2023 Kia Telluride Complaint Log

Rear shocks failure at less than 20K miles. Dealership replaced both rear shocks, but will happen again in another 20K miles?

While driving the vehicle, the sunroof spontaneously shattered upwards

After driving through snow and letting my Telluride sit in the garage for a few days before driving it again, when I put the vehicle in drive and attempted to leave my garage there was a loud clunking noise and the vehicle didn't move for several seconds. I have also noticed that the automatic emergency brake will engage if the vehicle is in neutral and the driver's side door is open. How would you be able to load the vehicle on a flatbed truck if it was in an accident? A

The body trim is starting to fall off. I have at least 2 trims that are barely hanging on. this has been a problem on my vehicle since December 2024. A recall was issued August 2025 but no remedy is available and still not available even after letters have been sent out to owners. I am afraid to drive my vehicle and it seems like Kia doesn't care. I don't understand why they can't fix this problem

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Telluride. The contact stated while driving at an undisclosed speed, she was flagged down by another driver who informed her that there was a fire near the rear exterior of the vehicle. The contact merged to the shoulder of the road and discovered that the fire had extinguished on its own. No warning lights were illuminated. A fire and police report was not filed. No injuries were reported. The vehicle was towed to the dealer, where the inspection was being performed. The was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a case was filed. The failure mileage was approximately 20,000. The VIN was not available.

The rear panoramic sunroof shattered without reason. It left about a golf ball-size hole in the middle and shattered the rest into small pieces that remained intact in the sunroof. The shade was open. The vehicle was parked and not disturbed when the incident occurred. If the vehicle were moving when this happened, the glass almost definitely would have shattered into the vehicle and landed on the passengers in the 2nd row. Kia dealership personnel inspected it and suggested a rock must have hit it but there is no evidence to suggest this happened.

Rear self leveling shock PN # 55367-S9KA0. Unknown Problem has been reproduced by kia dealer. Shock makes noise, clunking, going over bumps. No No

Glass side window and windshield cracked I do not recall anything striking the window and noticed both after the car had been sitting for multiple hours. Manufacture claims impact, but it is the smallest of pin tip looking and hardly noticeable unless you run a tiny item across.

Vehicle began to shake when approaching 40mph or greater. Mechanic at dealership stated bolt from driveshaft to rear coupler was missing with two other bolts loose. Missing bolt threads were rusted as if bolt was never installed from factory as vehicle only has 12,000 miles. No warning messages displayed, only symptom was vibrations when approaching 40mph or greater.

Every time this issue happens, ALL the safety warnings are going off on my dashboard, telling me to check each safety feature and that it's currently NOT working. 1 - Check AWD/4WD 2 - Check Blind Spot Safety System 3 - Check Tire Pressure Monitoring System 4 - Check Smart Crusie Control System 5 - Check Forward Side Safety System 6 - Check Rear Cross Traffic Safety System 7 - Check Lane Following Assist System 8 - Check Lane Change Assist Function 9 - Check Lane Safety System 10 - Check Speed Limit System 11-Check High Beam Assist System 12 - Check inattentive Driving Warning System 13 - Check Door System 14 - Check Truck Lift gate System - ALL going off while I also LOSE MPH and Turn Signal capability and cameras.

The trim panel (color black on my vehicle and approximately 4” wide by 18” high) between the driver’s window and the driver side passenger window continues to come loose and almost fly off at highway speeds. The clips are not holding it in properly.

I was hit on driver side and no side airbags deployed. The collision cause over $16k in damage to my vehicle. There is no reason side airbags should not have delivered and if my child was in the car on the passenger side he would have slammed his head on glass.

The rear shocks are faulty and have had problems since I bought it with 36,000 miles.

While driving in heavy rain with both windshield wipers operating properly, the right-hand windshield wiper suddenly stopped wiping, parked in normally stowed position. This incident could have been disastrous if this had been the driver’s side wiper since forward visibility would have been lost instantly, putting my safety and the safety of others at risk of major collision.

