[Leshemdoc]

My wife and I test drove the Carnival SXP with our 3 kids. After 5 minutes, my wife and I started feeling strong ear pressure, but the kids didn't. We tried turning the sound system on and off, same with AC, and also opened windows. We were driving flat roads with no elevation. The test drive lasted about 20 minutes, and it took about 10-15 minutes of driving our own car for the pressure to go away. I never felt anything like this before, nor did my wife, and we don't have ear problems.

After researching it a little more I can say that it is not common but other people driving other cars/brands have experience the same thing every time they drive their cars. One said (driving a newer Odyssey) it took 6 months before she stopped feeling it. I thought it might have to do with the active noise cancelling system (if the carnival has one), but someone on an Odyssey forum disconnected his with no success. I also found people with cars from 2007 and 2008 that experienced similar things, and I am not sure cars had active noise canceling then
Has anyone experienced anything similar with the Kia Carnival? and any idea what might be causing it?
We are considering buying a Carnival SXP but we have to get to the bottom of this before we do.

 

[dugg914]

We've had no issues such as you describe with our SXP. I would suggest driving a different SXP for comparison.

 

[Leshemdoc]

We've had no issues such as you describe with our SXP. I would suggest driving a different SXP for comparison.

Thx! We plan to. We put a deposit on one despite our experience and we plan o take it on a LONG test drive.

I did find this on a Tesla forum that is the only expiation I found on the web to this phenomena. Seems like it is more common on Teslas:

 

[DuranO]

Nothing similar experienced during my test drive or driving my SXP. The vehicle is nice and quite but not to the point of having this issue.

 

[jayson]

Outside of wind buffetting there really isn't anything that could be causing this. The cabin is not pressurized like an airplane. Does she have sinus issues?

 

[Leshemdoc]

Outside of wind buffetting there really isn't anything that could be causing this. The cabin is not pressurized like an airplane. Does she have sinus issues?

Both my wife and I felt it and we don't have sinus issues. I think the likely explanation is the one from the guy with the Tesla in the video I posted. We just test drove another car (the one we are buying) and in a 15 minute drive it didn't repeat itself. keeping my finders cross that it never will...

 

[duscatu]

Just test drove one today on city streets and felt like there was also some kind of odd feeling with a booming/buffeting sensation. All windows closed. AC on. Tried windows open and this pressure/feeling went away. Very odd. Drove Pacifica and Sienna and never felt this.

Only thing is 3rd row was stowed and 2/3 2nd row seats were folded...

Looking forward to more replies in this thread.

 

[Leshemdoc]

Update:
We test drove another SPX (which we are getting Tuesday) and didn't feel anything. Can't say what was different, because the first test drive was almost 3 weeks ago.
I hope we won't have an issue with it driving it more or for longer time. It is not fun...
I will update again after a couple of weeks of driving ours....

 

[Leshemdoc]

Update:
We test drove another SPX (which we are getting Tuesday) and didn't feel anything. Can't say what was different, because the first test drive was almost 3 weeks ago.
I hope we won't have an issue with it driving it more or for longer time. It is not fun...
I will update again after a couple of weeks of driving ours....

I said I would update this post after a couple of weeks of driving our car, but time flies when you are having fun .
So here it is after 4K miles:
We have never experienced this issue with our car. Only with the car we test drove (which was a different SXP than the one we ended up buying). However, based on all the research I have done it could be a real (even if rare) issue. Common on some Teslas per my previous post (and also noted by 3 members of the Odyssey forum), but I haven't heard anyone else having the same complaint driving the Carnival. For anyone reading this and experiencing this issue I'd say try a different car (like we did)...