In early August I was going to a friends house to pick something up. Parked my 2018 Soul EV. Didn’t turn it off because I was only gonna be there a minute or 2. I sat in car for a minute to lower radio, grab my phone and exit car. I’m walking on driveway and 15 seconds later I turn around, car is gone. Thought it was stolen at first or I was losing my mind but when I go to road I saw it had rolled 50 or so feet and cracked in to a fire hydrant. Left front side collision that pushed wheel and tire back significantly plus front end cosmetic damage. When I got to car I looked at gear selector and it was in park. Car was brought to local Kia dealer and when I got estimate it was way more than my deductible so went through insurance. That process takes a while itself, I had nothing to do but wait and think about the car. Something felt weird so I contacted NHTSA and had a thorough conversation with person and he looked on google maps at topography of where I was and saw a slight hill nothing major. Asked if it ever rolled before and it had once on my wife in a parking lot. She put it in park and sat there for a minute or 2 and all the sudden it rolled a few feet forward. She stepped on brake and put parking brake on. NHTSA contacts KIA corporate who were very helpful they sent an engineer from California to inspect car and that engineer found the EV drive unit was at fault for car moving while in park. This was not something my local dealership checked or could figure out I guess. Fix was covered under warranty but took so long to get part and get it put in car on top waiting on other Kia certified parts and then body shop taking a while. Long story long….my car is back today! Not sure if this is issue with any other Soul EVS but something to keep an eye out for. If car rolls or moves while in park think about filing a NHTSA report. I hope this won’t affect anyone else.
Recently got recall notice which will be 1 hour software update at dealer. The update will have car engage the parking brake automatically when it’s placed in park. This is done to avoid unwanted movement. Its A weird feeling to see a recall come in mail that is essentially from my experience(probably others too). Glad this software patch will prevent others from having to deal with what I went through.