Front glass has cracked beyond repair twice in 18 months! The first replacement occurred on 04/2023 and the second incident occurred this week on 7/22/2024. The vehicle was bought new in 12/2022 and has had needed two replacements due to weak glass!

In July of 2024 (when the vehicle was a year old) our 2023 KIA Telluride was diagnosed with a faulty 4WD Coupler. We were told to go home with it (320 mile round trip) and return to have it repaired in August. We dropped it off on Aug 5th. On Aug 14th we were told that the new coupler was either faulty from the factory or failed immediately on their test drive. Again we were told to go home with the faulty 4WD Coupler and return in September to replace it again. We traveled back to KIA service Sep 10th and had another new coupler installed. The 4WD Coupler failed again in the early Summer of 2025. On July 9th we dropped the vehicle off for repair. On the 24th we traveled back to pick it up after they had installed the fourth 4WD Coupler this vehicle has had. I have negotiated with KIA Customer Care for a couple months now asking for a replacement vehicle since they are unable to find the underlying cause of these drivetrain failures. They have offered me a 2,199.99 compensation check if I would sign an agreement releasing them from any liability concerning this issue, as well as any other issue that might ever arise with this vehicle. I would also be forbidden to publicize this problem or reveal the settlement details. I am disinclined to accept it. The 4WD coupler is an important component in this vehicle's drivetrain. It is important in safe handling and control. KIA service has sent us on the long round trip home and back again knowing we were driving with a faulty drivetrain component. Judging for some online posts, this problem does not appear to be uncommon. It is reasonable to expect this issue to continue. KIA's plan seems to be to just get me past my warranty period (only about 8,000 more miles) and then any repair costs will be mine. The current and future safety issues obviously are of no concern to them. I currently have no good options. I don't like the idea of selling a vehicle with known safety issues. The repair history will show it to be a "Limon"

Vehicle has warnings for EPB and lane assist along with active recall for roll away. Cruise control does not work as well. Wheel jerks out of your hand while driving Has been to appointment 7/1 in which vehicle was not repaired. Dealer claiming they had no record of a “diagnosis appointment” New appointment set 60 days out

Windshield got cracked and need replacement within a year

Cracked windshield, no impact

The rear suspension is incredibly creaky sounding. It constantly makes noise at every slight bump and turn regardless of speed. Kia service admitted there is a known issue with the self levelling shocks on the '23 Tellurides and said I should replace them.

I was driving down the highway only car on the road and my sunroof glass exploded from the inside the car blew a large hole out of the top. I had thousand of pieces of sharp glass rain down on me going 70 mph down the highway. I have no idea why in 2024 that this glass is not required to be laminated above your head. As I am doing my research this is a problem by many manufacturers. KIA has had many of these same incidents I described and no recalls yet. I took it in to the local dealership and the repair cost was $5,000 said the track was contaminated by glass and would need to be replaced. They denied the warranty and stated it was a rock that did it with no proof.

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Telluride. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V214000 (Power Train) however, the contact believed that the recall repair did not address a fundamental issue with the transmission and that the transmission should have been the focus of the repair. The contact stated that the manufacturer had not performed a reasonable recall repair. The vehicle was taken to a dealer and the recall repair was completed. The manufacturer was made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure.

The contact owns a 2023 Kia Telluride. The contact received notification of NHTSA Campaign Number: 24V407000 (Seats); 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 made aware of the issue. The contact had not experienced a failure. Parts distribution disconnect.

The single panel sunroof spontaneously exploded while driving while there were no other cars around me on the road. It was not due to a branch or road debris. This was completely unexpected and spontaneous. It exploded from the inside out.

There was a recall because the car would shift into gear and roll forward, so the fix was to make the parking brake automatically turn on when you put the car in park or open the car door. I do not feel like that is fix. I do not appreciate the decision whether I want my break to be on or not to be decided by the computer because they made a poorly designed vehicle. NHTSA should require Kia to do a better fix than making the parking brake turn on.

