Two Kia Tellurides needed full floor harness replacements after pinched wires behind a speaker caused shorts
Sometimes the smallest parts can cause the largest headaches. For example, the rod bearings in a BMW E60 M5, the signaling cable in a Jeep Grand Wagoneer, or in this latest example, wires behind a speaker in the Kia Telluride. Unlike the Jeep and the BMW, though, the Kia didn’t truly require a huge job to fix the issue. They called for it anyway, though, because they wanted the job done right. And we have all the details from the 20-year-old tech who did the work.
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Meet Emily L., a hardworking, Miata-loving, Kia technician who recently found a Telluride in her bay. Nothing was wrong with it at first glance. It had 10 miles on the odometer and was there for its pre-delivery inspection. Emily is no slouch, though. During her inspection, she noticed the left turn signal flashing rapidly while the rear lamp, tail light, and license plate lights didn’t work at all.
Chasing the Fault
“After a bit of testing, I found that one of the wires was reading a resistance of 0.1 ohms when it should be 0FL. This signifies a short to ground, as the code had indicated as well. The wire goes straight to the ICCU from the left rear tail lamp”, Emily tells Carscoops.
Just a day later, a second Telluride showed up with the same symptoms. Emily pulled apart a bit of the interior near the taillight and found the issue in both cars: a section of wires pinched behind the left rear speaker housing. The compression was strong enough to strip insulation, allowing the ground wire to contact power wires and trigger the faults.
A Twelve-Hour Fix
Here’s the crazy part: simply unpinching the wires restored full functionality. Emily reported the case, and Kia decided that rather than go for a quick fix, it would replace the floor harness entirely. That job is no small task. Swapping it requires removing the seats, carpets, trim, and significant portions of the cabin. It took Emily around 12 hours the first time.
For comparison, repairing the small damaged section with butt connectors and heat shrink would have taken under an hour. While it’s possible that it would’ve introduced electrical resistance and triggered another fault, it’s far more likely that it would’ve fixed the issue for good. Kia’s official approach here, while extreme, ensures long-term reliability and eliminates any chance of future shorts in the same spot.
A Costly Kind of Caution
While potentially frustrating for techs and no doubt costly, the automaker’s insistence on complete harness replacements in these cases shows a commitment to keeping them defect-free. It’s also a good reminder of how a tiny manufacturing misstep can cascade into a massive repair on modern, electronics-heavy vehicles.
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Stephen, affectionately known as Rivers, has gracefully transitioned from being a repair shop manager and… Read full bio

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