Australian Kona EV owners + battery replacement

I have to wonder why this step can't be done in advance of taking the car in for a potential battery replacement.
Surely emailing a photo of the barcode would be sufficient?

 

It strikes me that there must have been some confusion or inconsistency in the manufacturing process and they didn't initially know when the extra insulation was added. It's odd that no other territory has admitted to checking for the insulation. Perhaps this is what some people in other countries are ACTUALLY getting checked when they are being told that they are getting a "preliminary check" before the decision is made about getting the battery replacement...or not. There must be a grey area in the manufacturing dates (which they finally figured out) where batteries maybe had the fix but maybe didn't. It kind if makes sense. And we only (maybe) know about it because Hyundai Down Under is more communicative and "honest" than other regions. I'm just guessing, of course, but I feel pretty confident about it.

 

You would think in this day and age every component assembled in a car would have been recorded via barcodes into a database that Hyundai maintains but perhaps not the internals of the outsourced battery assembly from Green Power. So, perhaps Green Power has now provided the production data that allows more clarity around what battery serial numbers might be affected. I can't imagine any externally-applied electrical test or BMS readable parameter that would reveal the info required, certainly not cell voltage balance.

I have no doubt that corporate lawyers discourage importers from providing any detailed explanations in general but certainly here in NZ the likelihood of that being turned against them is very low. And it's unlikely that my own car made in Sept 2018 would not be affected but the letter has to cover all cars present here made before March 2020.

 

Ya, I'm thinking the "test" is as simple as running the barcode against a list and cross referencing between Yay, Nay and "better safe than sorry".

 

Then that's not a test, it's a lookup. Which could certainly be done via email, and without holding
owners' cars hostage for months. What utter BS. People with functional cars held at dealerships
should go demand *their property* back, until such time as replacement is on-site and ready.

_H*

 

My 2019 went in today for battery check and also reduction box replacement which failed at around 19,000kms. The approval for that took in excess of a month, and nobody could explain why.

 

An article in the Aussie media about recycling that has useful info for us.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-25/electric-car-solar-battery-storage-waste-recycling/100564234

 

Very interesting article. Thanks for posting.

 

I followed your earlier advice and emailed Hyundai Oz.
After months of silence, suddenly, they'd like to see the car at the dealer's place on Monday morning.
I'm not sure it's for a battery replacement though. The recall is listed as:
OS EV 2nd BMS IMPROVEMENT 10D042
Was that the code for replacement?

 

That campaign number has been raised on a German forum but they don't see to know what it is either.
The battery replacement campaign is 11D043.

 

Ok, I translated all of the German. I'm beginning to think that this is the same BMS change they made earlier - the one that caused the charging to pause at 80% and again at 90%. I'll recheck my paperwork, but I think it's already done.

 

After checking my notes, 10D042 is new. So, I made a follow-up call to Customer Care to ask what 10D042 actually does. Thirty minutes on hold only to be told that they didn't know and then being fobbed off to the dealer.

So, I drove over to visit the dealer (it's much harder to ignore a customer that's physically in the room) who also admitted that it was so new that they had no information.

 

The fact that "BMS" is specified makes it sound like yet another software issue/check.

 

I agree.
Question is: What does it do to the BMS behaviour this time....?
Anyway, whatever it does, the dealer is blindly trusting Hyundai to be right.
Ah, the joys of living in a computerised world

 

Any updates on this BMS campaign? Recently had it updated during a service. Main thing I notice is that it takes longer to charge. Unconfirmed, as still need to fully reference, but it still appears to use the same amount of kWhs but shows a lesser percentage on the battery read-out e.g. 35kWhs would now charge to 45% rather than previously 50% (percentages used for illustrative purposes only).

 

I booked mine in for last week. They did the 30k service and were meant to do the BMS update D042. Didn’t happen. Dealer said it had been “pulled” because “it wasn’t ready”.
Meantime, my car is still listed for it.

 

Hello all,
I have just found this forum and signed up as I have also had problems obtaining information regarding the Kona EV battery replacement.
I have a 2020 Kona, manufactured in January 2020.
My understanding is that this is within the range affected by the battery replacement recall.
I have been pursuing the dealer in Perth regarding this issue since the defective batteries became news in late 2020, but have not been able to extract any concrete information on whether or not the battery will be replaced.
The vehicle has been returned multiple times for recalls (battery management system, automated brake system etc).
Hyundai customer service have not responded to phone calls or emails (other than a request to rate their service???)
The latest contact from the dealer (last week) was to bring the vehicle in for another "software update" which seems to be a diagnostic to "check" whether the battery needs replacing or not.
The dealer's service manager could not provide a coherent reason why all necessary information on the origin of the battery (e.g. the Nanjing factory, which appears to be the source of defective batteries) hadn't already been determined from the barcode/serial number (on the rear of the battery pack).
All of this looks more and more like delay and avoidance tactics to this very unsatisfied customer!
Has anyone taken up this issue with Consumer Affairs or similar?
It seems very unreasonable to me that customers are left with a potentially very serious risk while the supplier refuses to provide information.
Any relevant information or advice would be appreciated.

 

I also have a Kona manufatured during last days of January 2020, but is not affected with battery recall.
So not all cars are affected for mentioned period. Also local service center is unable to see where battery cells were made. They can only see if Hyundai has marked your car for battery replacement recall or not.

 

Many owners have similar stories and there's seems nothing out of place with yours. You're already further ahead in the process than many of us who are still waiting for the dealer to contact us to record the battery information. Best to stay patient and let them do their work.