2019 Niro EV reduction gear noise

They aren’t even honoring the existing warranty. I have this issue right now, I have a warranty, and Kia refuses to repair. It should be easy to prove because you can hear the sound and compare it to a normal motor.

 

If the dealers says that the noise is normal then surely they'll offer you a normal trade-in value? That might be the least expensive way out.

I've just read the first report here in New Zealand of an out-of-warranty Kona owner being told that they will have to pay for the cost of repairs.

 

The dealer admitted there was a noise and there was something wrong. However they claimed to have their hands tied because Kia Tech Line (corporate) wouldn’t authorize anything because they are saying the sound is normal.

I’m assuming that Kia is the problem, not the dealer. Why would the dealer turn down work? Or the dealer could be lying. I don’t know. I want to wrap up my lawsuit and just get rid of this awful car.

 

I would go see another dealer, or two.

 

You’re right. I have one more I think I can try. I’m in a big city so I have a bunch of dealers. That’s been a whole ordeal. I tried 6+ other dealers over the last couple of years for the other defect (and regular maintenance). Most wouldn’t even touch the car, one actually made an appointment, I dropped off the car, and they called me an hour later saying they can’t service EVs. Even after repeating over and over that “it’s the electric Niro, it’s an EV, its FULLY ELECTRIC” they still act confused when I pull up to the service bay. So…I’ve been going to the one that can service them. I found another that sold several EVs where I bought a gallon of coolant during the whole “the coolant is mysteriously disappearing and we can’t figure out why” fiasco and they seemed to be able to work on them. I just got exhausted driving to dealers only to get turned away. It’s been almost a year since I really tried “shopping” for dealers so maybe some more options have opened up since then.

 

Nope, false. It's 10year/100,000 miles for EV System (motor, gear, battery, etc.) The powertrain warranty is separate. It's in your warranty booklet.

 

NHTSA Vehicle Complaint Form:

https://www.nhtsa.gov/report-a-safety-problem#vehicle/vehicle-information

"cards in spokes", "motor rumble", "wheel of fortune", "clicking/tapping" sound.

Please, everyone with this or other motor/gear failures, take the time to visit National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website and fill out complaint form so we can get official eyes tracking these issues. Even if you have already gotten yours fixed or since sold it or traded it in. It's important for those who are looking to buy these used to know the common failures. It doesn't show up when you research the vehicle since it's not an official recall campaign. Instead after buying one myself and going into the forums, I discovered its a known-issue that the Manufacturer doesn't want to publicize and many service centers don't know about, acknowledge or know how to / want to fix. It turns out if you get down deep into NHTSA site about the Kia Niro or Hyundai Kona EV, they bury the information in the Manufacturer Communications section. But so far still ZERO complaints listed. This doesn't make sense as many of us on here and other sites discuss this common problem and an official TSB leads me to believe that Kia/Hyundai want to quietly deal with those who report it (as they are up to their ears in replacing GDI engines for oil burning/design malfunctions).

TSB: ELE234 (Rev 1) Niro EV (DE EV) April 2021

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2021/MC-10193244-0001.pdf

DRIVE UNIT INSPECTION & REPLACEMENT FOR EV MOTOR RUMBLE NOISE

Here the issue is hidden in a stack of many other Manufacturer Communications:

https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2019/KIA/NIRO%252520ELECTRIC/SUV/FWD#manufacturerCommunications

 

Oh man, this thread really hit home. I haven't had the gearbox/noise issue yet, but I only have 30K miles so maybe I'm going to see it happen to me too? I wish I knew more about ways to check for the possibility aside from knowing that I have the same early version motor. I believe mine was manufactured in June of 2019, I bought it in August. I wanted to keep the car until it was wrecked or fell apart on its own.

My experience with Kia Service has been terrible as well. My OBDII port was found dangling one day and I'm sure it must've happened when I wasn't paying attention and pulled out the OBDII reader, like I've done a hundred times before on my other cars. I figured there must be some little bracket that they could replace to fix it, under warranty. Guy looks at it and says "oh, you broke it". Well, yes, but should it break that easily? I told him I would figure it out for myself and later found that if you remove the cheesy plastic around the plug it fits in the hole pretty well. Not tight, not like new, but good enough. Next we moved to under the hood and I asked him if I should have the blue coolant topped off as it was just a hair above Min. He says "no, as long as it's between min and max, you're fine". Then I found out that the tire rotation appointment also included recall work. One is to fix the trickle charger (a 5 min job), but the other is to completely flush the coolant system we just looked at. Nobody told me that this work was going to take more than 2 hours because I had intended to not get a ride home and just go walking for a bit. And apparently the service desk guy had no idea that the coolant concern would be resolved with the recall work. I've had 2 wasted trips to 2 dealerships because they are not able to do the tire rotation within a couple of hours. Next time I'm definitely getting a ride home and back, but I am worried about how the coolant flush is going to go. I bought the car taking a chance that the 10 yr/100,000 mile warranty would save me from the horrible problem that many are facing with the motor and it's gearbox/bearings.

 

Even though (in my opinion) all first-gen Niro and Kona models have the ingredients to eventually suffer GRU noises, the facts are that only a small number actually do, at a wild guess from reports over the years perhaps only 1%. The motor issue, which I believe is unrelated, is even less common.

At 30k miles all you can do is to slightly reduce the risk of a GRU noise by changing the gear oil once. Kia dealers are well known worldwide to balk and squirm at this simple request but there's another option which is often less expensive. Purchase two US quarts of Redline MT-LV oil and ask your local Nissan Leaf owners if they know of an independent service workshop. It's the same job as on the Leaf and much the same as changing oil on a diff or manual gearbox, you just refill it until oil spills out when the car is level. You'll find the old oil is free of particles but pitch-black.

You can't do anything about the motor issue, it's just a matter of luck and my Kona is in the same boat.

 

Thank you for this advice, I believe that it is a solid recommendation. I did not consider that service would be such an issue, well, because a car is a car, or so I thought. I wonder how hard it is to get your hands on a technical service manual now that the car is getting up there in years? I do have a buddy with a Leaf, I'll ask him if he can recommend an indy...