NHTSA Owner Complaint Log
This page lists owner-reported complaints filed with NHTSA for the 2024 Kia EV9. Complaints are unverified consumer reports submitted to NHTSA and do not by themselves prove a defect or defect rate.
Gauge cluster completely blank after successfully starting the car. Happened twice in two weeks. No speedometer, no battery level, no safety features available, no audible turn signal
Vehicle powered on, while DRIVING, instrument cluster is blank. Cannot see speedometer- huge safety issue
On Oct 11th the vehicle failed to fully charge, stopping at 69%. I heard loud and repeated clicking from the undercarriage. On Oct 12th I received an email / system notification “ A suspected condition with your BuddyNine’s Battery Management System has been detected. Charging has been limited. A full system check is recommended. Please schedule an appointment at your Kia dealership as soon as possible.” On Oct 12th I received a critical warning in the Kia app: “ Your EV Battery has a critical issue. Contact Roadside Assistance (844-886-9411) as soon as possible.” I took the car into a Kia dealership on Monday Oct 14th and they have had it for 23 straight days. I have received conflicting information about the underlying cause and have not received an estimate for when it will be repaired.
I am reporting a critical safety issue with my KIA EV9. The vehicle's information screen, which displays essential driving data such as vehicle speed, cruise control status, advanced driving system indicators, lights, and signals, has malfunctioned. On two separate occasions, the screen went completely black while driving, leaving all critical driving information inaccessible. This malfunction poses a significant risk to my safety and the safety of others, as I was unable to monitor the vehicle’s speed or system status while driving. Availability for Inspection: The malfunctioning component (information screen/system) is available for inspection upon request. Safety Risk: This issue compromised my ability to safely operate the vehicle. Without visibility of the speedometer, driving system indicators, or signal lights, I was unable to monitor crucial driving functions. This increased the risk of speeding unknowingly and reduced my ability to respond to surrounding traffic, creating a dangerous situation on the road. Reproduction of the Problem: The issue has occurred twice. While I have not yet had it reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or service center, I am aware that other KIA EV9 owners have reported the same issue, indicating it is not an isolated case. Inspection by Others: To date, the vehicle has not been inspected by KIA, law enforcement, insurance representatives, or other authorities regard Please find below links to forums and websites where other KIA EV9 shared about this issue. 1- [XXX] - [XXX] - [XXX] - [XXX] Here is the video of the incident. [XXX] Thank you. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
My wife turned on the car after it had been parked for a few hours and the primary instrument cluster display (that contains critical information such as speed) was blank. There was nothing she could do to reenable it. This seems to be the same issue found by many other EV9 owners here: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Dashboard blinked out. Turned off vehicle and let sit for ten minutes per the Kia forum and restarted. Still no dashboard indication at all. Blinkers do function. Taking to dealer. Vehicle has approximately 1100 miles on it.
The screen that shows speed, miles remaining, etc. went black on a long trip. All of the automated cruise control, lane keeping, etc. are also housed in that screen. The blinkers would not work, I had no idea how fast I was going at any time which is unsafe. I could not see how much range is left on the vehicle which I imagine could lead the car just dying while driving or going into the turtle mode with too low of a charge. Also, the adaptive cruise control was not working properly and at one point when a car in front of me moved over out of my lane, the car accelerated hard and brought me up to about what was probably about 90-100mph, not even close to where it was set earlier. 2 hour drive without screen or these safety features and the screen still is not back. I will be taking it into the dealership. This is the second time this screen went out but luckily the first time I was not on a 2 hour work trip/drive and was able to just leave the car in my driveway and use another vehicle.
Display doesn’t come on when car goes on. Blind spot indicator, turn signal, speed display, nothing works. Car will drive but very unsafe without dash display.
Dashboard screen is blank. Have tried to turn off and restart the car multiple times. can not see speed or other key information. There really needs to be a recall on this as soon as possible and some sort of a bulletin that the car is undriveable. It's the same issue described here. Car was fine until today. Assuming an over-the-air update must have caused a bug. [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
After starting and backing the car out of a parking spot, I noticed the instrument cluster display screen behind the steering wheel was completely blank, except for the letter of the gear I was in (P, R, or D) in the bottom center of the screen. The symbol for the parking brake also appeared in the bottom left of the screen, and the Door Ajar symbol at the top of the screen. The Heads Up display was also not working at all. When the turn signal was used, I could not see the light flash on the screen, and there was no audible noise telling me the turn signal was on. In fact, many audio notifications did not work. I had no ability to see my speed as both the speedometer and Heads Up Display were not working. I also could not see what mode of regenerative braking was being used, or any other vehicle status that normally appears on the status display. This is dangerous situation for multiple reasons: 1) I can not see how fast I was going 2) There were no safety indicators, visual or audio, that the seat belt is not used. 3) I can not tell if my turn signal was on, which could result in an accident when changing lanes if it wasn't working 4) I can not see how much range is left, potentially resulting in a situation where I get stranded. 5) I could not see what mode of regenerative braking I was in. This is important to ensure the car can be stopped in a safe manner, as each mode affects the stopping distance required. The problem can be reproduced. I am unable to get the display cluster screen to reappear. I have turned the car off and on and it still remains blank along with the heads up display. I have also changed settings for the display cluster in the main menu, but it does not work. I have not had an oppty to have this car inspected yet, but it is available upon request. I plan to call Kia to schedule an appointment. There was also no warning this could occur. I have not had an issue like this appear before.
