at a slower speed.
Owners will begin receiving notice by mail on April 28.
