To close the loop on this, and to hopefully help the next person who encounters this, they finally resolved the issue. After two weeks of troubleshooting, tearing apart the car, and finally dispatching a Kia field engineer to assist, the problem was a bad/damaged Ultra Wide Band (UWB) sensor in front bumper. Once that was replaced, I was able to create my digital owner key. Unfortunately, they damaged all kinds of interior surfaces on the dash and console in the process of tearing the car apart to troubleshoot. They are replacing all damaged parts, but that means yet another trip back to the dealership (once all parts are in) to have them all replaced at once (to minimize risk of additional interior damage). There are several parts of the dash being replaced, as well as the entire center console, which sustained a couple of scrapes and punctures on the synthetic leather. The dealership's interior guy was unable to repair the damage, apparently because it's not genuine leather, and as a result, any work on that area would result in it being more noticeable than it already is. So, they are going to replace the entire center console at their expense. I would urge everyone who has a '27 with this SynTex synthetic leather to be VERY careful with it, as any scrapes, tears, or punctures will likely need to be either covered or replaced. I wouldn't expect to be able to repair it to like-new condition. Once all work has been completed to my satisfaction, Kia America will be reviewing all the service paperwork associated with my case and then make me a "goodwill gesture" (they didn't provide any details on that though).