Verified government source

NHTSA complaint #11425571

This page summarizes an official U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration owner complaint. Use the verification links below to confirm the record directly with NHTSA.

Vehicle

2021 KIA TELLURIDE

Manufacturer

Kia America, Inc.

Components

POWER TRAIN

Dates

Incident: 04/14/2021
Filed: 07/19/2021

Owner complaint summary

I DROVE MY BRAND NEW TELLURIDE OFF THE LOT WITH APPROXIMATELY 12 MILES ON IT. ABOUT A MONTH AFTER HAVING IT I NOTICED THE FOLLOWING: WHEN ENTERING A HIGHWAY FROM ABOUT 20-25 MPH, THE VEHICLE WOULD NOT GRADUALLY ACCELERATE ALLOWING ME TO ENTER THE HIGHWAY. AS I CONTINUE TO PRESS THE ACCELERATOR PEDAL THE RPMS WOULD EVENTUALLY JUMP UP AND THE VEHICLE WOULD LAUNCH ITSELF FORWARD. REACHING 5000-6000 RPMS. WHEN I LET OFF THE ACCELERATOR THE ENGINE WOULD DOWNSHIFT SIMILAR TO A MANUAL TRANSMISSION AND WOULD JERK AS IT CHANGED GEARS AND THE RPMs DECREASE. ADDITIONALLY, WHEN CREEPING IN TRAFFIC I NOTICE JERKY AND HESITATION FROM THE ENGINE/TRANSMISSION. THIS IS QUITE DANGEROUS AS ONE TIME IT ALMOST LAUNCHED ME INTO THE BACK OF THE VEHICLE IN FRONT OF ME. MERGING ONTO A HIGHWAY IS ALSO QUITE DANGEROUS AS I AM NOT CONFIDENT THE VEHICLE WILL ACCELERATE WHEN I ATTEMPT TO MERGE. I HAVE TAKEN IT TO A DEALERSHIP AND HAD THE TECHNICIAN DRIVE IT AND HE CONCURRED THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM. THE DEALERSHIP HAS TRIED WORKING WITH THE MANUFACTURER BUT TO NO AVAIL AFTER 3 MONTHS. NOW THE DEALERSHIP WON'T EVEN CALL ME BACK. THE DEALERSHIP, VIA THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE MANUFACTURER, HAS RESET "ADAPTIVE VALUES" AT LEAST 3 TIMES, BUT THAT DID NOT FIX THE PROBLEM. THERE ARE NO WARNING LIGHTS OR MESSAGES OF A PROBLEM. WHILE QUITE NOTICEABLE, THIS PROBLEM IS EVEN MORE NOTICEABLE WHEN IT IS IN SPORT MODE.

This is an owner complaint filed with NHTSA (ODI #11425571). It is not automatically an official recall, investigation outcome, or manufacturer admission unless the complaint text itself describes one.

Official record ID (ODI): 11425571. This page is the human-readable source link used across afterwarranty. The raw JSON link proxies NHTSA's public API for machine verification; prefer this page when reading the complaint.