Roof Rails or Racks

Lots of Kona EV owner's on other forums have the roof rails purchased from Hyundai. I think someone on this group got them thrown in their deal upon buying the car. Some are buying roof racks from big box stores.

 

Not sure why there's any confusion. OEM racks are available on the Hyundai site as Exterior accessories.

 

But do you have the Ultimate? If you are in the US and bought the low or mid-range trim the rails may not be factory installed. That could be the key here.

 

It's the same in Canada I believe. Certainly side roof rails are mentioned as an upgrade on the Ultimate so I'm not sure our Preferred has them either.

 

After-market roof racks for Kona Electric with or without side rails are available. Usually pricier but better than Hyundai product.
Thule and Yakima and others are available at retailers like Rack Attack, which has 5 stores in Canada and 8 in USA (plus LA and Pasadena coming soon). They also offer rentals and used racks.

 

Boy, these differences are interesting. For two markets so closely aligned as Canada/US I'm surprised by these variations. So far Canada seems to be getting the better deal. I wonder what other differences we'll see?

 

If US Kona Electrics don't have a heat pump, that would be the most important difference I can imagine. CJC recently said something about taillights that made me think that they are not on when the 'light stalk' on the steering wheel is set to "Auto." I may have misunderstood, but in Canadian cars the taillights, DRLs, and headlights are all on when using the "Auto" setting. Canadian cars also come with radios that endlessly discuss THREE political parties.

 

I am in Oregon, and have a limited. I had roof "tracks" and four Yakima "landing pads" installed by Rack Attack in Portland. The tracks are about $170 I think, plus installation. I had the same system on my old VW eGolf and they are awesome because they are low profile and add no wind resistance.

Then, it is super easy to attach towers and crossbars of your choice - mine are the older "Control Towers" and round crossbars but I think the new ones are Skyline Towers and you can choose other crossbar styles.

By simply pulling down the lever they pop off the landing pads (if you want to minimize wind resistance), but when they are attached they are super stable. I've had surfboards and a box at highway speeds without worry.

(Not sure I attached photos properly . . . )

 

I got roof racks thrown in with my deal and when they arrived they were "Hyundai" brand. I put them on and drove around for awhile then I took them off until i need them. Just one thing with them is that they are a little noisy not extremely noisy but it is something that I just don't need until I have something to carry.

 

In my experience, during the day, the daytime running lights are on when in "auto" setting but headlights and taillights are NOT on (during the day) even when it's raining and very overcast. For this reason I manually activate the full lights under those conditions. The auto setting and automatic highbeams work flawlessly at night.

 

Yes they are like an airplane wing . Not the cheap ones.

 

They have a lock on them and they are marked front and back. They are shaped like a wing. I wonder if it's the angle of attack that makes them noisey.