Each time, the digital instrument panel (where the gauges are displayed) goes almost entirely blank. It’ll restart after the car sits while off, but we’ve had to drive without the instrument panel telling us how fast we’re going and whether the turn signals are on or off. This has happened twice now. Twice I have had close calls with forward collision braking. The warning comes on but the automatic breaking does not occur.
My car is 7 months old. Today, while driving, the driver display went blank. I had no speed indicator, no blinkers, I do not know if the brake lights were working, nothing in the driver display dash. I understand that this is an issue with this particular car. This is very dangerous. Nothing I did would make the display come back on. The car is currently at the dealers being worked on so I don't know what the problem is or how it is being resolved. But, based on EV9 forums, this is a known problem. That I of course knew nothing about.
When I started my car to go to an appointment, the instrument dash didn't show any information, i.e., Speed, Charge Remaining, odometer, etc. The car was driveable but I didn't have any indication of my speed.
The dashboard went dark. it’s an LCD panel, which means there was no speedometer, no gauges, no way to tell how much charge is left on my car. The turn signal stopped working too.
For the third time in that last 5 weeks, I turned on my Kia EV9, and the digital cluster is blank. I cannot see my speed, battery power remaining, lane change cameras, turn signals, headlight information, etc.
Yesterday I was nearly in an accident any my car’s horn did not work. It still doesn’t work. I called my dealer and they hadn’t heard of the problem in the EV-9 but added to my upcoming recall appointment. Not sure vehicle is safe to drive without a working horn.
Vehicle Information: 2024 Kia EV9 Light Long Range Mileage: 850 miles Issue Summary: I am reporting a serious safety concern with my 2024 Kia EV9 Light Long Range. Within the first three weeks of ownership and with less than 900 miles on the odometer, I experienced multiple instances of the vehicle entering "turtle mode" while driving at high speeds on the freeway. This mode significantly reduced the vehicle’s speed without warning, creating a dangerous situation. Incident Details: While driving at 80–85 MPH on a California freeway with my family, my 2024 Kia EV9 LLR suddenly entered "turtle mode" without warning, drastically reducing speed to 30–40 MPH. I had to quickly activate hazard lights and navigate to the shoulder. At the time, the battery level was around 15%, and I initially thought it was a low battery issue. However, the following day, after fully charging the vehicle, the issue recurred with approximately 82% battery remaining. Over the next few days, this happened a total of four times while driving at freeway speeds. On the fourth occurrence, the vehicle shut down completely after coming to a stop and would not respond to acceleration until multiple restart attempts. Current Status: The vehicle has been towed to the dealership by Kia Roadside Assistance. The service team is currently investigating the issue and has opened a case with Kia corporate, but no diagnosis has been provided at this time. Given the severity of this recurring issue, I have also opened a buyback/refund request with Kia corporate. Safety Concerns: This defect presents a severe safety risk, as the sudden loss of speed while driving at high speeds on a freeway could easily result in a rear-end collision or other accidents. The inability to accelerate or maintain control over the vehicle creates an extremely dangerous situation, especially in high-traffic environments. I urge the NHTSA to investigate this issue to ensure the safety of other Kia EV9 owners.
The main screen which displays the vehicle speed, state of charge and side view cameras, amongst other items, was completely black. Not knowing the speed I was traveling was dangerous to my safety. I have read of other complaints online of other users having this issue. They stated that if you turned off the car, locked the doors and didn't charge for around 30 to 60 minutes, the screen would reset and work. It did. The vehicle has not been inspected by the manufacturer or law enforcement.
Digital Gauges Keep Failing
The lane assist feature will not turn off. It also behave erratic. Today on the highway it lurched me towards an empty flatbed semi. It will also pull towards oncoming traffic and scares me to drive the car.
The electric dash that shows speed, battery charge level, drive mode, and other safety features (such as camera side mirrors, whether turn signal is on) has gone blank twice. From research online, this appears to be a known issue that can only be resolved by disconnecting the 12v battery or stopping the car and leaving it lock for an extended period of time. This seems like a major safety issue.
