NHTSA Complaint #11476732 — 2014 KIA SEDONA

The sliding doors of the Van do not stay closed. We could be driving down the road when they open and the chime starts going off. We find this is commonly associated with the scenerios right after the auto-close mechanism closes the door. (This is another issue as it does not reliably close the door.) To resolve the door suddenly opening situation, we have to stop, put the vehicle in park, and usually end up having to have the driver or front passenger get out of the car, wait for the auto-close system to get close to closing and then slam the back end of the door into place to get it to hold. We did try to take it to the Kia Dealership in Ogden Utah but the service manager there said he could not reliably replicate it so could not fix it. Apparently slamming the door is considered a viable alternative to the auto-close mechanism. We were told it is not a defect and that these things happen. It should be noted for other drivers, that the auto-close mechanism does appear to be closed. The door sensor does not chime to give warning that it is not seated all the way. Instead, as mentioned, we will be driving down the road when the door will rattle and open a little ways and the chime immediately starts going off. You will slow down and it the chime will stop, but once you pull over and take a look you will see the back end of the door is open a centimeter or so. Further to this point, if you dont immediately pull over, the door can pop open the rest of the way. What is most concerning is that it can happen anytime. I ahve not found any logical rhyme or reason for the issue. However I have had kids sitting near the door when the door opened on me. Luckily the seatbelts kept them in the car even though we were caught off-guard by the suddeness of the issue.