2024-2026 Kia EV9 Problems: 19 Known Issues

On April 29, 2025, NHTSA opened Preliminary Evaluation PE25004 after receiving five owner questionnaires alleging that windshield wipers stopped while 2024-2025 EV9 vehicles were being driven with snow or ice accumulated on or near the bottom of the windshield. At opening, NHTSA reported no crashes, injuries or fatalities and had not determined a root cause or defect remedy. NHTSA closed the investigation on March 11, 2026 after Kia committed to a Product Improvement Campaign for about 47,000 2024-2026 EV9s that replaces the passenger-side wiper arm with one shaped to clear the cowl, plus a separate campaign (PI2502) adding cluster warnings when the wipers are obstructed.

Kia recalled certain 2024 EV9 vehicles (alongside 2022-2024 EV6 models) because high-voltage battery cells supplied by SK On may contain misaligned electrodes. A misaligned electrode can produce an internal short circuit inside the cell, which can lead to a thermal event and a fire while the vehicle is parked or being driven. NHTSA filings attribute the defect to a supplier quality deviation at the cell plant, and the affected EV9 VIN population is very small - reporting on the campaign indicates only a single 2024 EV9 was captured by the Kia portion of the campaign, with the bulk of the affected units being EV6s. This matters far beyond the VIN count: it is the only fire-risk campaign that names the EV9, and it is separate from the general BMS and 'Critical EV Battery Warning' complaints that make high-voltage battery the single largest NHTSA complaint category on this nameplate (22 HV battery complaints out of 222 total, plus 2 fire reports). Owners of affected VINs were told to park outdoors away from structures and to limit state of charge to 80 percent until repaired.

A recurring EV9 pattern distinct from the well-known 12V/drive-power failure story: the vehicle refuses to begin, or silently drops out of, an AC Level 2 session at home while DC fast charging on the same car remains completely normal. The EV9 has no separate onboard charger — the AC rectification stage lives inside the ICCU alongside the DC-DC converter — so a partial ICCU failure can kill only the AC path and leave the high-voltage DC path intact. Owners describe overnight sessions that stop after a few minutes or hours, the EVSE reporting a vehicle-side stop, charge scheduling and departure timers not triggering, and the car charging normally at a public DC station the next day.

NHTSA campaign 24V757000 (Kia SC326) covers certain 2024 EV9 vehicles. A software-logic communication error within the instrument cluster can make the screen intermittently blank at vehicle startup, preventing the driver from seeing the speedometer, odometer, turn-signal indicator and other required telltales. The underlying functions continue to operate, but missing critical information increases crash risk.

Kia Service Action SA568 applies to certain 2024 EV9 vehicles and updates Integrated Charging Control Unit (ICCU) logic to counter auxiliary-battery charging interruptions and unintended warning lights. SA570 covers a narrower 2024 population where sensed ICCU temperature can differ from actual temperature during high-current Level 1 or Level 2 charging, especially in cold weather. The ICCU can be damaged, stop an AC charging session and prevent Level 1 or Level 2 charging; Kia states that DC fast charging and drivability remain available.

EV9 owners report the 12V auxiliary battery going flat repeatedly while the high-voltage pack is nearly full, leaving the vehicle completely dead - doors, screens and the start button unresponsive, and no way to enter Ready mode no matter how much range is showing. NHTSA has 6 logged 12V auxiliary battery depletion complaints on the 2024-2025 EV9 and the owner forums carry far more. Crucially this is not always ICCU failure: a large share of these cases show a healthy ICCU and no 'Check Electric Vehicle System' warning, and the cause is parasitic draw from body or telematics modules that fail to go to sleep. The most repeatable owner-identified trigger is a Digital Key phone or fob left within range of the parked vehicle overnight - typically a garage adjacent to the house - which repeatedly wakes the welcome/approach logic and drains the small AGM battery. Repeated deep discharges then permanently damage the 12V battery itself, so the car keeps dying even after the software cause is addressed. Because the 12V is what closes the main HV contactors, a flat 12V immobilizes the vehicle completely and requires a jump at the underhood terminals.

Owners on EV9 forums report that the center touchscreen freezes, stops responding to touch, or reboots by itself. One thread links the freezes to an infotainment update, and one owner reported a head unit that failed outright. Owners also mention over-the-air (OTA) updates that fail to install, charging sessions that drop at public chargers, the two dash screens getting out of sync, and range estimates that are off in very hot or cold weather. The most serious related fault is in the driver's display (the instrument cluster). On some 2024-2025 EV9s it can stay blank at startup, so the driver can't see the speedometer, odometer, turn signals or warning lights. Kia recalled more than 14,000 EV9s for this under NHTSA recall 24V-757 (Kia campaign SC326). Kia's release notes say the fix is a software update to the infotainment controller logic. Cars.com's long-term test EV9 had the blank display on occasion. Blank driver displays come up again and again in EV9 electrical complaints on CarComplaints, and several owners there say the display still went blank after the recall update was installed.

