general problems of the 2025 Kia Motor Telluride

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.

My 2025 kia Telluride has experienced seven engine overheating events across three separate incidents, all under identical conditions: air conditioning on while climbing in altitude on colorado mountain highways. Incident 1 (xxx: driving from [xxx] to [xxx]. Engine temperature gauge reached h and the "engine overheated" warning displayed. Pulled over and allowed engine to cool. Vehicle taken to kia dealership; diagnostics found no fault. Incident 2 (xxx): driving to [xxx]. Vehicle overheated twice on the same trip. Dealership kept vehicle for multiple days; reported no issues found. Incident 3 (xxx): driving to [xxx]. Vehicle overheated four times during the trip, including in an area with no cellular reception. Occupants included an infant and a [xxx]. Had the engine failed completely, we would have been stranded with no ability to call for emergency assistance. The failure is consistent and reproducible in real-world conditions (sustained grade + ac load) but has not been reproduced by dealership diagnostics performed at the shop. No fault codes were reportedly stored. The pattern is consistent with a cooling system deficiency under high load (cooling fan circuit, condenser airflow, or thermostat), and similar complaints from other Telluride owners describe the same scenario with dealers unable to replicate. Safety concern: repeated loss of propulsion capability on steep mountain grades, risk of engine failure and stranding in remote areas without cell coverage, with young children aboard. Two dealer service visits have not resolved the defect. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

In the past 2 days, my vehicle engine has shut off 11 times while driving. This is happening while I am moving so it is a huge safety issue for myself and other drivers. Over the course of 3 months, the vehicle has done this over 20 times. It happens when coasting, slowing down at a stop light and people in the other lane start moving, going through roundabouts, turning when there is oncoming traffic, and moving through congestion. The engine kills, lights flash and beeping starts. It says to put the engine in p or n and restart the engine. I have no power so I try to do this quickly or have the ability to pull over but most times that is not the case. This is a severe safety issue. The dealership says they cannot find anything wrong with the vehicle.

I am the owner of a 2025 kia Telluride. The engine shuts completely off with a warming stating "engine off! shift to p or n, then restart engine". Car has no power and creates a dangerous situation in traffic. You are on a highway and you have to stop the car to restart. The traffic flow is dangerously interrupted. This issue happens randomly on it's own time and the reason is still unknown. The dealership usually cannot duplicate this warning and several 2025 Tellurides are experiencing this dangerous condition.

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.

About every 7-9 days I will get a day or two where the engine shuts off while driving. Most recently it happened on 5/26, once at lunch time, once about 5pm, and again while driving about 8pm. All of these instances where at lower speeds, 2 while braking, another after taking a turn at a lower speed. Each time, the dash lights up, an alert sound plays and it says engine off, shift into nuetral or park to start engine. I have had some days where it has happened multiple times in a couple of miles of driving, and then it goes hours without it happening. I recently had the vehicle into the shop and they mentioned there was an ecu software update that they did, prior to that I had only had the vehicle for 14 days and hadn't had an issue.

While driving, alarm bells go off and the display reads “engine is off. Pull over and put in p/n”. Car maintains radio but engine is off until able to be restarted. Has happened twice and been brought to dealership twice. They say there is no code showing and send us home without repairs. Extreme safety concerns for car to turn off mid driving.

This vehicle (VIN: [xxx] ) has suffered repeated catastrophic engine shutdowns and complete loss of propulsion power while in motion. The dashboard displayed "engine off! shift to p or n, then start engine. " this has occurred so many times the owner lost count, requiring multiple tows to kia of beavercreek. Following one incident, service manager brad personally assured the owner's wife, looking her directly in the eye, that the repair was successful and the vehicle was safe. Within 48 hours of pickup, the identical shutdown recurred. The vehicle was towed back a second time. The dealership now states they cannot duplicate the condition, leaving this life-threatening defect unresolved. Delivery has been officially refused due to imminent risk of collision or serious injury. Kia America case open: no. [xxx]. Ohio attorney general case open: no. [xxx]. This vehicle is an active, unaddressed public safety hazard requiring immediate federal investigation. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

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.