The instrument cluster randomly turns off while driving which renders many safety features, including but not limited to the backup camera, inoperable. This issue was repaired by my dealer in mid 2023 when it was part of a recall. The problem seems to have been recently reintroduced possibly via an over the air software update.

While driving on a large 4 lane highway, using the adaptive cruise control, the car automatically applied the brakes with no visible obstruction. From what I remember, no collision alarm or warning was given. Car rapidly decelerated, until I overrode by applying the gas. This happened three times, on the same road. Twice on one trip, and a third time a week later. All false activations occurred while road was at slight curve.

While driving, the silver siding flew off of my vehicle, the piece that covers the door handle manual key entry also fell off and I found it run over, crushed in a mall parking lot.

I was driving 20 mph when I heard a loud crack, shortly after I noticed my windshield had a huge crack toward the bottom that has gotten progressively worse and affects my vision while driving.

Driving down a road. No other vehicles on the road ahead of me nor coming from the opposite direction. There were no trees or structures overhead. The road had some dips, but nothing overly rough or upsetting. A crack appeared on the right side of the windshield and started to spread. There were no chips or other visible damage on the windshield previous to this incident. The crack as since spread and will have to be replaced.

REAR SHOCKS FAILED AT ONLY 9,000 MILES. A KNOWN ISSUE WITH SELF LEVELING SUSPENSION ON SOME TELLURIDE MODELS

I purchased a new 2023 telluride-SX in April 2023. For the first time since owning the vehicle, I used the Snow Mode during the snowstorm on 14 March 2024. I then used it again on 15 March 2024. I experienced a serious problem on both days. When I stopped at redlights, I tried to accelerate as I made a turn. I lost all power, and the car came to a near stop, nearly causing an accident by being rear-ended. I quickly switch to the Eco Mode and the power returned to the car. I took the car into Arapahoe KIA, CO service department on 8 April 2024 for an oil change/tire rotation AND to address the issue with the Snow Mode. The Technician said the issue I describe would happen if the snow was deep.(?) I explained that the roads were nearly bare. He then said that they would look at it. He later said that they could not duplicate the malfunction in the Snow Mode and to bring the car in if it happened again. The KIA service department is the only place that supposedly inspected the car for the issue described above. There were no warning lamps, or messages, or other symptoms of the problem prior to the failure.

Under normal driving conditions, windshield chipped and immediately cracked. Three times. Windshield replaced on 5/26/2023, 6/23/2023, and 2/20/2024.

The car steering wheel locks up while driving. All of the safety lights/warnings pop up on the screen and the car steering wheel locks up and cannot turn while driving. This has happened 3 times while driving and it is very dangerous to not be able to steer. It is putting myself and my children (who are in the car with me) at risk when my car cannot steer. It is going to cause a major accident if this is not fixed. The car is a 2023 (one year old) and has had to be towed to the local dealership and then returned to me saying something was a "loose connection". It is once again back to the dealership now for the same problem.

When I’m in snow mode and driving in snow and come to a complete stop the vehicle doesn’t want to move but if I take it out of snow mode it goes with no problem. Sometimes when I turn in snow mode it will reduce my speed to 15 mph. Not safe at all.

Snow Mode caused the vehicles accelerator and brakes to be unresponsive after stopping to turn. Kia could not duplicate the issue through service inspection and test drive. Since no alerts or sensors were tripped they ignore the safety concern. This major safety issue is is very very common problem among Telluride owners. A simple google search will reveal hundreds of complaints. Note: A child was in the vehicle and this occurrence happened along an interstate with poor visibility and snowy road conditions.

When vehicle is in Snow Mode and I begin accelerating after a complete stop or turning the vehicle from park to drive, the accelerator does not respond. Once I move the dial to any other mode the issue resolves. I can then go back to snow mode and the issue doesn’t occur again until I start accelerating after a complete stop. This has happened four times. This is dangerous. If I am merging into traffic or crossing a street and my vehicle won’t respond to me pressing the gas pedal it could result in an accident.

