Kia and KIA Motor preliminary evaluation PE22004
Power Sliding Door Auto Reverse Failure. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this preliminary evaluation about the door on 2 model years (2022). Opened Apr 10, 2022, closed Jun 13, 2023 after 14 months. It led to safety recall 23V236000. became a recall
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedOn April 10, 2022, the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) opened this Preliminary Evaluation (PE) after receiving 5 consumer complaints alleging the Power Sliding Doors (PSD) auto-reverse function failed to work properly in the model year (MY) 2022 Kia Carnival minivan vehicles. At that time, ODI was aware of 3 complaints alleging injuries to consumer?s arm, hand or shoulder caused by the closing PSD. Additionally, consumers alleged being trapped against the closing door while it was traversing in the closing direction. The initial complaints also alleged excessive force is needed to reverse the direction of the closing door. At this time, ODI is aware of 26 complaints and 11 injuries on the MY 2022 Carnival vehicles. In its August 2022 responses to ODI's Information Request on the PE, Kia provided 36 customer complaints, 21 field reports, and 5 related warranty claims. Kia also provided ODI with 21 reports of alleged injuries, however, Kia stated that it was able to confirm only 9 injuries. Typically, these injuries are attributed to fingers and arms. The Kia Carnival automatic stop and reversal system is designed to automatically reverse the direction of the closing PSD if it meets resistance from an object or person. It relies on resistance sensing technology which requires a minimum input force or pressure to trigger activation. The primary sensing components used to regulate the auto-reverse system activation are the anti-pinch sensor and the PSD motor torque systems. Following several discussions with ODI during this investigation, on March 31, 2023, Kia filed a safety recall (NHTSA No. 23V-236) of 51,568 MY 2022 and 2023 Kia Carnival vehicles (produced through February 22, 2023) to reduce the risk of injury from the closing PSD. The remedy will be to reprogram the PSD control module with an updated software that provides two warning chimes when the door begins to close or open (to alert the vehicle users the door is about to move).Also, the updated software will change the door speed to move more slowly as the door approaches its latching point. In view of the recall action being taken by Kia, ODI is closing this PE. The agency reserves the right to take additional action if warranted by future circumstances. The ODI complaints cited above can be viewed at www. NHTSA.gov under the following ODI identification numbers: 11423165, 11442133, 11447955, 11448290, 11450964, 11458125, 11461462, 11466619, 11466623, 11468938, 11469661, 11471224, 11471232, 11472272, 11487649, 11487671, 11489378, 11489577, 11491053, 11498214, 11501337, 11507176, 11507880, 11509037, 11512506, and 11516428.
A Preliminary Evaluation is the first formal stage: NHTSA has decided the complaints and other information it screened are worth a closer look, and asks the manufacturer for its own data on the condition. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the resumes carrying the full reasoning are linked below.
The paperwork NHTSA filed
Source: every document on this action, at nhtsa.gov- Opening resume — ODI’s own summary of why it opened this — the subject, what prompted it, and the vehicles in scope.
- Closing resume — ODI’s own summary of why it closed this, and what it concluded.
| Document | Code | Filed | At NHTSA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Opening resume | INOA | 2022 | |
| Closing resume | INCLA | 2022 | |
| Information request to the manufacturer | INIM | 2022 |
These are NHTSA’s own files, served from the agency’s site — the resumes are what ODI wrote when it opened and closed the action, and the rest is the correspondence behind them, including what the manufacturer sent when the agency asked. They are linked, not copied: where a document names the people who wrote in, that redaction is the agency’s to make and its copy is the one you should read.
What owners had already reported
Source: complaints on file the day it openedWhen NHTSA opened this on Apr 10, 2022, owners had filed 44 complaints with the agency about the model years above, of which 7 named the structure NHTSA went on to investigate. Owner complaints are the agency’s main early signal: ODI screens them, and a Preliminary Evaluation is usually where a pattern in them ends up.
This is what the complaint file held on that date, not a claim about which reports prompted the investigation — NHTSA’s complaint records carry no investigation number, so nobody can make that link from the data alone. The opening resume linked above names the reports ODI itself cited. Complaint records on this site begin with 2016.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one became a recall. The campaign page carries the manufacturer’s filed defect, risk and remedy, the build window and every model year covered; whether one specific vehicle is included is settled by VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themAlso named on model years this site has no page for: 2022 KIA Motor Carnival.
A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs PE22004 a recall?
No — it is the investigation that led to one. Recall 23V236000 is the campaign; its page carries the remedy.
Is PE22004 still open?
No. It closed on Jun 13, 2023 and led to recall 23V236000.
Which vehicles does PE22004 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 2 model years: 2022 Kia Carnival, 2022 KIA Motor Carnival. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.