Kia Carnival Hybrid Fire Incident Sparks Concerns Over Vehicle Safety

Popular new Carnival HEV
Destroyed in a fire on the day of delivery
Looking at the message posted by the owner

Kia’s Carnival, a symbol of family cars. The hybrid model added after the launch of the facelift version last year is gaining explosive popularity. Despite the price being more than $3,432 higher than the base model, the waiting period for delivery as of February is more than 12 months.

However, shocking news was recently reported. It is said that on the day the new Carnival Hybrid was delivered, an unknown cause of fire occurred, and the car was destroyed. It was reported to be in pure condition without even a black box installed, and there were no special signs, so the possibility of a vehicle defect is being weighed.

Fired in 30 minutes after delivery
The owner appears amidst all kinds of speculation

On the morning of February 23, a post titled “New Carnival Hybrid catches fire just one day after delivery” was posted on various online communities. Shocking photos of the engine room being wholly burned out were spread without the exact circumstances, giving multiple speculations online. Around the time public opinion was forming that “it may have been equipped with a homemade auxiliary battery,” a post titled “I am the owner of the Carnival Hybrid Fire Vehicle” was posted on the bulletin board of Bobae Dream, a representative online community in South Korea.

According to the post, the author signed a contract for the Carnival Hybrid Signature specifications and received it around 6 p.m. on February 21. After a brief functional check, he received the vehicle around 7:30 to 8 p.m. and parked it in the underground parking lot of his apartment 5 minutes away. About 30 minutes later, a collision detection notification appeared on the Kia Connect app installed on his smartphone, and he went down to the underground parking lot to check the vehicle. At that time, the underground parking lot was full of smoke from the fire, and fire trucks had already arrived and were extinguishing the fire.

No tuning was done at all
Insurance company suspects vehicle defects

At the time, he thought the fire had started in another vehicle, but a short time later, he received a call from the police station that a fire had occurred in his vehicle. It is understood that a car parked around his vehicle suffered fire damage, but no reports of casualties have yet been received.

The author reported the accident to his insurance company on the day of the fire. He was informed that “there is a high possibility that it was a defect in Kia’s vehicle so that it may be subject to an exemption.” It is reported that the dealer who sold his vehicle and the branch manager apologized and said he would not be at fault. Meanwhile, no one from Kia headquarters visited him on the day of the accident and the day after.

Kia insiders avoided answering

On February 23, the third day after the incident, a Kia technician came to retrieve the smart key, but the author said he could not get an accurate answer. However, he added that he was informed that Kia and the fire department will conduct a joint fire investigation after next Wednesday (February 28). He said, “I am sincerely sorry for unintentionally causing harm to the residents, and I am grateful to those who gave me words of help and encouragement.” Lastly, he said, “It is difficult, but I will persevere and report on progress in the future.”