Did you get the battery replaced?

After 6 months of waiting for a new battery (car at dealership), we have had it back for nearly 2 months and all seems to be good, nothing significant enough in the range to make us take notice.

 

If you went without your Kona for an extended time like I did, we were "wasting" time on the Bluelink subscription. I was able to get Hyundai to extend my Bluelink subscriptions for the time I was missing my vehicle at the dealer (12 weeks). I submitted an online request with Hyundai consumer affairs back in November, soon after getting my car back. I got a case number by email and it instructed me to call Hyundai customer care about the issue. Didn't follow up with it at the time, but as my 3 years of included Bluelink is ending in June, the renewal emails prompted me to actually call. I called customer care and gave the case number and explained the issue and was then transferred to bluelink customer care who then extended the time with just my request to do so. The whole thing took about 10 minutes on the phone.
I wish there was a way to extend my California HOV access but you can't have it all.

 

6/12/2022 update on range loss after battery replacement: I can't find the post but someone wrote: Could it be calibration of the motor position sensor? The service manual warns that efficiency could be impacted if it is not calibrated after replacement….wonder if it might have lost calibration during battery replacement....a software reset and update installation
Whoever you are THANK YOU. My range went up from 265 to 316 immediately afterwards.

 

6/12/2022 update on range loss after battery replacement: I can't find the post but someone wrote: Could it be calibration of the motor position sensor? The service manual warns that efficiency could be impacted if it is not calibrated after replacement….wonder if it might have lost calibration during battery replacement....a software reset and update installation
Whoever you are THANK YOU. My range went up from 265 to 316 immediately afterwards

 

It's been exactly four years to the day since I bought my '2019' model year base spec Kona, the first sold off the lot in this part of New Zealand.
Unlike many other owners here the importer has never contacted me about a replacement battery as promised, but the dealer asked to apply two updates when I had them do my required yearly government safety inspection.

One of the updates is the VCULDC Logic Improvement from March '21 which I gather will change my 12V charging protocol, the second happened to be the preliminary vetting of the existing pack. So, now I'm approved for a new battery and a dealer in an adjacent town will do the honors when the pack arrives.

 

I bought my '2020' model year Elite spec Kona in New Zealand just over 2 years ago. The importer (Hyundai Zealand) contacted me in November 2020 about the product recall relating to 'potential concern with the vehicle's Lithium-ion (Li-ion) high-voltage battery system'. Shortly after that, the local dealer carried out an initial inspection and applied a software upgrade to update the Battery Management System. I was advised, verbally, that the battery was OK and after requesting further information, received emailed advice that that my vehicle 'was built (3 February 2020) after the issue with the LG Battery was corrected in production'.

I asked whether Hyunaid NZ would be issuing formal advice to Kona owners regarding the status of the battery. The response in April 2021 stated that an updated information pack would be sent to the dealership once communication from Hyundai Moror Korea was received. I've received no further information to date.

 

The NZ importer certainly did not maintain the level of concern initially expressed in the posted letter, the follow up email and an update email a few months later. But many other owners recently have been getting replacements with little fanfare, one recently with only a few hours notice. I had to wonder if they were annoyed at me for stirring up the oil/magnet problem but I think it's just typical administrative chaos. Once the issue disappeared from the headlines it just became another recall out of dozens they have to process. They may have prioritised replacements by the odometer since that info is publically-available and the risk is likely to be higher with more kms.

My dealer knew nothing about this recall when they presented the work order to me but made some effort to familiarise themselves with what's required once the checks were completed. When the service manager phoned me about the results she spoke as if she was telling me someone had died! Of course I was greatly relieved since I already knew the pack needed replacement. My VIN was on a list issued by the UK importer about 2 years ago which included the Irish-market models initially shipped to NZ.

 

Thanks for the update KiwiME. It's good to hear that the NZ importer did contact you initially about the battery issue and I imagine that you are right about the reason for the subsequent delay. I'd like to think that Hyundai was monitoring the relevant pages on the insideevs forum to learn about owners' concerns and to take advantage of the insights that forum members have shared - such as your posts on the oil/magnet problem. Has there been anything to indicate that Hyundai is taking an active interest?

 

There's been no evidence so far that Hyundai or Kia at any level have concerns about oil condition. I think to them the gearbox is just a part that either works or it doesn't.
I'll update the pinned thread with my latest experiences concerning the oil.

 

I picked up my car this morning with a replacement battery, after a 2-year wait and probably being one of the last in the world, lol.

The battery is very nice and shiney with not a scratch on it. Like every other replacement reported it's not blacked out on the sides. The OBD values are of course starting from nearly zero but suggest it was stored at about 60 or 70%. The date is puzzling, 10 months ago. I think the "RW" in the part number means reworked, but I'm not sure.

The only weirdity is that the coolant is no longer green but red. I might have to enquire about that in case they topped up with the low-conductivity stuff but I think red is the same as used in the Ioniq 5 in the non-battery circuit, which would be correct for this older version of the Kona.

 

Yes, I'd be very sus about that. You'd undoubtedly be aware that coolant types should not be mixed. A flush and refill might be in order, but I'll bet you'll get the runaround if that's the case

 

Oh, I didn't see your post and edited mine . I pulled a bit out to look closely, photo above. It's red and I think it will be their current 'standard' coolant. I've posted a query on our FB group in case any other NZ owners have seen this since we've had about 450 battery swaps here, probably mostly green coolant versions.

I'm debating whether to email the dealer and risk having them think I'm questioning their expertise. I did glance over everything underneath and check a few splash panel screws and everything looks perfect so I think it's unlikely they screwed up. I was told by the referring dealer that they've done 8 swaps before mine.

Oddly the entire process did not require any signature, nor result in any documentation given to me. Even providing the loaner car (2021 ICE Kona) was just a matter of tossing me the keys. At normal services at my normal dealer sometimes they even have me initial all the pages of the docs!

 

The Ioniq5 has a dual cooling system using Blue low conductivity coolant for the battery circuit and Pink coolant for evrything else.


The Kia EV6 however, just uses pink coolant for everything.

I think this demonstrates a certain paranoia amongst the Hyundai engineers following the Kona battery debacle! My point though, is that I think pink is the new green.

John.

 

I did email the dealer to ask them to verify that 'pink is the new green' as pertaining to Hyundai's conventional coolant.

I think it's a fairly important distinction to get right given that identical-appearing Konas (and Niros) are in the wild with incompatible coolants. Other than the different cap opening method there's no label to indicate what type is installed and my owner's manual is even misleading. Elsewhere in the manual it says to 'use the dealer when coolant is added or changed' but I expect somewhere further along in the lifetime of these cars someone may get it wrong.

I found a p/n and might just add a label myself. And since I'm not seeing any visible trace of green I wonder if I just got a free coolant change?

 

Thank you for confirming the "pink" details.

I can only imagine the reason the colour changed was to absolutely destinguish it from the blue stuff. Look at the Ioniq5 picture above and think how similar the two header tanks would look especially after a couple of years of use.

John.

 

I did get my battery replaced on my 2019. It took a really long time. Like a year and a half to finally get it done.
But, in the end, I called Hyundai USA. Then I got a customer satisfaction rep (who was useless), but then she escalated it up to the next level.
I tried to get them to take the car back under the NYS Lemon Law, but that didn't work.
Finally, the guy said he would push me to the front of the line for a battery, and like a week later (maybe a coincidence or BS) the battery came in.
So I think maybe the thing to do is to call Hyundai Corporate, get a customer satisfaction rep, and then try to get it escalated. (They're actually called the escalation team).