For the second time in a week, the instrument panel went completely blank. This meant it was not possible to see speed, etc. The multimedia display panel in the center of the dash continued to work fine. The first time this happened last week, the problem resolved itself after the vehicle was turned off for 2 hours. Many others have reported this problem over the past month here: [XXX] I have had this vehicle for more than 3 months and last week was the first time this happened, but it happened again today. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
Entire dashboard went blank and was not visible
Twice so far my EV9's main screen and the HUD have gone blank. This leaves me with no way to view my speed, alerts, etc. The only way to fix this, as far as I can tell, is to disconnect the 12V battery for a period of time and then reconnect it. It is extremely dangerous to not know how fast you are driving and to not have any other information, including driver alerts. And the fact that there is no way to reset the system without a great deal of effort (and a 10mm socket wrench) makes this extra hazardous.
Drivers screen goes blank while driving.
Main cluster blank (charge, speedometer, etc). Cannot be resolved unless shut off for 30-60 minutes. This happened previously 1-2 months ago (no report filed).
Our display/cluster, indicators, sensors, emergency lights stopped working in the middle of the ride. Major safety hazard on highway. Have to turn off the car and wait 30-60 mins for things to start working again. I know this has happened with others and to us before but in that case display stopped working the moment you turn on the car. Can't see the car speed, or any other things on display.
Instrument panel went blank while driving. No digital gages available. No sound or picture when turn signals used. Had no idea how fast I was driving. The issue resolved itself after the vehicle was turned off and sat for a few hours. Have a service appointment for safety recall in addition to this and another concern.
When the vehicle is in adaptive cruise mode and tracking a lane with Lane Keeping Assistance, if the lines on the road widen beyond a certain point (perhaps 3-5ft wider than a normal lane), the vehicle will suddenly stop maintaining the lane with no audio warning or significant visual indicator. As the driver should always be paying attention, it is the lack of an audio warning that is the major concern. On a straight road, the vehicle will slowly begin to drift out of the lane. However, when this happens on a curve, the vehicle will suddenly stop steering around the corner, and throw the vehicle out of the lane in a dangerous way. This happens all the time when the lane widens, which I often experience on newer freeways with wider lanes. If a fix can't be provided for the system shutting down, it at least needs an audio warning indicator so the driver is alerted to what is happening and can safely take control.
The car has a screen which contains the speedometer, battery charge level, odometer miles, turn signal operation and other information including the parking collision warning and the forward collision warning. The screen went blank and dark
Instrument cluster randomly will be blank. Which prevents the driver from seeing travel speed, battery level, etc.
The main display of the vehicle which shows Speed, Range, Blind Spot Cameras, etc - essentally all the critical vehicle information needed to drive - goes blank randomly. While the vehicle is driveable during this time, the driver does not know their speed, range, any other alerts/warnings that would typically be shown on the guage screen (including seatbelt warnings, mechanical failure warnings etc). During this time the climate screen and infotainment screens, which are seperate, function but the main guage screen does NOT. There is no pattern/predictablity as to when the screen will be unavailable. Further, it does not seem to return until the vehicle is parked and locked for an extended period (eg, several hours).
Twice in approximately 6 weeks of ownership, when starting the car, the screen that displays the digital instrument panel for the driver has been blank with the exception of a single letter at the bottom of the display that indicates the drive mode of the vehicle (D). While in this state, the vehicle does not have any audio alerts (e.g. turn signal, blind spot warning, etc). Also, due to the screen being blank, the vehicle speed, remaining range of the electrical vehicle, and all other digital gauge data are unable to be seen. The screen portions to the right of the driver instrument panel (radio, android auto, etc.) are displayed when this occurs. If the vehicle is turned off and then allowed to sit for 30-60 minutes, when restarting the vehicle, the condition is cleared.
The digital display that shows the driver gauge cluster that includes current speed, as well as other crucial information, is not functioning. It displays nothing other than the current gear selection. None of the audible collision safety features are functioning either.
When turning on the car, the instrument cluster screen would remain black, preventing the driver from seeing the speedometer, vehicle state of charge, warning lights, etc and making the vehicle dangerous to drive.
Main display does not show speed, blind spot warnings, etc. it’s mostly blank. It shows that my vehicle is in park, reverse, neutral or drive. It’s blank other than that. Unable to monitor speed while driving!
The two drivers electrical monitors fail. The driver side monitor goes blank and the second monitor gets stuck in backup camera mode. When this happens, the turn signals are not indicated inside the car, so driver is not informed if this is working or not. This has happened twice and car was brought to KIA for inspection each time. From the [XXX] article, it appears that numerous other people are having this problem as well. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)
The contact owns a 2024 Kia EV9. The contact stated while driving 55 MPH, the turn signals became inoperable while attempting to switch lanes. The contact stated that the instrument panel was also inoperable. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer to be diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was unknown.
