January 6, 2025
In March 2024, Kia announced that it was recalling nearly a half a million 2020-2024 Telluride SUVs because the intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft may not be fully engaged. The company said that over time partial engagement of the shaft can damage the splines and allow the vehicle to roll with the transmission in Park – if the parking brake wasn’t engaged. Kia reported to NHTSA that it planned on notifying its dealers and vehicle owners in mid-May about the defect and that its dealers “will install updated Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) software to automatically engage the EPB to prevent unintended vehicle movement when the gear shifter is in the “P” (Park) position and the engine is turned off, or when the vehicle is stopped in any gear shifter position and the driver’s door opens.” In other words, Kia is preventing rollaway in the event of a mechanical defect, but the description of its countermeasure indicates that the company is also adding a driver exit strategy, which clearly addresses rollaway scenarios related to human factors, not just a mechanical failure. A “driver exit strategy” – the automatic application of the EPB and/or transmission shift-to-Park on vehicles with electronic shift selectors when the driver is about to exit an unsecured vehicle is an important and still underutilized safety feature. This is a BIG DEAL.
Two years ago, we blogged about how technology has made rollaways easier to occur and easier to prevent. (Technology has Made Rollaways Easier; Technology Can Prevent Them) But the number of automakers who have adopted a comprehensive approach to preventing rollaways are still surprisingly low, given the presence and apparent success of systems that auto-apply the EPB and/or shift-to-Park.
While the continued widespread absence of “driver exit strategies” is notable, it is more so when an OEM adds the safety feature post-market, especially when it’s done under the auspices of remedying a mechanical failure, like the defect Kia described.
Kia’s recall highlights several significant trends and it intersects with a longstanding safety hazard– rollaway – that continues to cause deaths and injuries that are easily preventable in a modern vehicle. These interconnected trends include:
Defects remedied with software fixes. While it’s no surprise that today’s software-defined vehicles are getting more software defect remedies, these countermeasures are also being applied to fix potential hardware
Human factors or Human Machine Interface (HMI) related defects require countermeasures as much as broken parts. While human factors are still commonly blamed on the driver, designs that allow, facilitate, or enhance the likelihood the driver can or will make an error that can cause harm, are just as relevant as fixing broken parts. Human error is a symptom of an inadequate design, not a cause.
Fixing symptoms without improving systems’ safety designs. Vehicles have become increasingly complex mechatronic amalgamations that operate based on interpretations of the driver’s inputs and the environment. With well more than 100 million lines of code processed by a network of 100-plus ECUs relying on data from an array of sensors, fixing symptoms is not enough to prevent recurring hazards. Automotive designs need consistent systems approaches.
Vehicle rollaways, like other vehicle-related crashes and incidents that largely occur on private property, still often go undocumented in many states and police jurisdictions. However, beginning in 2008 NHTSA was required by a provision in the 2005 Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), to collect and maintain information about non-traffic crashes and incidents, which is done by the agency’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA). Using a sampling system, NCSA applies statistical models to these data and publishes national estimates. In NCSA’s latest report from April 2024, the agency published the 2021 data and a new five-year average, based on more complete figures for the previous four years. This analysis shows that rollaway deaths were on an upward trend from 84 in 2017 to 210 in 2024, a 150 percent rise over five years. There were 816 total rollaway deaths, representing a five-year average of 163 annual deaths, and 18 percent of the total non-traffic fatalities. Rollaways injured 1,428 in 2021. On average, there were 1,545 annual injuries from 2017-2021, representing 6 percent of the total of non-traffic crashes.
Kia’s recall is not the first time an automaker reprogramed vehicle software to remedy a potential vehicle rollaway:
In 2008 Chrysler recalled MY 2008-2009 Dodge Challenger vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions and “Keyless Go” option., because the company stated its vehicles failed to conform to the requirements of FMVSS 114 – a driver could depress the stop/start button and turn off the engine when the vehicle was not in park, take the fob and exit the vehicle. Chrysler’s remedy was to reflash the wireless ignition module so that the vehicle engine could not be turned off, unless the transmission was in the Park position.