On EV9s built 9/25/2023 through 10/15/2024, one or more mounting bolts securing the second-row and/or third-row seat frames to the floor pan were never installed at the factory due to a plant assembly worker error. Kia recalled 22,883 vehicles (NHTSA 24V-962). A seat that is not fully bolted to the structure may not restrain an occupant in a crash. Owners typically notice the defect first as a rattle, a shift, or side-to-side looseness in a rear seat when it is loaded or when the vehicle goes over bumps — the seat can be rocked by hand.

A small number of 2024 EV9 vehicles built on October 17, 2023 left the plant with the front passenger seat belt retractor cover improperly secured. With the cover loose, the retractor's automatic locking retractor (ALR) and emergency locking retractor (ELR) mechanisms may not operate as designed. ALR is the mode used to cinch a child seat tight; ELR is the inertia lock that catches the webbing in a sudden stop or crash. If either fails to engage, the belt can pay out during an impact and the occupant - or a child seat installed on that belt - is not properly restrained. NHTSA classed these vehicles as non-compliant with FMVSS 208 (Occupant Crash Protection) and FMVSS 209 (Seat Belt Assemblies). The one detectable warning sign owners reported was a grinding noise from the passenger belt when pulling or retracting the webbing. The recall population is tiny (4 vehicles, assumed 100 percent defect rate), but the failure mode is severe and a VIN check costs nothing.

EV9 owners using Highway Driving Assist 2 report the vehicle wandering rhythmically from one lane edge to the other instead of tracking the lane center, a behaviour owners call ping-ponging. The pattern described is Lane Following Assist going dormant while the camera still sees both lane markings: the car drifts until Lane Keeping Assist catches it near the boundary, nudges it back, and the cycle repeats, producing a slow side-to-side weave with intermittent steering-torque corrections. It is markedly worse on pavement with longitudinal rain grooves, and much of the reporting comes from owners who moved from an EV6 and found that car's lane centering noticeably steadier, which argues this is an EV9 calibration issue rather than a normal limit of the technology. The risk is twofold - the weave is fatiguing and unnerving to passengers, and drivers who have learned to trust the system on other Hyundai/Kia products may not have hands ready when the correction comes late near a lane edge. As of the owner reports gathered here, no OTA update had been released that resolves it, and safety systems are the second-largest NHTSA complaint category on the EV9 (36 complaints).

Kia recalled 2,401 2024 EV9 Light models produced between September 25, 2023 and March 21, 2024 because the impact-absorbing plates mounted behind the headliner do not provide the energy absorption required by Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 201, 'Occupant Protection In Interior Impact.' The plates are the padding that limits head deceleration when an occupant's head strikes the roof rail or roof structure in a side impact or rollover. With the wrong or inadequate plates fitted, head-injury criteria in those impact zones are not met, so occupants face a higher head-injury risk in a crash even though nothing about the vehicle looks or feels wrong in normal use. This is a silent compliance defect - there is no symptom an owner can detect, which is exactly why the VIN check matters. NHTSA filings reported no crashes, injuries or fatalities tied to the condition at the time of the recall. Note the trim scoping: this campaign covers the EV9 Light grade (Light RWD and Light Long Range RWD), not the whole range.

Certain 2024 EV9 vehicles built October 27 through December 14, 2023 (recalled alongside the 2023 Niro EV) have differential gear bolts inside the Gear Drive Unit that were not properly torqued by the differential supplier during assembly. Over time and under drive load the bolts back off, and the loose fastener assembly damages the GDU housing and the reduction gear. The first thing an owner notices is a grinding or metallic whining noise from the drive unit. Continuing to drive on that noise escalates the failure: the GDU can lose drive power, or the differential can lock up while the vehicle is moving, which on a heavy three-row SUV means a sudden loss of propulsion or an abrupt driveline bind at speed. This is a distinct campaign from the later SC337 rear-motor shaft weld recall - the same rear gear drive unit assembly, but a different supplier (Hyundai Transys vs. Mobis) and a different failure mechanism (loose differential gear bolts vs. a mis-welded motor shaft). The affected build window is extremely narrow (only 4 EV9 units), so treat this as a VIN-check item, but do not dismiss a grinding noise from the reduction gear on any early EV9.

