“Check ESC” warning in Kia cars – No-start and other issues

The “Check ESC” error message in your Kia may appear because of the following reasons:

• Dead or dying 12V battery (very common)
• One of the ESC-related sensors is broken or disconnected
• There is a problem with the ECU
• There are wiring problems in your vehicle
• The ESC system checkup failed.

So, let’s try to check each of the problems and see if you can repair your vehicle on your own without going to the dealership.

What’s ESC in your Kia?

ESC stands for Electronic Stability Control. This system allows your vehicle to stabilize itself when cornering or when driving in harsh terrain. The system helps you steer your vehicle properly and also controls the wheelspin so that you could easily get out of trouble on the road.

Basically, the ESC system allows you to keep control over the vehicle in all kinds of road situations. This is a very important safety system in your Kia, so when it doesn’t work, your car may even not start.

Once you turn on the ignition in your car, the ESC system starts checking all the sensors and control modules to make sure that everything is ready for a safe ride. You will see the ESC light on your dashboard going on for some seconds when you turn on the ignition. But once all checkups are done, the system will automatically turn off the light and the ESC system will be active and ready to kick in if needed.

Reasons for the Check ESC warning

Here are the most common issues causing this warning to pop up:

1. The 12-volt battery lost its juice

One of the most common reasons why your ESC system sends some error messages on the dashboard is that the car battery is not working properly. It may have low voltage when under load. It means that when you try to start your car, the battery will drop its voltage to 10 or even 8 volts. Such a drop can have bad consequences for the ECU and other systems including the ESC.

Actually, when your car battery is dying, all kinds of error messages can appear on the dashboard of your Kia. And the “Check ESC” is obviously one of these messages.

I believe one of the main reasons why your Kia shows you that “Check ESC” message is that the starting checkup of the ESC system is not fully completed when you try to start the engine. And at this point, the voltage of your battery drops, and the ESC system just can’t provide all the check-ups correctly.

To check this, follow the next algorithm when you start your car:

• get into the vehicle, fasten the seat belt;
• turn on the ignition but don’t start the engine for now;
• once the ESC system light is off and all checkups are done, you can continue;
• press the start button or use the key to start the engine;
• if, in this case, you don’t see any error messages, the problem was in your routine of starting the car, you were hurrying up;
• but if the error message continues to appear, read the article further to learn more about the problem.

Also, you may want to check your battery health. For this, measure the voltage of the battery under the load and make sure it’s not less than 12 volts. You can also use the battery booster to make sure that the reason for your “Check ESC” error message is not the battery.

2. One of the sensors is broken or not responding

You already know that when you turn on the ignition, the ESC system starts checkup and confirms that all sensors and systems are ready to work correctly. So, if the system doesn’t get the signal from one of the sensors that it uses, it may fail to work properly and will send the “Check ESC” error message to your dashboard.

This message will not disappear, in this case. It will be there until you solve the initial problem and find the sensor or the connection that is failing. Once you solve the problem, the ESC error message should disappear automatically.

You may use the OBD2 scanner to find the broken sensor or connection. But I recommend you go to the specialist who has the equipment and the experience to complete this task.

3. ECU problem

Quite a lot of Kia models are known for their ECU problems. For example, the Telluride or the K5 models are known to be problematic in terms of the glitches they can throw sometimes. And “Check ESC” system is one of these glitches that the ECU may throw just randomly.

There is no common solution for this problem but I believe you should go to the dealership and ask them to check if your software is okay and doesn’t need updating. If your Kia is still under warranty, the updates should be free for you.

I have even seen some Kias that needed ECU replacement because of glitches like random error messages, problems with settings, etc. In most cases, these problems were caused by water damage to the ECU.

4. Wiring problems and connections

I will not pay a lot of attention to this problem because it’s quite hard to locate on your own and repair without any professional help. Again, this problem is quite common for cars that have been damaged by water. For example, cars after floods can have these issues. If one of the connections is corroded or just broken, the ESC can’t provide checkups and can’t work correctly.

5. Other problems

Very often, it can be just some random message that the ECU sends to the dashboard just to let you know that there is some problem with your car like a problem with the battery voltage, the issue with some wiring, or the problem with some sensors.

You will need proper scanners and other equipment to inspect this problem and eventually find the reason for it.

Kia shows a “Check ESC” warning and doesn’t start

This is a very common problem when your “Check ESC” message in your Kia is accompanied by a no-start problem. But, in most cases, these issues are not connected with each other.

The no-start problem can be a separate issue with your starter motor, ignition cylinder, push start button, or whatever. And the “Check ESC” message can be shown because the car can’t start and load the ECU correctly.

There is only one case when these problems can be connected. This is the 12-volt battery problem. When the 12-volt battery is weak and it can’t provide your Kia with the needed voltage, all different kinds of error messages can start appearing on your dashboard, and the car itself will not be able to start.

So, I would start checking this problem with the battery. If the 12-volt battery is OK, I would continue with an OBD2 scanner and would find some sensor or some connection that is broken or not responding.

If this didn’t help, I would just go to the Kia dealership and let professionals do this job for me.

Try turning the ESC off

One last thing you may want to try is to turn off the ESC system manually and see how your car reacts. In some cases, it can help you avoid that annoying error message that says “Check ESC”.

To activate ESC in your Kia, just do the following:

• Turn on the ignition but don’t start the engine;
• If you have the push-button start, just turn on the accessory mode;
• Wait till the ESC system throws the error message or completes the checkup successfully;
• Press the ESC Button and hold it for three to five seconds (usually the button shows the car with two squiggly lines and says “Off”);
• You may get a message on your dashboard that says the ESC is off;
• After that, start your car.

If this helped you get rid of the annoying “Check ESC” message, then the problem most likely was in the ESC system itself.