2025 Kia Telluride: engine stalls while driving

Filed Nov 4, 2026 · Electrical, Engine · CT

The brand new 2025 Kia Telluride I’m leasing has repeatedly stalled and immediately stopped without warning while driving. When this happens, you lose control of the vehicle, cannot steer and must shift into park. All while hoping no one slams into you and also keeping your fingers crossed that it starts again. This has happened at least 12 times from May 2026 to October 2026. The vehicle has been to the dealer for “repairs” three different times. However they have never been able to recreate the problem and therefore have not been able to fix it. I’m extremely worried that when this happens again it could result in an accident. I have contacted the manufacturer and dealership multiple times asking that they make this right. They have offered no options to replace or buy back the vehicle

Filed Nov 3, 2026 · Engine · MD

Multiple times while driving I'm getting an alert on the dash about engine off. The dashboard alarms go off and it says, "Enging OFF! Shift to P or N. then start engine". This has happened 4x while driving in the past month. Each time, I was driving about 25 mph. The service/dealer is unable to replicate or understand what's going on. I've read that this has been a complaint by a number of Kia telluride owners. This is incredibly alarming for the enging to just shut down WHILE DRIVING.

Filed Oct 19, 2026 · Engine · FL

The car shuts down and displays the same message a lot of the other complaints are saying. Engine shut off, please put in P or N and restart engine. It shuts down while driving! I have 2 kids under [XXX] and I bought this for safety. It seems Kia is aware of this issue and none of the dealerships across the U.S. have a fix for it yet. And they keep sending the vehicles back out on the roads since they can’t fix it! INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Sep 17, 2026 · Engine, Transmission · TN

My 2025 Kia Telluride has experienced repeated, unresolved engine stalling/shutdown while driving. The defect began as stalling at low speeds approaching stops and has escalated to the vehicle shutting off completely while traveling at 45–50 miles per hour on public roads. When the engine shuts off at highway speeds, power steering and power brakes are lost, creating an immediate life-threatening situation for the driver and any passengers. The dealership has made multiple repair attempts across two separate phases of this defect without success. Despite the ongoing safety hazard, the dealer has pressured me to return my rental vehicle and accept the car back without verified resolution of the stalling issue. Kia America Customer Service has been unresponsive to the urgency of this situation. The vehicle remains unrepaired and unsafe for highway operation. I am requesting that the federal safety agency investigate this defect, review whether a safety recall is warranted, and add this complaint to the record for the 2025 Kia Telluride VIN [XXX]. I am aware that other 2025 Telluride owners have reported similar stalling and unexpected shutdown issues to the federal safety agency. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Aug 28, 2026 · Electrical, Engine · 14,000 miles · IL

The contact owns a 2025 Kia Telluride. The contact stated that while idling, the vehicle stalled. The contact turned off and restarted the vehicle with no issues. The contact stated that while making a left turn on another occasion, the vehicle stalled and was nearly rear-ended. The vehicle was shifted to park(P) and restarted. The contact stated that while making a left turn on a third occasion, the vehicle stalled. The vehicle was restarted. The immobilizer, oil, and check engine warning lights illuminated after the failure occurred on each occasion. The vehicle was taken to a dealer; however, the failure could not be duplicated. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 14,000.

Filed Aug 20, 2026 · Engine · IA

Over the course of two days, the engine stalled when decelerating at intersections three different times. The engine died with warning lights on the dash and a message: “ Engine Off! Shift to P or N then start engine.” I had to completely stop, shift gears, and then restart the engine, then back to drive. This happened at or near intersections, creating a significant hazard for myself and others around. Dealer has not been able to identify or replicate the issue. I have safety concerns about driving the vehicle. The third time happened without auto hold or auto start/stop on.

Filed Aug 20, 2026 · Engine · IN

This started May 8th and is still going on. Engine randomly shuts down while driving. Vehicle alarms and message says Engine OFF Shift to P or N then start engine. No warning, happens about once a week. Very scary when in traffic and I cannot move because my engine randomly shuts down. The dealership has had it 3 different times totaling 6 weeks and 5 days and cannot duplicate it.

Filed Jul 10, 2026 · Engine · NY

About 3 months after I bought a brand new 2025 Telluride the vehicle started to randomly accelerate rapidly without increasing the gas while driving and stall when idling at lights, stop signs, or slowing down and would not turn back on for several minutes. When it does start back it misfires causing a rumbling before the check engine light comes on. It would show code P006800 and P017100 saying “critical engine error”. Despite bringing it into the dealership multiple times we were told they couldn’t replicate the problem and sent home with no solutions just to wait for it to happen again. This became a extremely dangerous situation when recently at a red light on a busy highway in the rain my telluride stalled leaving me and my young children trapped inside unable to restart the car while other vehicles flew past narrowly missing us. I’m extremely concerned for the safely of my children if we continue to drive this car. We went back to the dealership just to be told that Kia may not honor our warranty despite this being a documented problem with the 2025 Kia Telluride.

