Kia’s Carnival minivan is supposed to be the sensible choice—the sliding-door Swiss Army knife of modern family transport. But now the automaker is trying to convince a federal judge that a class-action lawsuit over those very doors shouldn’t even get a foot in the courtroom.
In a motion filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, Kia is asking for the dismissal of a lawsuit targeting 2022 and 2023 Carnival models. The reason? According to Kia, the case is built less on real-world damage and more on what might happen, someday, if everything goes wrong at once.
The lawsuit was brought by Rachael and Andrew Langerhans, owners of a 2022 Carnival SX. They allege that the power sliding doors on their van stopped responding properly to people or objects while closing, a problem they say first appeared in late 2021. Their complaint echoes years of consumer reports describing similar behavior—doors that don’t seem eager to stop when something’s in the way.
That concern isn’t entirely theoretical. The issue gained wider attention after multiple complaints and at least nine reported injuries connected to Carnival sliding doors. Kia responded in early 2023 with a recall covering 2022–2023 models, rolling out a software update that adds warning chimes when the doors begin to open or close.
The plaintiffs, however, argue that this fix is more bandaid than cure. Their lawsuit claims Kia failed to address what they see as the core issue: the amount of force required to activate the doors’ pinch sensors. Without lowering that threshold, they argue, the doors may still pose a risk—particularly to children.
They’re asking for more than $5 million in damages. Kia, unsurprisingly, disagrees with just about every part of that.
In its motion to dismiss, Kia characterizes the lawsuit as speculative, emphasizing that neither the Langerhans nor their children have reported any injuries caused by the doors. In Kia’s words, the couple simply “have concerns about the possibility of the doors closing on them or their children.”
The automaker goes further, arguing that the plaintiffs haven’t even shown that the alleged defect still exists after the recall. Until they can plausibly explain why the fix didn’t work—or demonstrate an ongoing problem—Kia says the dispute is hypothetical at best.
Kia also questions what, exactly, the plaintiffs are seeking compensation for. According to the filing, the lawsuit doesn’t clearly allege any current damages, making it unclear what the court would be expected to remedy.
And then there’s the legal kill switch. Kia notes that when the Langerhans bought their Carnival, they agreed to binding arbitration. If that agreement is enforced, the case wouldn’t just lose momentum—it would be barred from court entirely.
For now, the Carnival’s sliding doors remain open in the court of public opinion, even as Kia tries to close them firmly in federal court. Whether the judge agrees that this lawsuit is all noise and no pinch remains to be seen.
Source: Carcomplaints, Pacemonitor