Kia cars

Raised as a usability problem by 26 people on Hacker News over 6 years (2021–2026), in 26 threads.

People raised many different problems with Kia cars, but no single problem has yet been raised by 3 people in 3 different months and threads.

Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.

The newest 30 complaints

Took about 20 minutes to find how to open the fuel door; unlocking did not work2026-10-15
Knobs switch between volume and temperature unpredictably, so adjustments change the wrong setting2026-09-24
Driver's view of pedestrians blocked by sensor blob and A-pillars2026-07-08
Must manually turn off lane keep warnings every time the car starts2026-05-04
Alerts for distraction and fatigue flash and beep constantly, obscuring the speedometer and adding distraction2026-05-03
Constant beeping and flashing alerts are distracting and often wrong, and lane assist pushes you back.2026-01-25
Car's software-defined touchscreen interface is worse than older cars with physical controls2025-09-24
Bass and treble sliders randomly move around on screen while the car is in gear2025-09-20
Car turns itself on after driver exits and windows operate unexpectedly2025-07-22
Gear shifts to neutral unexpectedly unless brake pressed hard and fully stopped2025-07-22
Unlock often fails silently; you must hold a button and wait for confirmation by email2025-04-14
Buying the car took 3-4 hours of paperwork and talking2025-03-31
Swiping the strip changes volume instead of cabin temperature, so drivers think they are adjusting the wrong thing2024-03-05
Owner keeps mixing up which knob twist direction selects forward or reverse2024-01-09
Owner couldn't find the resume cruise button on the steering wheel after years2023-12-18
Adjusting rear settings takes multiple steps through an awkward on-screen interface instead of direct buttons2023-11-05
AC stays on after exiting; charging cable can't be unlatched without a hidden keyfob step2023-10-16
Three-step door opening needs two hands and is hard for people with disabilities2023-09-10
Touch climate controls toggle with radio, and seat heating buttons are easy to hit accidentally2023-03-22
Selected profile switches right when accept button enables, causing wrong profile to be accepted2022-11-28
Reviewer couldn't figure out how to turn down the AC temperature2022-10-07
Head unit is slow to respond and touchscreens die after a few years2022-07-19
Same capacitive buttons switch between different functions, confusing to operate2022-07-06
Locking and unlocking takes more button presses than it should2022-04-28
Radio freezes, requiring a toothpick to reach a hidden reboot button2021-12-24
Voice commands for defrost and other functions are unpredictable, so the driver must guess the exact phrase2021-11-21
Hard to find the glove box button, so the user relies on voice commands2021-11-21
Opening the glove box requires navigating the touch screen, which is inconvenient2021-11-20
Kia's mobile app for remote functions is described as pretty terrible2021-06-10
Fan speed uses up/down buttons instead of a knob, which is frustrating and distracting while driving2021-04-10