Filed Jul 6, 2026 · Electrical, Engine · NJ

System/Component Malfunction & Availability: The vehicle's electronic safety and engine control systems malfunctioned while driving at speed. This issue has occurred twice under identical thermal conditions, with the first instance occurring on 5/19/26. The vehicle is fully intact and available for inspection upon request. Safety Risk: During the first incident, a false dashboard warning triggered, but the physical engine remained running. However, during the most recent incident on 7/2/26, the defect escalated and the engine physically stalled while driving on the road in high 90-degree ambient temperatures. The stall caused an immediate loss of power and a complete loss of power steering assist, making the vehicle incredibly difficult to control and creating an imminent risk of a crash for my family and surrounding drivers. Dealer Confirmation & Inspection: Following the first incident, the vehicle was brought to a certified Kia dealership and left in their custody for 10 days for diagnostic troubleshooting. The service center stated they could not pull a hard diagnostic trouble code (DTC) and could not replicate the failure on a standard test drive. No other entities (police, insurance) have inspected the vehicle yet. Corporate Kia was notified (Case #26160914) but refused to authorize a specialized repair plan because the dealer could not replicate the issue. Warning Symptoms & Messages: There were no mechanical or performance warning symptoms prior to either failure. Both times, the issue began instantly with an audible cabin alarm and a prominent dashboard display message stating: "Engine Off! Shift to P or N, then start engine." During the first incident, the physical engine remained running despite the message, allowing us to safely pull over and reset the vehicle by cycling the ignition. During the second incident, under the same extreme outside heat (high 90s), the engine completely cut out mechanically, creating a severe stalling hazard.

Filed May 30, 2026 · Electrical, Engine · OR

On 5/19, while driving over 60 MPH on the highway, I started applying the brakes as traffic started to back up. While braking, the entire car turned off, and experience an unexpected engine stall. The electrical almost immediately turned back on with all dash lights flashing and safety warnings beeping. My car was still moving but I was unable to accelerate and was getting the message “Engine Off! Shit to P or N, then start engine.” This has happened to my vehicle twice in the last month, and I brought it into the Kia Dealership where I purchased it and they were unable to recreate the issue.

Filed May 28, 2026 · Engine · CO

I always turn off the engine auto stop while driving and am sure this feature was turned off at the time of the incident. I was stopped at a drive thru idling in drive when my RPM sounded like it lowered and the the vehicle started shaking. Since it sounded like it was going to stall, I instinctively put the vehicle in park and that naturally bumped up the RPM avoiding a stall. I tried to replicate it and could not in the 15 minutes I sat in idle afterwards. I would like to note that we did the software emissions recall update at the dealership recently and ever since then the vehicle is consistently idling 100-200 RPM lower than it used to, usually around 500 RPM in drive and 700 RPM in park. I'm grateful this has only happened at a drive thru so far but I'm afraid to stall in traffic as we drive in busy and dangerous areas and it could be deadly to stall in traffic. Since so far I cannot get this to replicate we have not set an appointment at the dealership as all the other complaints on this matter show the dealership is unable to replicate the problem. Please require KIA to fix this as it is incredibly scary to fear stalling in dangerous location due to traffic speeds and/or getting stuck in a crime riddled area. Thank you for your help.

Filed May 28, 2026 · Engine · AZ

Engine randomly shuts off when driving. The issues started 1 week after purchasing the vehicle. First occurrence happened when we were stopped. We pressed the gas pedal and the dash turned red, beeping, with the engine light, oil light, and battery light illuminated with a message reading “ENGINE OFF. Shift to P or N then start engine”. This happened multiple times after. The dealership had the vehicle for 1 week and couldn’t reproduce the issue and the car did not have any codes stored. 3 days after picking it up from the dealership, the engine shut off again but this time while driving and actively turning through a 4 lane intersection with my child in the car. The next occurrence happened the morning I was taking it back to the dealership. I was driving 40mph on a city street in the middle lane of 3 lane road when the engine suddenly shut off showing the same error and I had to quickly move to the shoulder to be able to stop and restart the engine. I then informed the dealership that this is a dangerous and very unsafe situation and the car needed towed back to the dealership. The engine shutting off while driving, is very dangerous. If it happened to me at 40mph, there’s a good chance it can happen at highway speeds. This can put many lives at risk having a stalled vehicle in the middle of the road that has to come to a complete stop to restart. This issue is reported by many Telluride owners on Reddit, and Facebook threads. This needs rectifying before it results in casualties.