Placed the car in park then it started rolling backwards and crashed

On about 5 occasions, when I have set the drive mode to "Snow Mode", after a stop, the accelerator pedal has no effect. I can push down the accelerator pedal all the way to the floor and nothing happens. There is no indication that the engine is revving and the vehicle does not accelerate. This leave me stranded in the middle of the road at a stop until I change to a different mode other that snow mode. Then I can accelerate again. This has not been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer. The dealer asked that I video record it happening, which I have not done yet. There were no warning lights or messages when this happens.

While driving in snow mode the vehicle loses acceleration after coming to a stop and demanding acceleration again. The vehicle will roll using idle power however there is no increase to the RPM's. The vehicle has to be stopped and moved to ECO mode for the vehicle to go back to working. KIA Dealership has been notified however stated if there is no Check Engine Light and no snow on the ground they will not be able to replicate the issue. In addition, they have stated that snow mode is for when the vehicle is stuck in the snow only. This issue will repeat itself almost every time the vehicle is in snow mode and has been for a few miles. It has become a danger as it can happen without notice while making left turns across oncoming traffic.

I was driving at 35 MPH on a nicely paved road and my sunroof exploded. It sounded like a gun shot. There was a big whole in the roof mostly over the passenger seat. There was some glass on the seat and on the console and in the back seat. Most of the glass landed outside the car because the sun roof exploded from the inside out. The remaining glass was shattered upward. Because it was tempered glass, it totally shattered. This was very scary and could have caused injury or serious accident. Had I not being alone on a road going at slow speed, who knows what would have happened. Looking on the internet this seems to be a common issue.

New kia telluride 2023 7357 miles and i have a bought on less than a year. My windshield suddenly chip under normal driving condition and i have a dash cam in my telluride. When i park the car i saw a chip in the windshield. Then after a few hours i checked the car and the windshield started to crack then after a few hours again of checking the crack keep running and keep getting bigger and bigger, still my car is just parking and the weather is at 60s today. Now i check my car again and the crack keep on running and not stoping even its just parked. This is crazy as this is a new car and i have a car which is 9 years old, daily driving car and have no experience with having this issue with its windshield. Also my family have 5 cars that are older than mine and not experience this at all. I will keep observing this and see how the windhsield and the crack will react to a parked car and a new car that is less than 1 year old

The main instrument display is blank as a result the driver cannot see any information such as speed, fuel level, etc. The main display seems to flash blank then dark gray. When the display goes blank the blinkers fail to operate as well despite being turned on. I did contact KIA since this sounds like a similar issue that they have a recall for (SC270) but they informed me that my vehicle was not impacted. My guess is my vehicle is impacted and the recall should cover a larger number of vehicles than previously stated. As additional information my vehicle was among the first to roll of the production line for model year 2023.

It had snowed in DC area. Vehicle was in snow mode, idle at stop light. When light turned green, slow acceleration turning left and then when pressing down on pedal, all acceleration stopped. Roads were cleared with no signs of snow or ice. Frightened driver and children in vehicle. Were able to coast to the side of the road, turned off vehicle and restarted and able to drive off. Clearly seems to be an issue with “snow” mode.

We had the vehicle in 'snow' mode and AWD activated. We turned from a stoplight and as we tried to accelerate and merge, all power cut out. The accelerator was down to the floor and no response for 3-5 seconds. It was potentially dangerous as we were trying to merge at an onramp onto the interstate with cars behind us and next to us. We have not had it to a dealer to try to be replicated but have heard from other Telluride owners that this is happening. There were no warning lamps, messages, or other symptoms.