I was driving my brand new 2025 kia Telluride that was purchased from the dealership 3 weeks before the incident. The engine died while driving approximately 40 mph on a flat road. The engine died and then there was a loud beeping and a flashing alert on the dashboard in the circle where the righthand indicator camera view appears that said, “engine off-shift to p or n then start engine. ” this occurred at about 7:30 pm on may 19, 2026 with about 40% full tank of gas. The automatic engine auto-stop feature was on at the time. The car had been running for about 3 minutes before the engine died. The power steering was also affected. Once I pulled over and put the car in park the engine started again as normal and there were no alerts on the dash or when I checked the kia app. I dropped the car at the dealership the following morning, they have had it for 6 days so far and let me know that their diagnostics and test drives did not reveal any issues or defects with the vehicle.

This has happened multiple times. When driving the engine shuts off and an error message appears to shift into neutral or park and restart the engine. Brought the car to liberty kia in ramsey NJ and they said found no errors in the computer and test drove and could not recreate. My odometer did not change from drop off to pick up so I can tell it was not test driven.

While driving the car the engine lost all rpm, as in it went to zero rpms. The electrical system did not lose power. The console flashed a red warning light and had a message that I should shift to park or neutral, and restart the engine. You must apply the brake to restart the engine. When you shift to park/neutral and restart the engine, everything works fine. There was absolutely no warning that this was going to happen. No noises, no console warning lights, nothing. I believe it is a matter of time before this causes an accident. The engine just quits without warning. It has happened mostly at lower speeds while decelerating or braking, but has occurred once on a highway. Should this issue happen in high traffic, or high speed, it could absolutely cause an accident. The car has been at a dealership since 21may over this issue. They have driven it, but have not found anything wrong. They found no stored error codes. We have had a loaner vehicle since then. I'm fearful they will force us to take the car back.

On 5 different occasions over the last month, I have had the car go into an engine shut off and said put it into p or n and restart while I am driving on the road!! 05/10-was going to a stop sign and going 5-20 mph. 05/17-happened twice that day, both driving around town 10-30 mph. 05/26- happened driving around town going around a curve 5-20 mph. 05/27 getting off the interstate and getting ready to stop and it happened again. This last time I had 20 cars around me and my car was going into this with all my lights flashing and that popping up. It is such a hazard to be driving this vehicle. The dealership could not find an issue last time I took it in. I just bought this car a little over a month ago. So disappointing and scary.

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.

The contact owns a 2025 kia Telluride. The contact stated that on multiple occasions while driving at an undisclosed speed, the vehicle lost motive power with an ems warning message displayed. The vehicle was able to restart after multiple attempts. The dealer was contacted. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 25,000.

While driving about 35 mph, the vehicle began to alarm and stated "the engine is off; pull over, put in park or neutral, and restart the car". I pulled over and found that the engine had indeed turned itself off in the middle of driving. When the engine turns off, both the braking vacuum system and the power steering go off, making it harder to brake and steer to safety. If I were going highway speeds, this would be a serious safety situation. I don't know exactly what caused the engine shut off, but it seems like a malfunction of the auto stop/start feature, which I had switched off during the incident (so the car should never turn off). The kia website gives instructions on what to do in this situation [xxx] ), which would imply it is a known issue. There are forums of people reporting the same issue with 2025 Tellurides. My vehicle has not been inspected since the incident, but because it is electrical and there is no engine code, there is likely no evidence a mechanic could find. There were no warnings prior to or after the event. The vehicle has only 1650 miles on it. I expect it to happen again, and I will attempt to produce a video to document. Information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

Purchased vehicle 1/18/2025; first and only owner. Occurrence = engine shut off, alarm sounded and warning lights flashed; error: "engine off, shift to n or p, then start engine. " had to shift to neutral and push start to restart engine. -during March: occurred 2 times, both times worked after shifting to neutral. -4/1-4/3: occurred 1 time, worked after shifting to neutral. -4/occurred 1 time, had to stop and shift to park to restart engine! -kia of lagrange 4/23/could not replicate issue; no error codes found -kia of newnan 4/29/left vehicle for 2-4 days and they didn’t have time to check it, so we picked it up because we needed a vehicle. -may 5: occurred 3 times on same road; only got pics. Then occurred 1 time after stopping and different trip, got video. All occurrences worked after shifting to neutral. -may occurred 1 time and got picture only, worked after shifting to neutral. -kia of lagrange 5/15/ replaced low pressure fuel pump and provided 2026 sorrento for vehicle. -may occurred 1 time and got video, worked after shifting to neutral. -kia of lagrange 5/21-6/3: could not replicate after driving 100 miles and provided 2026 sorrento for vehicle I have video from may 5 & may 19, but could only upload pictures.

