KIA K4 Incident

On September [XXX], 2025, the customer called Kia's Customer Care Center regarding his 2025MY Kia K4, indicating that, in July he was in a car accident and the "lane assist" jerked to the left and hit a barrier." The customer reported that before this incident, he had "noticed it would start to jerk the wheel," but he "always had hands on [REDACTED, MAY CONTAIN CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS INFORMATION] tried to correct it," but "it was semi-locked and wouldn't turn," resulting in the vehicle crashing into a cable barrier. The customer alleged "his left shoulder hurt". The customer requested an inspection of the vehicle. The subject Kia K4 is equipped with Lane Following Assist ("LFA"), Lane Keeping Assist ("LKA"), and Smart Cruise Control ("SCC"). It is unclear which feature the customer is referring to by "lane assist." However, only LFA and SCC engaged at the same could qualify as a Level 2 ADAS feature under the proper conditions. LFA is a supplemental system that helps to detect lane markings and/or vehicles on the road and assists the driver's steering to help keep the vehicle between lanes. The functionality of LFA is contingent upon several outside factors and it is always the responsibility of the driver to safely steer the vehicle and to maintain the vehicle in its lane. Kia has attempted to contact the customer on several occasions to obtain additional information to evaluate the incident but customer has not responded. ** Monthly Update Report 12/15/2025*** KA received the subject vehicle's ACU and downloaded the vehicle's EDR data, which indicates that Smart Cruise Control was not engaged during the 5-seconds prior to the crash and thus vehicle was not being operated at LVL 2. The vehicle was steered rapidly to the left while being driven at highway speeds and then an evasive maneuver was performed steering the vehicle to the right. This amount of steering input exceeds what Lane Keep Asist / Lane Follow Asist can apply. No Advanced Driving Assistance Systems that provide steering inputs were found to have been a contributing or causal factor in the collision. This information, including documents (subject vehicle EDR report, photos, customer care case, etc.) were provided to ODI engineer, Joseph Teitelman on 12/5/2025 per his request.