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Kia · NHTSA safety record

2025 Kia K4

Every safety complaint, recall and defect investigation the US government holds on this vehicle.

44

Complaints

10

Crashes

0

Fires

8

Injuries

0

Deaths

Owners of the 2025 Kia K4 have filed 44 safety complaints with NHTSA between March 2025 and July 2026. The most complained-about system is the electrical system, named in 12 of them (27%). The typical failure was reported at 1,300 miles, the median across the 5 complaints that gave an odometer reading.

NHTSA has issued 2 recalls covering this vehicle.

Recalls (2)

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM: INSTRUMENT CLUSTER/PANEL

26V046000 · January 27, 2026

The defect
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."
The risk
An instrument panel display that fails to show critical safety information, such as the speedometer, tire pressure, or warning lights, increases the risk of a crash.
The 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.

Kia America, Inc. · up to 42,677 vehicles across all model years covered

ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING:CRITICAL FASTENERS

25V548000 · August 25, 2025

The defect
Kia America, Inc. (Kia) is recalling certain 2025 K4 and Sorento vehicles. The connecting rod bolts in the engine may have been improperly tightened, which can cause a loss of drive power.
The risk
A loss of drive power increases the risk of a crash.
The remedy
Dealers will replace the sub engine assembly, free of charge. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed September 12, 2025. Owners may contact Kia customer service at 800-333-4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC349.

Kia America, Inc. · up to 30 vehicles across all model years covered

What owners report

Complaints naming each system. One complaint can name several, so these add up to more than 44.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM 12 27%
UNKNOWN OR OTHER 12 27%
ENGINE 7 16%
LANE DEPARTURE 7 16%
POWER TRAIN 7 16%
AIR BAGS 6 14%
FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE 6 14%
STEERING 5 11%
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL 4 9%
BACK OVER PREVENTION 3 7%
ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING 2 5%
FUEL/PROPULSION SYSTEM 2 5%

When the complaints arrived

By the year NHTSA received them, which is not the year the failures happened. They peaked in 2026 at 25.

2025 2026
2025 to 2026, the last of them a part year

In owners' own words

Quoted from NHTSA's complaint file. These are unverified accounts by the people who filed them, not findings of fault.

AIR BAGS

2 injured · crash · towed

I was hit on the driver side of the car infront of the driver door side of the hood and it took out my wheel and the car is totaled with how hard the hit was made my car bounce but the air bags never deployed and the fireman and the police officer said with as hard as I was hit it should have deployed

NHTSA complaint 11733814. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

LANE DEPARTURE: ASSIST

2 injured · crash · towed

I am submitting this complaint regarding a suspected safety defect involving a 2025 Kia K4. On XXX, the vehicle was involved in a single-vehicle crash in the Town of [XXX]. According to the driver, the vehicle unexpectedly steered off the roadway when the Lane Keeping Assist/Lane Centering steering system appeared to intervene. The driver attempted to maintain control but was unable to keep the vehicle on the roadway. The vehicle entered a ditch and struck a utility pole, causing significant damage to the passenger side. The front and rear passenger-side airbags deployed. The front passenger window shattered, sending broken glass onto the front and rear passengers. My daughter was seated in

NHTSA complaint 11753551, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

FORWARD COLLISION AVOIDANCE: WARNINGS

1 injured · crash · towed · 1,300 miles

The contact owned a 2025 Kia K4. The contact stated while driving at various speeds, the vehicle was pulling to the left unintendedly. The contact stated that upon disengaging the Lane Keep Assist, the failure recurred while driving. The vehicle was taken to Discount Tire, where the tire pressure was adjusted. The vehicle was taken to the dealer, where an alignment was performed; however, the failure persisted. The contact stated while exiting the expressway and driving approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle veered to the left unintendedly, causing the contact to lose control of the vehicle. The vehicle veered off the road and crashed into a ditch, and the vehicle faced oncoming traffic. Several

NHTSA complaint 11645914, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS

1 injured · crash · towed

Vehicle's forward collision warnings did not sound. Airbags did not deploy. Vehicle in front end collision at 40mph

NHTSA complaint 11738950. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

AIR BAGS
Air bag did not deploy, yes High Risk Yes Yes No Hit a street sign. Went through radiator, bent frame in front on passenger side, busted windshield, punctured roof. Car is totaled

NHTSA complaint 11753002. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
The primary Dashboard of the vehicle stopped working (while driving the car) and i lost access to all important information such as speed, RPM, current cruise setting, milage, visual alerts for any driver assistance warnings. The entire screen went black and showed “NO SIGNAL” in red text in the middle. It later came back after a few minutes. This issue has occurred 5 times so far and 4 of them being while driving the car within 1 week. The dealer is confirmed this is an issue and recommended an entire dashboard replacement for the vehicle. This is very unsafe because i cannot determine my speed or any other important warnings the vehicle may give me during my drive. There were no warnings

NHTSA complaint 11751322, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ELECTRICAL SYSTEM
I'm not sure what's going on. It's telling me to start stop the car when it's running and then it will turn off and go into accessory mode even when I'm driving that's dangerous. I took it to Kia a month ago for the same thing but they said they couldn't find anything, but it has to be something if I'm not the only one saying this is happening to their car. my car doesn't even have 8000 miles on my car.

NHTSA complaint 11750872. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

towed · 69,085 miles

The contact owns a 2025 Kia K4. The contact stated while driving at 40 MPH on several occasions, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was able to restart but would immediately stall again, requiring the driver to wait approximately 10 minutes before the vehicle could be successfully restarted and driven. The vehicle was towed on one occasion and taken to the same dealer twice, but the dealer was unable to replicate the failure. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 69,085.

NHTSA complaint 11748745. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

UNKNOWN OR OTHER
The car completely cut off while driving on the highway going 65 mph. This isn’t the first time it has turned off while driving. I had to pull over and put the car in park before it would turn back on. The error says Accessory Mode. I have taken the vehicle to Kia Dealership in Winston Salem but they told me they are unable to recreate the issue so they are unable to assist with the problem. The car turning off while driving has happened at least 20 times. I have repeatedly called Kia and they are unwilling to diagnose an issue with the vehicle unless it happens while they have it. I am putting myself and others at danger driving this vehicle. I contacted Hertz Auto sales where I purchased

NHTSA complaint 11748312, quoted in part. Filed by an owner and not verified by NHTSA or by us.

Compare

Other 2025 Kia models

Carnival 121 Telluride 93 Sorento 69 Carnival Hybrid 57 EV6 53 K5 49 Sportage 49 Sorento Hybrid 39

Every Kia on this site — 176 vehicles, 208 recall campaigns and 1 open investigation .

If this is your car and a dealer keeps failing to fix it, your state's lemon law may require the manufacturer to replace it or buy it back. What each state asks for , read from the statutes.

Where these numbers come from

A complaint is one owner's account and has not been verified by NHTSA or by us. A vehicle with more complaints is not necessarily worse: models that sold in larger numbers collect more of them. How this is counted.

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Independent developer and analyst