While driving on the interstate at 70 miles an hour on cruise, I turned off cruise control in order to take control of my vehicle in order to change lanes and my car immediately took back the control and accelerated and then abruptly hit brakes at 70 miles an hour throwing me forward hitting my head which caused unconsciousness and when I came to, My air bags had deployed and my car was total lossed. Due to the state of shock and a concussion, I thought the car had hit an eighteen wheeler which was the last thing I remembered seeing in front of me due to the damages to my car. However, the truck was not there and my car was against the wall where it had stopped. I don’t know if something like debris came from under the truck that was in front of me causing the sensors to engage due to the abrupt stop causing me to hit my head and knocking me on conscious. No other vehicle was at the scene and my car had significant damage causing it to be a total loss.
Kia K5 adaptive cruise problems
10 of the 513 owner complaints about the Kia K5 describe adaptive cruise control problems, most of them for the 2021 model year.
- owner complaints
- 10
- worst model year
- 2021
By model year
- 20251
- 20241
- 20232
- 20223
- 20213
Often reported together
What owners say
The steering wheel became stiff all the sudden and became hard to turn. As well as all the warning lights came on when that happened such as Adaptive Cruise Control Automatic Emergency Braking Blind Spot Warning Forward Collision Warning Lane Departure Warning Lane Keeping Assistance Parking Collision Warning Rear Cross Traffic Warning. I was driving in the middle of the road when this happened and this could’ve caused a huge accident due to the fact that I couldn’t steer my car properly. No, the problem has not been resolved yet. It is in the dealership at the moment to be inspected. There was no problem prior to the other signs coming on besides low tire pressure. The appeared as I was driving on the road.
While driving the car started to have the sensors for the adaptive cruise control, automatic emergency breaking, blind spot warning, forward collision warning, and rear cross traffic warning all came on. The rpm starting going crazy the car was shaking and struggling to start, the car was shifting weird causing the acceleration to be poor. This all happened while driving if we were on a busy road we would’ve gotten hit the car randomly started breaking and slowing down, this is dangerously and could cause serious injury and damages to the vehicle and others around it. This is a problem a lot of people have been complaining about and need to be fixed it’s not okay or safe to be driving a car with these issues especially when there is no warning it just breaks and shuts down no matter where you are or how fast you may be going.
All of my check lights are on. All of my sensors are popping up. It says no power steering. No cruise control. No lane departure and a few other lights are popping on every time I turn my car on and they all stay on. So far it isn’t preventing me from driving it but none of my safety features work
These warnings light up at the same time the dash for Electronic stability system, electronic parking brake, forward collision system, Auto hold and engine light, saying "check forward collision system, check blind spot detection, check smart cruise control system", and the vehicle goes into a sort of limp mode, not allowing it to accelerate past about 40 mph easily. In my research, I've have found approximately 50 other Kia k5 owners who have had this exact same issue. Half of the time, once taken to the dealership for diagnosis, it is weeks without anyone figuring out what the issue might be. Several instances where a part has been replaced which did not fix the issue at all, like an airbag module, or steering column. Several instances of the ecu and hecu being replaced, and several more of the entire engine/chassis wire harness being replaced. As for my case, now at the dealership for 2nd time because they could not reproduce warning lights while test driving vehicle. They have determined mine requires a full chassis wire harness replacement, with an estimated cost of $5k-$7k, which includes the $2800 harness. I initially thought mine was an isolated incident, and was shocked to find as many owners as I have that have experienced the same issue, some with mileage as low 25 miles, and causing sudden braking or issue with steering the vehicle. Being that it involves all the major safety systems of the vehicle, I am also surprised there has not been any sort of recall, considering these issues span all the way back to 2021. Just my two cents. Currently waiting on a tech to come out and determine if this is covered under extended warranty bought at dealership at time of purchase, as I am over the 60k mile factory warranty period. Have had this vehicle for 3+ years, and this just now started happening about a month and a half ago. Some have had this issue just weeks after leaving the lot with their brand new car, and a few of those returned the vehicle for a refund.
I purchased a brand new 2024 kia k5 gt on September 2 2023; from kia of Cerritos "18201 Studebaker Rd, Cerritos, CA 90703" . My car has noticeable defects that affect the driving experience and can be dangerous. When coming to a stop the engine turns off as if it was deactivating one or more of my cylinders. While that happens it stalls the car. My adaptive cruise control doesn't work as intended since it came damaged from the manufacturer, while driving with the adaptive cruise control on the vehicle requires more input to maneuver. The vehicle did a sudden jerked and almost ran me into a freeway barricade. I also noticed some of my trim pieces and my steering wheel aren't properly put on and are falling off and the body trim is under recall. The dealer handlingthe recall is kia of downtown los angeles "1945 S Figueroa St, Los Angeles, CA 90007". I was able to fix the trim pieces by another dealer. I let the dealer I purchased the vehicle from know of the experiences I had with the vehicle and nothing was done.
My wife was driving down the highway with her cruise control set to 75. She noticed she was only doing 71 and pushed the gas pedal manually. The rpm's increased to between 4000-5000 but there was no acceleration with the car. The car then dropped to 68 mph and would not accelerate at all. After pulling over and turning the car off and then restarting it started working ok. This seems to match the transmission recall of the 2023 Kia K5 GT-Line but this car is not currently included in that recall. This recall should be investigated and possibly expanded.
In this car, when braking or using the adaptive cruise control, the car shakes a lot, making yo lose control of the vehicle.
Vehicle will brake suddenly and without notice while using the adaptive cruise control option. The system believes there is a vehicle in front of the car when none is present. This is usually attributed to a vehicle exiting or when somebody passes and does not leave enough room between vehicles. The car will slow considerably (from 75 to 50) when this occurs and trailing vehicles will have to suddenly brake as well to avoid an accident. Discussions with the dealership have not provided any useful information. The vehicle manual illustrates how to disable ACC however nothing works.
Took my car to the dealership on 12/20/21 because all of my sensors were going off so they installed a new harness and cleared all the sensors, I got my car back on 1/3/22. On 1/16/22 all my sensors came back on so I brought it back to the dealership on 1/19/22 and I got it back the next day and was told it was safe for me to commute to work (I got it back with the front panel off with exposed wires and no working airbags) and a few days later all the sensors were back on and as I’m driving home in the middle of the night from work my tire pressure sensor came on even tho I had air in my tires, my headlights turned off for seconds at a time, my speedometer kept dropping to 0 as I’m going 60 and my cruise control stopped working. Have pictures and videos of every issue every time
Related recalls
Lane departure: lane keep: steering assist
- What is wrong
- Kia Motors America (Kia) is recalling certain 2021-2022 K5 vehicles equipped with 2.5L T-GDI engines. The Rack-Mounted Motor Driven Power Steering (R-MDPS) system lacks the ability to diagnose communication faults. If a communication fault occurs while driving around a curve with Lane Following Assist (LFA) engaged, the steering assist level may not adjust properly, causing a sudden increase in the steering effort required.
- Risk
- A sudden increase in steering effort can increase the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Dealers will update the R-MDPS software, free of charge. Owner notification letters are were mailed June 24, 2021. Owner may contact Kia customer service at 1‑800‑333‑4542. Kia's number for this recall is SC213.
Recall number 21V447000 · Recall details
Questions about the Kia K5 adaptive cruise
Which Kia K5 years have adaptive cruise control problems problems?
The model years with the most reports are 2021 (3 complaints), 2022 (3 complaints) and 2023 (2 complaints).
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used Kia K5?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history