NHTSA Complaint #11436724 — 2016 KIA SEDONA

On September 28, 2021 we found out the hard way that our minivan's gear shift could be moved from the parked position to reverse, neutral and forward without having the car turned on and without needing to have a foot pressed on the break. While the car was parked (off) on our home's driveway, my three year old and his brother were in the car getting ready to drive to school and my wife was at the door of our house waiting for our other son to come out. In the interim our three year old son got his hands on the shifter and without much effort was able to move the shifter out if the parked position. As a result the van rolled down the driveway with two of my children in it. The vehicle ended up on the street where there was incoming traffic. If it weren't because the car hit the fence, other cars would probably not have stopped and it could have been a worse incident. I've reported incident to Kia on 9/29/21 and was referred to the corporate department. To date 10/14/21 we have yet to get a resolution from Kia and address the incident. They assigned a representative who has yet to provide any concrete guidance and support. My car is not road safe to drive and now I'm left without a family car and traumatized children from this event. I've tested moving the shift gear myself and indeed it moves without having the car on or pressing the break. There were no warning lamps in the car to alert of an issue. The car is at an autoshop pending Kia's inspection but Kia has yet to inspect the vehicle or provide any guidance other than we may need to take the car to a dealership to check something. Autoshop will not touch the car until Kia's tech inspects it. My auto insurance company's adjuster has documented shift gear issue when conducting visual inspection of damages to the car.