NHTSA Complaint #11656054 — 2018 KIA NIRO

An alert to "check regenerative brakes" popped up on the dashboard screen. My younger sister who is borrowing our car, told me it now takes her much longer to come to a stop when braking. She's having to brake really early to stop on time but traffic and animals will not always allow for that. From what I am reading online, this is a common issue due to faulty 12v battery or a loose ground from said battery. The only way to fully engaged the conventional brakes (without the regenerative brakes) is to switch the car into neutral and then brake. This is a major safety issue that Kia should address. Maybe they need to address the battery issue, but they definitely should address the fact that you have to shift into neutral to brake properly when the regenerative brakes arent working right. Seems like a common sense plan to have it default to conventional brakes when the others are having issues or at least provide a way to turn off regenerative brakes.