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Kia K5 Lighting problems by year

14 complaints filed with NHTSA about the Kia K5's lights. Headlights, tail lights, brake lights, turn signals and interior lighting failures.

Lighting complaints by model year

YearLighting complaintsCrashesInjuriesRecalls
20256001
20231000
20224000
20213000

Lighting recalls

Latest K5 lighting complaints

2025 Kia K5Electrical systemLights

While driving my car down the road my car's exterior headlights as well as all of the interior instrument and infotainment panels will completely black out and then come back on. This issue started approximately 2 months after buying my car. This has happened approximately 10 times total while driving it now. I was told by the dealership that there was nothing they could do since it was not a reproduceable issue, therefore I continued to drive my car. To me that is a safety issue when you are told as a customer...

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that there is nothing they can do for your car that has an issue such as this while driving. I continued to call and inform them of when this issue came up while driving. My car was brought in for a recall in July 2025 for parking lamp logic. The dealership never reproduced this issue while in for service. The dealership has inspected the car for this issue amongst several other issues that still persist to the current date. There are no warning lamps/messages or symptoms of the problem prior to failure. This problem came up again this week while driving in the dark with multiple other cars behind me, in front of me and to the left of me at an intersection. I had my turn signal on to turn and everything on the car went black/lost power and then came back on.

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lightingNHTSA 11773292
2021 Kia K5Transmission & drivetrainLightsEngine & cooling

The contact owns a 2021 Kia K5. The contact stated that the driver-side turn signal became inoperable. The vehicle was shifting hard and/or not shifting at all. While driving at unknown speeds, the vehicle shut down. The turn signal and brake lights were illuminated. The contact stated there was a recall for NHTSA Campaign Number: 25V794000 (Fuel System, Gasoline). The vehicle was taken to the local dealer for diagnosis of the signal light. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The BBB was contacted who filed a claim. The manufacturer was contacted, but no assistance was provided. The failure mileage was approximately 56,000.

Filed Incident Power train · Exterior lighting · EngineNHTSA 11742131
2025 Kia K5Electrical systemLightsVisibility & wipers

While driving the entire car goes black kind of like you just turned it off. It has only happened at night time. The dash screen completely turns off and the headlights will go off. When it comes back on the dash has several lights on it such as the seatbelt is unbuckled (when I'm buckled), and other warning lights. This has been happening since September 2025. I take it to the dealership and they can't seem to find anything wrong with it, and told me they "can't do anything until the part completely fails" it's creates a severe safety hazard since it only happens at night and the headlights also go off.

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lighting · Visibility / wiperNHTSA 11730198
2025 Kia K5Electrical systemLights

While driving, the entire control panel shuts down including all interior and exterior lights. It completely resets everything including Bluetooth. It has happened 5 or 6 times since I got the car in October 2024. I've reported this to Stones Kia in Idaho Falls, and they were unable to duplicate the issue so they couldn't do anything. It tends to only happen when I'm driving at night.

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lightingNHTSA 11722397
2025 Kia K5Electrical systemLightsAcceleration & cruise control

While driving in the dark this morning with my eight year old in the backseat, my headlights shut off, my entire dash including my speedometer, warning lights, radio, heat, heated seat and steering wheel, lost electricity.

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lighting · Vehicle speed controlNHTSA 11710809
2025 Kia K5Electrical systemLightsVisibility & wipers

Component/System Involved: The vehicle experienced a brief electrical failure affecting multiple systems simultaneously: exterior headlights, infotainment system, and dashboard indicators (seatbelt warning). All components recovered automatically within approximately 0.5-1 second. The issue appears electrical in nature (possible power interruption, grounding issue, BCM/TCM-related event). The vehicle is available for inspection upon request. Safety Risk: Yes. The headlights shut off completely while driving at...

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night, even if only momentarily. This created a visibility loss and increased risk of collision, especially with surrounding traffic. The sudden loss and restoration of lighting was distracting and unexpected. Reproduction / Confirmation: The issue has occurred 4 times under different conditions (day/night driving). It has not yet been reproduced or confirmed by a dealer or independent service center. Inspection Status: The vehicle has not yet been inspected by the manufacturer, dealer, police, insurance, or any third party regarding this issue. Warnings or Prior Symptoms: There were no warning lights, messages, or symptoms prior to the failure. The only indication was the seatbelt warning light illuminating during the event, coinciding with the blackout. No prior alerts appeared before either occurrence.I have experienced this electrical dropout four times over the ~1 year and 4 months I've owned the vehicle. Other owners of 2025 Kia K5s have reported the same momentary blackout behavior in online community discussions, indicating this may not be an isolated incident with my car. Owners have described the infotainment and instrument panel going dark and then returning to normal while driving.

