A lawsuit says Kia hid a battery drain that keeps stranding Telluride owners

A proposed class action lawsuit filed against Kia America alleges the automaker concealed an electrical defect in certain 2020-2026 Telluride SUVs that drains the 12-volt battery while the vehicle sits parked, sometimes leaving owners unable to start the engine or unlock the doors with a key fob. The suit says Kia has known about the “parasitic drain” issue since 2019, through its own pre-release testing, and did not warn buyers. Named plaintiff Marc Brenman, who lives in Maryland and California, bought a certified used 2021 Telluride and says he experienced exactly the failure the complaint describes.

The case, filed by the firm Ahdoot & Wolfson along with Greenbaum Olbrantz LLP, seeks to represent everyone in the country who currently owns or leases one of the affected Tellurides. Nothing in the filing has been proven in court, and Kia has not been reported responding publicly to the specific claims.

A Certified Used Telluride and a $230 Diagnosis That Found Nothing

According to Autoblog’s reporting on the case, Brenman’s Telluride displayed a warning in 2025 that the battery was discharging due to an external electrical device. He had the battery replaced, but the complaint says the problem returned within two months, when he could no longer unlock the vehicle remotely and eventually could not start it at all. A dealer tested the battery, alternator, starter and drive belts and reportedly found nothing wrong with any of them, a diagnostic process that cost Brenman roughly $230 without identifying a cause.

That sequence, a fresh battery failing within weeks and standard component tests turning up nothing, is central to the lawsuit’s argument that the defect sits somewhere in the electrical system’s control modules rather than in any single part a dealer would normally check. The complaint frames this as the reason ordinary repairs have not solved the problem for affected owners.

Brenman is not the only Telluride owner describing this pattern. The same reporting cites owners posting in Telluride-specific online forums who say a battery has drained after the power tailgate was used repeatedly, or after the vehicle sat unused for two or more days, and at least one owner who says a battery-drain warning appeared with no external device plugged in at all. None of those forum accounts are part of the lawsuit itself, but they describe the same underlying symptom the complaint centers on.

Flickering Dashboards and Stalls the Complaint Blames on the Defect

The lawsuit alleges that certain electronic control modules and related electrical subsystems fail to properly regulate power between the 12-volt battery, the alternator, power steering and the radio, producing an uneven supply while the Telluride is being driven and a slow drain while it is parked. Per the complaint, that imbalance can make the dashboard, headlights and hazard lights flicker or shut off, and in more severe instances can black out the instrument cluster entirely or cause the vehicle to stall.

“The Parasitic Drain Defect causes the Vehicles to fail in their most indispensable use, that is, to reliably start the engine,” the complaint states. The filing also says the defect can appear within days or months of purchase and that repeated draining permanently shortens a battery’s remaining life, to the point that, in the plaintiffs’ telling, no replacement part or outside charge can correct it once the underlying fault is present.

A 60-Month Warranty That Has Not Resolved the Drain, the Suit Says

Kia backs the Telluride with a 60-month, 60,000-mile New Vehicle Limited Warranty that is supposed to cover factory defects, and the automaker separately represents that a Telluride’s battery should last three to five years, according to the complaint. The lawsuit contends that despite that coverage, Kia has done little to acknowledge or repair the parasitic-drain issue for owners who have brought it to dealers.

Consumers named in the case describe out-of-pocket costs for battery replacements, towing and roadside assistance that they say the warranty should have prevented. Kia previously ran a voluntary service campaign for some 2023 Telluride owners over a loosening battery-terminal nut, an unrelated fix that Autoblog’s reporting on the case notes has not been linked to the drain issue described in the lawsuit.

The Class Kia Would Have to Answer To

The proposed class covers anyone in the United States who currently or formerly owned or leased a 2020 through 2026 Kia Telluride, a span covering the SUV’s entire first generation. The Telluride has been one of Kia’s best-selling models since its 2019 launch, repeatedly named among the top three-row family SUVs by outlets including U.S. News & World Report, which the complaint cites as part of its argument that Kia marketed the vehicle as safe and reliable while allegedly sitting on internal knowledge of the defect. The complaint even notes that some Kia insiders have nicknamed the model the “Selluride” for its runaway sales, a detail the plaintiffs use to argue that reputation and demand, not the defect, have driven the company’s silence.

As with most proposed class actions, current and former Telluride owners do not need to sign up to be included; anyone covered by the eventual outcome would typically be notified only if the case settles or reaches a judgment, a process that can take years to resolve. For now, the allegations remain just that, laid out in a complaint that has yet to be tested by Kia’s response or by a court.

This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.

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