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Acceleration & cruise control

Kia K4 Acceleration problems by year

6 complaints filed with NHTSA about the Kia K4's acceleration & cruise control. Unintended acceleration, surging, throttle problems and cruise or adaptive cruise faults.

Acceleration complaints by model year

YearAcceleration complaintsCrashesInjuriesRecalls
20262100
20254000

Latest K4 acceleration complaints

2026 Kia K4SteeringElectrical systemAcceleration & cruise controlCrash

Driving home, the entire screen flickered, then went out, when it came back the drivers assist lane assist kicked in and the car steered itself into oncoming traffic, which forced an oncoming car in front had to lock its brakes to avoid a collision. Then after forcing the steering out of the incoming lane, the lane assist came back on causing collision with the curb in the opposite direction. After resetting the computer with a pin, and watching the screen flicker and blink, it came back on and now the car is...

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parked at home. Hewitt police would not come out because it was in Waco (the car is garaged in Hewitt), and Waco police said it was not in their jurisdiction so no police report was made.

Filed Incident Steering · Electrical system · Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11767387
2025 Kia K4Transmission & drivetrainAcceleration & cruise controlDriver assistance

To whom this may concern, I was using my cruise control on my way to work. I usually set it to 80 because police are okay with that speed on I-75. I braked before my automatic brakes hit after I got cut off. I pressed resume in the cruise control and it accelerated pretty quick. I've experienced that quite a bit, but there's been a few times that the car exceeded the set cruising speed while trying to resume. I forget it happens because it's happened about 4 times since purchasing the vehicle. I noticed an officer...

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on the shoulder leaving the shoulder as I got closer, and he got right behind me and cut his lights on, I look down and the cruise control shows 80 above the speedometer (photo attached taken while pulled over), BUT the arm was past the tick for 90. The officer clocked me at 92 apparently. This is the only time this issue has occurred, and I informed the officer that this happens. I have a court date set for July 9th now. I Googled to see if other owners have this problem. There are others who expressed experiencing this in their K4s and K5s. The AI tool explained the following • "Resume" Behavior: When you press the resume button, the car attempts to get back to 80 mph as quickly as possible. This aggressive acceleration can cause it to temporarily overshoot the target speed before settling down. • Settings Sensitivity: The acceleration strength and reaction speed can be set to "Fast" in your infotainment system, causing more aggressive throttle input.

Filed Incident Power train · Vehicle speed control · Forward collision avoidanceNHTSA 11737989
2025 Kia K4Acceleration & cruise controlDriver assistance

There are times my vehicle keeps accelerating even though I'm hitting the brakes. Once stopped, it then doesn't want to accelerate. I've reported to the dealership and they try to tell me it's the type of transmission it has and that it's normal. Continuing to accelerate while braking is extremely unsafe. My engine is also making a ticking noise that it never used to make. I bought my car brand new in October of 2025. I left the dealership with 9 miles on it, I now have 25k miles on it and I don't feel safe driving...

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it. The lane assist and emergency braking system is also extremely inaccurate and over corrects when it shouldn't especially in bad weather. Emergency braking is detecting stuff in front of me that isn't actually there, same with in reverse it sees things extremely far away and prevents you from moving, although it's safe to do so.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed control · Unknown or other · Lane departureNHTSA 11711366
2025 Kia K4Acceleration & cruise control

This same incident had happened 6 times prior to my being able to take a picture of my dashboard. The cruise control changes on its own to 90 or 110 mph and the acceleration begins on its own very aggresively. It has nothing to do with the speed limit as you will see on the picture, the speed limit is 65 and I had already stepped on my brake to where my speed was then 59. I have taken it for service at ed morse kia in sierra vista, az and the problem couldn't be duplicated or fixed. I have told the sales mgr....

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And service mgr. About this and left messages for call back and have not been accomodated. I am not safe in this situation. They are aware this is a problem for other kia vehicles and there is a google search that shows the same concerns (which I have a picture of as well). An additional problem (not associated with the initial safety issue, there have been several times where the speed limit on my dashboard has changed to 90 when the actual limit is 45 etc. My main concern of course is the self acceleration.

Filed Incident Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11688136
2025 Kia K4Electrical systemAcceleration & cruise controlEngine & cooling

Transmission failure 4 times since purchasing it new in December 2024 I was almost killed multiple times on the highway because car won't accelerate. Car is jumping when driving and choking Air conditioning shuts off while driving Car gets stuck in park and nothing will work

Filed Incident Electrical system · Vehicle speed control · EngineNHTSA 11683919

Source: U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) complaints and recalls, checked daily. Complaints are owners' own reports and are not verified. How we use the data

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