We turned on the car and the section of the display behind the steering wheel was blank. No speed information, no gear choice information, no blinker notification. Attempted to turn everything off, but a full power down did not resolve the issue. Later that day, the display was working again.
The control screen with speedometer, all the advanced driving systems has blanked twice. The car still drives fine, but I couldn’t tell how fast I was going or access any of the advanced driving features or warnings using a camera. I wasn’t even sure if my turn signal was going until I got out and checked. All the online forums advise to turn off and lock car for 30 minutes and restart, which has worked, but the first time it happened I was driving downtown and couldn’t tell whether any of my external signals were working. The second time (several weeks later) driving carpool. Get out and wait 30 minutes is not feasible. Because they were spaced rather far apart, I don’t feel like it’s a single software update issue.
Dashboard is blank does not show speed limit when driving the car. No way to determine speed while driving. Interior turn signal indicators make no noise or show any indication that the indicators are on.
Without any previous warning signs or issues, the dashboard screen went blank. I was unable to see my speed, or use my signals and wipers. I tried turning the car on and off and it still wasn’t fixed. I was able to drive the car home and my infotainment system still operated but the screen with the important info is broken.
The main display of the vehicle which shows Speed, Range, Blind Spot Cameras, etc - essentally all the critical vehicle information needed to drive - goes blank randomly. While the vehicle is driveable during this time, the driver does not know their speed, range, any other alerts/warnings that would typically be shown on the guage screen (including seatbelt warnings, mechanical failure warnings etc). During this time the climate screen and infotainment screens, which are seperate, function but the main guage screen does NOT. There is no pattern/predictablity as to when the screen will be unavailable. Further, it does not seem to return until the vehicle is parked and locked for an extended period (eg, several hours).
Main digital display behind the steering wheel didn’t turn on. I had to drive home for one hour with no information on speed, range, cameras, proximity sensors, etc.
I turned on the car and the main gauge cluster screen was black - I was not able to see speed, use turn signals, use advance driver systems, etc. Completely unsafe to drive.
The manufacturer failed to align the vehicle at all prior to leaving the factory. The failed parts all have to do with the alignment. My safety was put at risk because of the persistent pull while driving, shaking while driving, instability at high speeds, and the fact that the tires are now damaged due to the alignment issues. The dealer kept the vehicle for over 60 days, and was able to rectify part of the alignment issues, but there are still areas that they are unable or unwilling to fix, as shown to them by the alignment machine. The vehicle has been inspect by a certified Kia dealership, as it was there for over 60 days. The issues were the shaking of the vehicle, the pull, the instability at high speeds, and the damage caused to the tires. It appear upon first taking the car home after purchase. I was forced to pick up my vehicle because Kia was unwilling to fix the vehicle, and they threatened me with storage fees.
I had finished charging the car over night and just turned it on to drive to work. However, the dash display did not fully turn on. It did not display the speed, charge, odometer reading, any form of driver safety information, etc. The display was completely blank except for displaying the gear the car was in, that the parking break was on, and that auto hold was engaged. The infotainment and climate control screens were functional and the vehicle could drive but it was unsafe to drive without the main dash screen (including the speedometer).
After returning to the car from a short stop, the cluster display, including speedometer, would not turn on or display. This also made it seem like turn signals were not working, but they seem to actually have worked, just not been audible or visible inside the vehicle. This reportedly is happening to many Kia EV9 owners, and the solution is to leave the car off for 30+ minutes. In my case, leaving the car off over night worked and everything was back to normal after, but it was very disconcerting and unsafe to have to drive home with no speed information (or any other usual cluster display details).
Kia is promoting the use of Digital Keys which rely on your phone and their app. Their app has been down for almost an hour now and it renders EVERY digital key to every owner, useless. While you can unlock your car in some cases, you cannot start your car. No matter what you do, you have to wait for their services to come back online in order for the digital key to work. The digital key also serves as a smart key. Smart keys immobilize cars without the key, to prevent car theft. What’s to say this in the middle of driving, the Kia app goes down again and causes an accident because you no longer can drive your car while on the highway ? I can’t drive anywhere as much as I would like to. I’m stuck at work with no ride and I’m not sure for how long. This is unacceptable.
The main display panel that shows the speed, turn signal info, blind spot monitoring, and many other things just intermittently dies. According to many posts within online forums, the only known fix is to turn off the vehicle, wait at least 30 minutes and turn the car back on. There does not seem to be a reset option like there is for the radio/map/settings panel. It also does not allow you to see how much fuel (or charge in this case) is left in the vehicle.
Data synced from NHTSA on May 4, 2026