Telluride was in snow mode with 4 wheel lock activated due to snow covered roads. I was at a stop light, when light turned green I removed my foot from the break. My vehicle began to roll forward slightly as it always does. I gently pressed the gas to continue forward but vehicle did not gain speed, it continued to slowly roll as if my foot was not pressing the gas. I removed my foot from the gas and again pressed the gas gently, my vehicle was not advancing. I deactivated the 4 wheel lock feature but remained in snow mode, gently pressed the gas and my vehicle advanced as normal. The same incident happened with my husband the day prior. Several complete stops were made prior to the incident while in snow mode with 4 wheel lock activated and no issues occurred. After research and reading other incidents like mine it appears this is a common issue. Most people stated this was normal to prevent sliding and spinning. If this is a normal feature then KIA needs to revisit this and consider safety. It is not safe to be rolling into an intersection and having no power when pressing the gas. KIA owners should not have to switch drive modes or deactivate a feature to have the ability to advance their vehicle out of an intersection. This feature could result in serious accidents.

On 4 separate occasions my 2023 Kia Telluride has failed to accelerate from a stop. First occurrence was [XXX] while turning left at a light. RPMs went at high as 3,000 while car slowly idled about 5-8mph through the intersection and would not accelerate. Same thing occurred 2 days later after trying to accelerate from a stop sign. Most recent occurrence was [XXX]. 3/4 occurrences vehicle was in "Snow" mode. Brand new winter tires were placed 12/18/23. Most recent occurrence vehicle was not in thick snow but in "Snow" mode. No warning lights or messages ever came on with any of the 4 occurrences. After repeated attempts of stepping on and off the gas peddle vehicle eventually accelerates. Acceleration delays have lasted as long as 90 seconds. I am VERY grateful that first left turn when this happened no cars were coming through the intersection as it may have resulted in a T-bone accident where by baby was in the back seat passenger side. Car is going to the dealer at Campbell, Missoula MT tomorrow but they already told me if they cannot reproduce the occurrence then there's nothing they can do which seems like a MAJOR liability to Kia and even greater SAFETY concern to drivers and their families. Similar complaint can be found with ODI#11560843. Here is a link to Kia Telluride drivers all with the same complaint. [XXX] Please help us get Kia to rectify this major safety issue! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

On Monday January 15th, my 2023 Kia Telluride Digital Cluster Screen stopped working. The screen was black and would not turn on. This screen displays critical information such as tire pressure, warning messages & lights, speed, etc. I took it into my dealership on Friday January 19th. They were unable to fix the issue and contacted Kia for additional support on fixing. Since my car is unsafe to drive, I was given a rental. The car was purchased brand new in December of 2022 and has had no issues, until now. I have also opened a case with Kia Consumer Affairs in which I reported the same issues as I am here. It is now February 8th, and after checking in with my case manager & dealership, there is still no solution to fixing my car.

The heater in the driver side seat, burnt through the seat through a jacket T-shirt, and burnt the back of my son

The issue concerns my 2023 Telluride SX X-line (AWD) when driving in the "snow mode" setting. The issue has occurred on several occasions, approximately 2-3 times last winter when I was driving the vehicle and at least one time this winter when my wife was driving in snowy conditions. The issue is that the vehicle accelerator basically becomes unresponsive when driving in snow mode under a set of conditions that are not easily defined. The issue seems to occur fairly randomly. When this issue has occurred, the vehicle either will not accelerate at all when the accelerator is depressed or the power will severely be limited and the vehicle will slow down if moving. This has happened to me in parking lots (thankfully) but did happen to my wife on the road, which could cause a huge safety risk when trying to maneuver with traffic or making a left turn against oncoming traffic. The ways in which I have found to resolve the issue are to either switch the drive mode to another setting using the selector or turning the vehicle off and on again. Shifting from park back to drive does not resolve if snow mode remains engaged. I have not taken the vehicle to a dealership to look into this issue as I have found information on forums that have indicated Kia dealerships do not acknowledge the issue. It is also not easily reproducible. There are no warning indicators on the instrument cluster to notify the driver that anything is wrong. As I said before, the issue arose immediately after the purchase of the vehicle in Dec. 2022 and within the first few thousand miles of the vehicle life. Also, true Michelin snow tires have been equipped on the vehicle when this issue has occurred. I switch between all season tires and the snow tires in between the summer and winter months.