[Carousel]: Cannot set properties of null (setting 'innerText')

[ZhekaVasil]

Description

What did you expect to happen?
When rendering a Carbon Carousel where all items fit within the visible area (i.e., no navigation controls are needed), the component should render cleanly without JavaScript errors.

What happened instead?
A runtime error is thrown in the console:
Uncaught TypeError: Cannot set properties of null (setting 'innerText')

Component(s) impacted

Carbon for IBM.com Carousel component
https://www.ibm.com/standards/carbon/web-components/react/?path=/story/components-carousel--default

Browser

Chrome

Carbon for IBM.com version

v2.17.1

Severity

Severity 3 = The problem is visible or noticeable to users but does not impede the usability or functionality. Affects minor functionality, has a workaround.

Application/website

Package

@carbon/ibmdotcom-web-components

CodeSandbox example

https://www.ibm.com/standards/carbon/web-components/react/?path=/story/components-carousel--default

Steps to reproduce the issue (if applicable)

The issue can be reproduced using Carbon for IBM.com Web Components with React v2.17.1 on the following Storybook page:
https://www.ibm.com/standards/carbon/web-components/react/?path=/story/components-carousel--default

To reproduce the error:

Open the page above.

In DevTools, set the CSS variable --c4d--carousel--page-size to 6 (to display all 6 carousel cards on a single page, removing the need for navigation).

Re-render the carousel by navigating to the "Docs" tab and then back to "Canvas".

Open the browser console — you'll see the following error:

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot set properties of null (setting 'innerText')

This occurs because the carousel attempts to update an aria-live announcement element that is not present in the DOM when navigation is not rendered.

Release date (if applicable)

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct
• I checked the current issues for duplicate issues