Tapping or Creaking Noise when coasting at low speed

well it's been an interesting day.
Yesterday afternoon I actually sat down at the dealership with customer service on the phone and we finally got the quote numbers to customer service. Apparently when the service manager submits them to the regional parts/service wing of Kia, Kia's customer service section gets no notification or information about that.

While we were on the phone, the regional manager denied the claim again, but I finally got someone at customer service to admit that there was a warranty on the electric vehicle system, and that the parts and work should be covered.

As an aside, I was able to see the quote directly. from my recollection the gearbox was about $3800, the motor mount was about $100, and the labor is about another $1000. I'm guessing that the larger bills came from also replacing the motor, and from having to do a lot of labor for diagnostic work.

Today I called kia customer service again for an update and the rep said he couldn't understand why it was being denied since he had a copy of the warranty and it's very clearly covered. He's also sending a message to their tech line, which is apparently where the kia engineers can comment on it. I'm guessing they'll say yes the part should be replaced.

We shall see what happens.

 

Well, it looks like Kia has approved a repair under warranty.

I'm currently waiting for the gearbox to be delivered, which is estimated to take about a week, and then it should only take about a day to get the work done.

So my advice to anyone out there with a used niro (or Kona) who's having trouble getting this problem fixed under warranty, is contact customer service, bring up the electric vehicle systems warranty, tell your dealership to open a techline case, and be persistent.

 

Good luck to everyone and their 2019 Niro EVs... I just gave up and traded mine in for the Hyundai Ioniq 5! Got a pitiful amount for the trade-in but the Ioniq 5 is an amazing car!

 

Same here, I traded in my 2019 Niro EV today and also got a pitiful amount on the trade, but mine had 158k miles on it so I didn't expect to get a lot. I had two EVs in a row and now have moved back to hybrid and got a Toyota Corolla Cross Hybrid - I hope I don't regret needing to stop at the gas station every few days when I've been able to skip it for the past 6 years, but at least this one should keep its value a bit better. Good luck all!

 

If you're keeping this EV I'd strongly recommend oil changes at 500 and 1,500 (km or miles). Reason being that a Kona owner with a fresh gear reducer changed the oil at 1,000 km and found it moderately laden with metal particles. It seems Hyundai/Kia/Mobis are still unaware of their design stuff-up.

If DIY is not practical you can save money by having an independent shop carry out this simple job. Provide a 1 US Qt bottle of Redline MT-LV.

 

My dealer opened the techline case and the techline just said "the sound is normal"....Kia customer service just told me to "try other dealerships"...they are all pointing fingers at each other and playing the blame game.

 

Nice, how do you like it? Since Kia refuses to fix our defective car we're going to just get rid of it, too (assuming something happens with the lawsuit, which doesn't seem to be going anywhere). Cross shopping the Corolla Cross Hybrid and the Ford Escape Hybrid.

 

did you ever get a motor replacement?

 

I know this is a 4-year-old post, I'm sure you know by now, but it's not a normal sound.

TSB: ELE234 Niro EV (DE EV) April 2021
https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2021/MC-10191531-0001.pdf
DRIVE UNIT INSPECTION & REPLACEMENT FOR EV MOTOR RUMBLE NOISE

I hope you pressed the service department and got them to acknowledge the issue. Did you end up ever getting the motor and/or reduction gear replaced?

 

I’m still fighting Kia. The dealer just denied service again. They keep saying the sound is “normal”. We even have a lawyer now and Kia and the dealer are still trying to screw us over. It’s been almost 2 years and a dozen dealer visits for this and other defects. We’re aware of the TSB and even sent it to them.

This really is the worst car I have ever owned. Kia is an awful company.

 

Sorry to hear about all the trouble. If you don't mind me asking, which dealership are you working with? Good for people to know who to avoid. I've had some terrible and some excellent experiences. Sometimes within the same dealership but the wrong service advisor. We have 3 kia dealerships in San Diego in a close radius to our house. I have service appointments scheduled for the next few weeks with each of them. I want to vet out their knowledgeability, professionalism, clarity, willing ness to offer a loaner, flexibility, etc. it seems like more work than should be necessary. I should expect no matter where I take the car, it will be handled with the same standard but in the real world, most people suck and some (very few) are awesome. It takes work to find the good ones.

 

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

 

I haven't had a chance to update until today, but late last week I got a call from the dealership that the motor mount had arrived. Once they got the part, it took less than a day to install everything.

The car is back to being dead quiet, the only thing you hear when driving at low speed is the VESS.

In the end Kia covered it all under the EV systems warranty, and apparently KIA USA has updated their computer systems to show that these parts are covered to 100k miles specifically because I complained so much. In the end Kia ended up paying more for a rental car to cover me during the wait than they did for parts and labor.

The car currently has 74,000 miles on it. Do you all think it would be work changing the gear oil on the new gearbox after another 5000 miles or so?

 

I'm not clear from your two last posts if you have a new gear reducer or just a new bracket? If you do have a new reducer I'd suggest 300 and 900 mile are the optimal time to change the oil and clear out the wear particles. A change any later up to around 2,000 miles has a diminishing chance to help you avoid future issues, assuming Kia haven't quietly fixed the problem when I wasn't looking. We know from a Kona owner with a replacement that it wasn't fixed as of October.

 

I just submitted the complaint form.

Last month Kia had me to go back to the dealer, and they diagnosed the issue as related to the TSB. They're still refusing to repair it, and now they want me to go back to another dealer for yet another diagnosis. I'm getting nowhere with it.

 

I have a 2019 Niro EV at my dealer. It has been diagnosed with “the sound”. Mileage is 69000 miles. Dealer says first step is replace motor mount (not under warranty), then replace motor and reduction gear (also not under warranty). Do I have ANY recourse??


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Mine is also in the shop. They diagnosed with the TSB and first step is the mount. Im arguing with Kia since I reported this sound a year ago and they’ve refused to fix it, and now I also have 67k miles. However they also say the mount is not under warranty. We haven’t gotten to the reduction gear yet. But the reduction gear is listed under EV powertrain which is 100k miles. Why are they telling you the reduction gear isn’t covered? Are you the second owner?

What are they quoting for the mount? Mine is quoting $680.

 

I think the Kia dealers are smelling blood in the water. Like sharks.


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But did you have any response to this question?