‘Now It Won’t Do Anything’: Woman's Kia Breaks Down. Then The Computer Stops Reading

A Kia K5 owner was left stranded after she said her car wouldn’t register that it was in park. The driver, who goes by the moniker Mom With a Dream (@_momwithadream) online, faced an issue that other folks who bought rides from the Korean auto manufacturer have experienced. She documented her woes in a social media clip that captures the exasperating experience.

“This is a Kia K5 and the computer quit reading in my car so now it won’t do anything. I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” she writes in the on-screen caption.

She further expounded on the issue in a caption for her post, further illustrating her frustration with the ride.

“This is crazy. This is a Kia K5 and my computer quit reading my car. It will not shut my car off. It had every message thing on my car. It didn’t recognize that it was in … park. It kept telling me to shift into park and it already was and now it just won’t start at all. It won’t do anything,” she explained.

Kia K5 Won’t Register That It’s In Park

Unfortunately, she isn’t the only Kia owner to report this issue with their vehicle. One Reddit user who posted to the site’s r/kiastinger sub said that their performance sedan was experiencing the same exact problem. They wrote, "I'm having an issue where I put the car in park it does say P in the center console. But when I turn the car off it gives me a warning shift to P and stays in accessory mode.”

A fellow user on the website attributed this complication to the “electronic shifters” in the vehicle. Additionally, they opined that this occurs in different cars from other manufacturers that implement the same technology in their rides. According to them, there are several underlying sources of this issue. Namely, “a worn or misaligned shift linkage” or “a faulty gear selector sensor or range switch in electronic shifter systems.”

Moreover, they said that a brake switch or ignition switch fault could be causing the conundrum, as could a faulty brake pedal switch or a software/control module glitch. And for rides with push-to-start functionality, electronic shifter malfunctions may be the root cause for why a person’s car isn’t recognizing that it’s been placed in park.

Other Kia Owners Left Scratching Their Heads

A 2011 Kia Ceed owner in the U.K. also had gripes with their car shifting from park, noting it felt “very stiff.” After keying their vehicle off, hoping that would reset it, they noticed their engine wouldn’t turn over. They asked fellow Kia owners on this Kia Owners Club forum post for any pointers, and one recommendation seemed to do the trick. One user recommended that they attempt pushing down on the “shift lock release button.” While this helped them get the car started, they mentioned that they still had difficulties in shifting the car into park.

Further along in the discussion, weeks after their initial post, they found the principal reason why their car was shifting wonkily: an “inhibitor switch problem.” They said that the expense wasn’t “huge” and that their Ceed was running “okay after cleaning and lubricating the gear box.”

And when it comes to parking errors, Youcanic writes that “this is a common Kia issue that various factors, such as a faulty brake pedal switch … malfunctioning shift interlock solenoid, or a problem with the transmission range sensor, can cause.”

In the blog post, the website also recommends drivers engage the shift lock release button and demonstrates how to do just that. Using a flathead screwdriver, pry off the shift lock release cap, and then press the tool into the opening in order to hit the lock release button. The website writes that “if you hear a click in the shifter, but your car still doesn’t come out of park, you likely have a defective shifter module.”

She Ended Up Trading In The Car

In the comments section of her post, the Kia K5 owner said that she traded the vehicle in. She opted for a Toyota Camry, and several others who replied to her video extolled the Japanese automaker for its “exceptional reliability.”

Go-Parts writes that 2021–2026 Kia K5 vehicles do have shift linkage cable problems, noting that the “most common failure is a broken plastic bushing at the end of the cable, leading to a loose shifter, inability to change gears, or a no-start condition.” The site adds that there is a major NHTSA recall for Kia K5 transmissions. It’s for the ride’s “internal oil pump," not this mechanic shift cable.

Motor1 has reached out to Kia via email and Mom With a Dream via TikTok direct message for further comment. We will update this story if either responds.