Multiple times while driving vehicle with shut off and light will flash on dash. Everytime take vehicle to deal to check always told that it can’t be duplicated everything is working. Started happen last summer and happen about 5 times since then. Last time it happen was in March took it to the dealer and they crash the car and still couldn’t figure out what causing it. Car been in the shop for about 3 months now.

While driving the instrument panel started flashing and beeping and the engine shutdown and the instrument panel read to put it in park to restart. This is not the first time this has happened with this vehicle and this last time the dealer is telling me there are no codes and they are unable to replicate the incident. This is extremely dangerous!! at the time of this report it has been at the dealer for 5 weeks and they still do not know what the cause is.

Purchased a brand new 2025 kia Telluride sx-prestige x-line on may 19, 2025. On or about December 20, 2025, my husband was driving (I was the passenger) in stop/start traffic when the engine shut off and the panel displayed “put vehicle in park or neutral and restart the engine. ” since traffic was stopped, he put the vehicle in park and restarted the engine. The vehicle started right up and we went on our way. However, on Saturday, January 10, 2026, the check engine light came on. I contacted the maintenance department at buchanan kia (where I purchased the vehicle). He asked if the vehicle was having any other issues. It was not, so we scheduled a maintenance appointment. I was told we could drive the vehicle, so we did. On our way home, doing 40 mph down, thankfully, a back road, the engine stopped, all systems shut down including steering/braking and the panel displayed “put vehicle in park or neutral and restart the engine. ” my husband was driving, he coasted the vehicle to a stop, put it in park and the engine restarted. We were about 10 minutes from our house. In those 10 minutes, the engine shut off and displayed the message two more times. At this point the engine was running rough and would not idle. I again called the maintenance department and the vehicle was towed into the service department. The issue could not be replicated by the service department and we retook possession on February 3, 2026. I have sent a formal notice to customer care center, kia America, inc. Via certified mail, return receipt requested. I am filing this report as a precaution in the event something happens and someone is injured due to this malfunction.

The contact owns a 2025 kia Telluride. The contact stated that while driving at slower speeds, the vehicle lost motive power. The message "place vehicle in park - press brake to restart" was displayed. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer; however, the failure could not be duplicated. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 6,500.

The vehicle had been throwing different electrical codes for several months around August through December 2025. The last code it through was an engine management system error. On December 22nd 2025 the car caught fire in the engine and exploded while parked in the driveway. Fire investigators are leaning towards in electrical issue in the engine. I currently have an additional 2025 kia Telluride vehicle which is also starting to display some of the same electrical messages.

When I was driving in a parking lot on 10/03/25 my car displayed a warning light that my engine was off and I needed to shift to neutral or park. This occurred 2 other times. I was parked at a light on 10/10 and when we left dinner and turned at a light it also shut off. This is a huge safety concern and I have saw others reporting this same issue.

Issue: engine stall & loud tapping/grinding noise vehicle only has 1,100 miles and has stalled about 5 times when slowing down to about 10mph & then accelerating again. Issue has also happened when going about 3mph & then accelerating. About 10sec stall & then vehicle takes off. Several of the stalls happened even though the auto/start switch was engaged to disable feature since I thought maybe a bad switch was the issue causing the stalls, but stalling happens with it on & off. Another issue engine makes a tapping noise when in gear & accelerating up to about 1200rpm. Issue has been getting louder since purchase. At 1100 miles started car & pulled into garage after vehicle set for about 2hours (75f outside), upon doing this the engine sounded terrible like there were a handful of marbles in the engine, super loud sound, at this point made appointment with dealer, but they are so backed up vehicle can't go in for service for about 2 weeks per no loaner car available until then, since it can take up to 1 week to get looked at. Will update with their findings but looking at form pages & you-tube videos it seems like the ongoing engine tapping complaint resulting in an engine replacement & maybe part of the 2024 recall valve spring breaking resulting in the loud marble sound I am hearing. Car stalling is a major safety concern since a few of the stalls happened when pulling in front of traffic going 60mph.