In June 2016, Fiat Chrysler recalled 811,000 2012-2014 Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger and 2014-2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee with its infamous electronic monostable gear shift selector claiming its vehicles “may not adequately warn the driver when driver’s door is opened and the vehicle is not in PARK, allowing them to exit the vehicle while the vehicle is still in gear.” Chrysler upgraded the software to add an Auto Park feature that automatically shifted the transmission into park if the driver failed to do so upon exiting the vehicle. FCA later added the same fix for vehicles with rotary shifter — the RAM 1500 Pickup, Dodge Durango, and Chrysler 300 vehicles – via a Customer Satisfaction campaign. (Chrysler’s Shifty Shifters and the Wacky World of Defects)
In October 2016, Honda recalled 2016 model Civics because of a software defect that could prevent the application of the Electric Parking Brake if it is applied immediately after turning the ignition to Off. Honda reported that no rollaways occurred due to the defect and it provided dealers with updated software to reprogram the 350,083 vehicles affected to eliminate the potential for EPB inoperability.
In 2020, Kia recalled 3,714 MY 2015 and 2016 Soul EV vehicles for potential damage to the parking mechanism and allow the shifter to be put in the Park position, but the transmission is not actually in Park. The fix involved reprograming the Electronic Parking Brake logic so that it would automatically activate if the power button is turned off when the gear shift lever is in the Park position.
In March 2023, Ford re-flashed the EPB in civilian and police versions of the 2020-2022 Explorer with broken axle bolts to automatically apply when the driver places the transmission in Park.
In the 2024 Telluride recall, Kia reported in to NHTSA that its North American entity began to identify customer complaints about the transmission failing to hold in Park, rollaways, grinding noises, vibrations or the inability to place the transmission in Drive or Reverse in April 2022. Kia claimed that during the course of its two-year investigation it found spline wear on shafts it had collected that were consistent with partial engagement, which it attributed to “suspected improper assembly by the supplier.”
Kia’s software fix applied to the entire population, even though it estimated that the problem affected only 1 percent of the vehicles. Further, Kia’s May 2024 SC303 Safety Recall Campaign Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) to dealers, only provided instructions on the software update, not for inspecting or repairing the intermediate shaft and right front driveshaft. The automaker did not release a TSB for the mechanical inspection and replacement until August. This repair was just for customers who complained of abnormal driveline noise on the right side while driving. Dealer techs were required to confirm that the vehicle had gotten the software update before proceeding.
Kia’s defect chronology does not shed light on why it chose to fix all the recalled vehicles with a more expansive automatic application specification for the EPB, but the 2020-2024 Tellurides, were already equipped with software that automatically applied the EPB, but under limited conditions: when the vehicle was in Auto Hold mode. Auto Hold is a convenience feature offered by most major automakers on models with EPBs that allows the driver to remove their foot from the brake pedal after bringing the vehicle to a stop and continues to hold the vehicle stationary by maintaining brake pressure for brief periods, such as at a traffic light, without the driver continuing to depress the brake pedal. The automatic brake hold releases once the accelerator is depressed to resume travel. Auto Hold is not usually a default or a retained mode; many models require the driver to depress the Auto Hold button at every key cycle. In most of these systems, the EPB is automatically applied if the vehicle is stationary in Auto Hold for more than a few minutes, or if the driver attempts to exit – signaled by unlatching the seat belt and opening the driver’s door – when the vehicle is stationary in Auto Hold mode when the shift selector is not in Park.
For example, the 2020 Kia Telluride Owner’s Manual says: “for your safety, the Auto Hold automatically switches to the EPB under the following conditions: The driver’s door is opened; the engine hood or liftgate is opened; the vehicle is at a standstill for 10 minutes; the vehicle is standing on a steep slope; or the vehicle moved for a few seconds.”
Kia’s recall states that it adds “updated Electronic Parking Brake (EPB) software to automatically engage the EPB to prevent unintended vehicle movement when the gear shifter is in the “P” (Park) position and the engine is turned off, or when the vehicle is stopped in any gear shifter position and the driver’s door opens.” [Emphasis added]
Thus, the software update uses the EPB to protect against potential rollaways due to mechanical or human failures – including anytime a driver is about to exit a vehicle that is not secured in Park.