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lighting · Visibility / wiperNHTSA 11705522
2023 Kia K5LightsEngine & cooling

My engine line keeps returning regardless of the multiple visits to the service department in attempt to fix recall complications at BONIFACE-HIERS KIA. Today will be the fourth visit for fuel tank and ECM recall related malfunctions.

Filed Incident Exterior lighting · Unknown or other · EngineNHTSA 11682038
2025 Kia K5LightsWheels & tires

Tire pressure light did not illuminate. Tire was apparently low, and tire blew out at stop. Inside sidewall of tire had large gash once tire was removed and spare installed. See picture.

Filed Incident Exterior lighting · WheelsNHTSA 11670173
2022 Kia K5Electrical systemLights

Turn signal, the turn signal just goes out and does not work. This is a know issue with kia. I have almost bin hit several times do to this. I have 2 exact cars and they have both the same issue. You cannot just have the bulb replaced, the whole headlight asembly has to be replaced, the front bumper has to be removed to replace the headlight asembly, very costly, this is not so much the cost but more of a safety concern.

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lightingNHTSA 11639022
2021 Kia K5Electrical systemLightsEngine & cooling

Engine code came on, one interior headlamp works when it wants to, climate control module is bad it has cause the relay to blow and the resistor to go out. The air turns up on the control module by itself and then your ac just stops working and then starts again as it chooses. All of these are electrical issue as stated in MANY OTHER reports. And electrical issue is unsafe it can cause fire at anytime, my car is new 2021 Kia k5 Lxs, 60k miles and now who knows when the car is going to catch fire while my baby is...

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strapped in a car seat and no AC . RECALL before lives are took from heat stroke or possible fire. To be "luxury" it's sad I just paid my 3rd car payment and now I can't even drive my car. Over 100 reports on this same problem and y'all do nothing. Kia is maybe at 70k sells a year now meanwhile Toyota and other are at 300k. When my baby is insured do to this crack head wiring system I will sue someone this is ridiculous.

Filed Incident Electrical system · Exterior lighting · EngineNHTSA 11603219
2022 Kia K5Lights

Dead spot in headlights. Manufacturer intentionally created a dead spot just left of center so as to decrease any chance of headlights shining into oncoming traffic. The dead spot looks like an inverted triangle . These are an LED projector light which already have a very sharp cut off and should not require any further manipulation of spread or throw. The problem becomes severe when going around a left curve or bend as the headlights no longer illuminate the roadway in a safe manner as the very noticeable dead spot is now in the drivers lane.

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11465182
2021 Kia K5SteeringElectrical systemLights

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...

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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

Filed Incident Steering · Electrical system · Exterior lightingNHTSA 11449631
2022 Kia K5Lights

The contact owns a 2022 Kia K5. The contact stated that while operating the vehicle at night with the headlights on, the low-beam headlights projected a dark triangular non-illuminated section inside the light field causing a visibility hazard to the driver. The vehicle was taken to the local dealer who indicated that no problem was found and stated that the headlights operated as designed. The manufacturer was notified of the failure, but no assistance was offered. The failure mileage was 100.

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11441503
2022 Kia K5Lights

A few days ago I picked up my new 2022 Kia K5 GT-Line AWD Sedan. The car has LED projector headlights. On the drivers side headlight it casts a "V" shaped void onto the opposite side of the road, presumably to prevent the bright light from hitting oncoming drivers. However, when going around a left curve this void is directly in front of the car in my lane preventing me from seeing what is in front of me. I do not believe there is a way to adjust this since most likely you would have to remove the headlight,...

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disassemble it, and then take the projectors out and disassemble them. Giving you access to the cutoff plate which I can only assume has a raised v to block that section. The plate would look similar to ∆. I understand the reasoning the engineers had for installing that plate within the projector bulb to prevent blinding other drivers, but at the expense of K5 owners own safety when going around left curves, especially in unfamiliar areas.

Filed Incident Exterior lightingNHTSA 11434740

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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