A new dispute is building in the United States around the Kia Carnival. A class-action lawsuit claims that sliding doors on 2022–2023 minivans remain unsafe even after a recall. The case is before a federal court in Maryland, and the plaintiffs’ core contention is that the 2023 software update failed to fix the root issue tied to pinch sensors.

According to the filing, those sensors demand too much force to trigger, which can allow a door to keep closing on a child, an adult, or a pet longer than it should. The allegation taps into a familiar tension in modern cars: electronic safeguards are only as effective as the thresholds they rely on.

Here’s the backdrop. Owner complaints led to a regulator’s investigation, after which Kia in April 2023 announced a recall of roughly 51,000 2022–2023 Carnivals. The remedy centered on a software update: the doors were intended to slow before the latch, and extra warning signals were added. The investigation was closed on the strength of that measure, but the plaintiffs now describe the fix as merely a patch that, in their view, does not change the actual force required for the protection to engage. Software may smooth door behavior, yet it will not alter a force threshold unless the trigger logic is adjusted—precisely the nuance the complaint leans on.

Kia is pushing back and asking the court to dismiss the suit. The company maintains that the plaintiffs report no injuries, offer no claims of post-update malfunctions, and base their case on hypothetical risks rather than real-world incidents. Kia also points to a procedural issue, saying buyers agreed to mandatory arbitration and, therefore, the dispute should not be in court.