The reasons why a driver may exit a vehicle without shifting to Park vary, but typically the vehicle is stationary, which can occur for a variety of reasons even when the engine is running and the transmission is in a drive gear. In addition, the lack of salient warnings alerting the driver of an impending hazard condition are the norm. Often, the audible alert is a chime indistinguishable from others associated with the door open or seatbelts unlatched, and the visual alert is a Shift-to-Park text message illuminated in the instrument cluster, out of the driver’s view as they exit.
Suppliers have been marketing EPBs to automakers since the early 2000s – advertising them as weight, space and cost savers – and fully customizable. TRW, now ZF, was the first to introduce the EBP, which not only replaces the manual parking brake lever or foot pedal with a small switch, resulting in fewer mechanical parts and the ability to apply the necessary clamp load to hold vehicle in place – but that is now monitored and controlled via software located in a networked ECU. For nearly two decades, ZF and other suppliers featured the EPB’s potential as a passive safety feature that could be auto-applied in scenarios to prevent rollaways, including when the vehicle transmission is in a gear other than Park and the driver attempts to exit.
But the uptake for EPBs was initially slow, and outside of Auto Hold, OEMs didn’t specify auto-apply to protect against rollaway hazard conditions – whether the result of mechanical failure or human factors – instead continuing with largely ineffective warnings.
Today, the marketing report, Global Electric Parking Brake Market 2024-2030 in the US, by the Delaware-based Global Insights Inc., tallies 484 vehicle models on sale, and 26 out of the top 30 best-selling vehicles either get EPB as standard or at least as an option. Many of these same models offer Auto Hold or adaptive cruise control (ACC), another driver convenience feature which adjusts the following vehicle’s speed and distance to that of the vehicle in front. Many ACC systems are designed to automatically apply the EPB if the vehicle is at a standstill in that mode and the driver attempts to exit.
Outside of those two narrowly tailored scenarios, most automakers have eschewed realizing the EPB’s full potential in preventing rollaways. Some automatically set the EPB when the driver places the transmission in Park, or turns off the engine without selecting Park, or protect the exiting driver if the gear selector is in Drive or Reverse, but not Neutral. Few are designed to apply anytime the driver is about to exit an unsecured vehicle – regardless of engine or transmission status. The notable exception is Fiat Chrysler Automotive (FCA), which introduced the EPB-based rollaway prevention feature “SafeHold” starting with the 2014 Jeep Cherokee and its other models that don’t have electronic shift selectors. (Following its 2016 recall to add Auto-Park to Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep models, FCA has included the feature on virtually all of its models with e-shifters.)
Mostly, automakers (and NHTSA) have clung to the idea that the driver is solely responsible for placing the transmission in Park before exiting. Automakers continue to argue this in litigation – even as they protect drivers who make an error in myriad ways, from battery savers to automatic emergency braking to lane departure systems. Yet, somehow in today’s highly distractable world and vehicles sporting new shifter and ignition interfaces with a dizzying array of automation and highly populated information displays, getting out of a stationary vehicle without putting the transmission in Park is a hanging offense. Instead, NHTSA and many manufacturers want to rely on ineffective warnings – and in some cases, no audible warning at all – if the engine is running and the transmission is not in Park – when the driver exits.
Kia’s recall remedy provides good information for NHTSA, which is currently at work on a Congressionally mandated report about rollaway countermeasures. In February 2019, Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Ed Markey (D-MA) sought to require the agency promulgate rules that would set a performance standard to prevent rollaway, via the Protecting Americans from the Risks of Keyless Ignition Technology (PARK IT) Act. The bill was eventually amended and folded into the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was signed into law in November 2021. It required the agency to conduct an evaluation of technology to prevent keyless ignition vehicles from rolling away and present Congress with recommendations for further study or action within a year of its completion.
Kia’s recall has shown that in vehicles with EPBs that weren’t initially designed with a driver exit strategy to protect the driver or a bystander from being injured or killed in a rollaway, it can be done in a (re)flash.