Dual-motor e-AWD EV9s built at Kia Georgia between 10/11/2024 and 12/19/2024 received rear gear drive units (GDU) whose motor shaft was improperly welded by the supplier. The weld can fail in service, damaging the shaft inside the rear GDU and cutting rear-axle torque. Kia recalled 342 vehicles (NHTSA 25V-115) and estimated roughly 4% actually carry the defect. Front drive units are not affected, and single-motor RWD EV9s are outside the recall population.

About 12,400 2024 EV9 GT-Line and Land models built between September 25, 2023 and May 28, 2024 were recalled because of a logic error in the Integrated Electronic Brake (IEB) software. When Remote Smart Parking Assist (RSPA) is used to move the vehicle in or out of a parking space from the key fob, repeated RSPA stop events at or below roughly 2 mph can result in the IEB commanding insufficient brake pressure. The vehicle then rolls farther than the system intended, extending the stopping distance during an unattended low-speed maneuver. Because the driver is standing outside the vehicle during RSPA, the extended creep can strike a pedestrian, an adjacent vehicle, or a garage wall before the operator can react. This is a brake-actuation software defect, not a parking-sensor or camera fault. EV9s built after May 28, 2024 already have the corrected IEB software from the factory.

The EV9's motorized charge port door is a recurring owner complaint in two distinct failure modes. Electrically, the release actuator does not wake with the vehicle — the door will not pop when pushed or when commanded from the fob or screen, and owners sometimes hear the motor run without the door releasing, consistent with the internal gear slipping. Mechanically, the recessed groove around the flap packs with snow and slush that refreezes, and the release mechanism itself has been found excessively tight from the factory, so in cold weather the door will not open at all. Owners report Kia denying some of these claims as 'outside influence' rather than a warranty defect.

Owners report the tailgate releasing its latch when the license-plate button, fob, or interior button is pressed, but the power struts never lift it — the gate pops an inch and stops, leaving it to be opened by hand. In some cases the gate also refuses to power-close or reverses partway. The 40A power liftgate fuse in the rear fuse box typically tests good, pointing at the liftgate drive motor/spindle or the power tailgate module rather than a supply problem. Kia's documented reset procedure often restores operation only for a day or two before the fault returns, which is the tell that the hardware, not the calibration, has failed.

A large number of EV9s — heavily concentrated in the 2024 launch year but still appearing on later builds — were delivered with rear toe and camber outside specification. Combined with roughly 5,900 lb curb weight, instant torque to the rear axle, and factory tires that start at only about 9/32 in of tread, the rear tires scrub away on the inner shoulder. Owners on the Kia EV forums report rear tires down to the wear bars between 2,000 and 10,000 miles, with fronts following shortly after. Kia's 8,000-mile rotation interval is too long to mask it, and dealers frequently blame driving style before anyone puts the vehicle on an alignment rack.

The most-reported non-recall driveability complaint from EV9 owners is a persistent vibration felt through the steering wheel, and often through the center console and floor, that appears above roughly 60-65 mph and holds steady on smooth, newly paved road surfaces. NHTSA owner complaints for the 2024 EV9 log it under both steering and wheels/hubs, and it is discussed extensively in owner forums and Facebook groups. The pattern points at the wheel-and-tire assemblies rather than the steering rack: owners report multiple dealer visits where balancing, alignments and rotations - in some cases including road-force balancing - do not give a lasting fix, and in at least one case the dealer replaced a tire and wheels with lateral runout before another wheel was found out of round. The EV9's mass (over 5,500 lb) and its large-diameter low-profile tires make it unusually intolerant of the residual imbalance and out-of-round condition a conventional static balance leaves behind. This is a rotating-assembly uniformity issue and is separate from a rear alignment fault; it typically presents from delivery or within the first few thousand miles.

On EV9s equipped with power second-row seats and the one-touch easy-entry function, the seat control module loses its stored 'seat limit position' parameter. Once that happens the third-row easy-access button on the seat shoulder stops responding entirely, and the second-row fold-flat buttons in the cargo area stop working too - the seat either does nothing or starts moving forward and halts partway without folding. Owners also report a touchscreen prompt asking them to verify the driver seat position when they press the control, which is the module refusing to run the motion because it has no valid travel limit stored. On a three-row family SUV this is not cosmetic: it blocks third-row access for children and blocks the seat fold needed to load cargo, and there is no manual override on the powered seats. This condition is distinct from the SC329 missing seat mounting bolt recall, which is a structural fastener defect rather than a control-module memory fault.