Hyundai Kona EV Recall #199

I would like to know more about that San Diego owner, and how he figured he only has 89% of actual capacity now. We had lots of lost range claims after BMS updates before, that were more likely just changes due to winter or re-initialization of the GOM.

Having said that, I may just ask them to omit that update for now.

 

Based on the response to my questioning, I think she, the SD owner, has just assumed the 89% due to perceived range loss which I expect is temperature related.

 

Only way to know, would be to plug into the CAN bus and check the cell voltages are hitting 4.2V at "100%" charge.

 

The poster I was following is not very technical. Better information is needed from elsewhere.

Our normal "100%" SoC (displayed) has been about 4.165V per cell, pack voltage 408.

 

I have only charged to 100% once, and when I got home from the charge station did a cell map display with my SoulEVspy. Highest cell group was 4.14, but a bunch were also 4.12. It was a short drive, but it was cold out and the heater was on, so maybe it no longer was at 100%?

 

Got my 3 recalls done this morning,... IE the Integrated Electronic Brake update, ICCB Protection Cover (granny charge cable cap) and the OS EV - VCULDC Control Logic Improvement update. Following is the description of this last one.

Certain 2019-2021MY Kona Electric (OS EV) may exhibit issues with its telematics system. An ECU upgrade is available to upgrade the Vehicle Control Unit & Low DC-DC Converter (VCULDC). This upgrade applies optimized battery monitoring logic and fixes issues present with the telematics system.

The service advisor couldn't tell me any details about this last update (I don't think they are privy to that), but didn't think it was related to the previous 2 BMS updates. I mentioned that I saw only the brake recall on the recall website, and he just said theirs is more up to date and specific to my VIN.

When I dropped it off for the service I noted the GOM range, and when I got in to drive home it was actually up by about 15 kms, percentage charge was the same. With Climate off, at 76% it was 367 kms which extrapolates to 482 kms full charge which is a little higher than I saw a couple weeks ago (450 km). So for sure does not look like my range has gone down. And remember, too, that it is winter here (west coast Canada, so not really very cold). Before I drove off, had to reset my Drive to ECO and turn on my Auto Regen again. Same as the last few times I had it in.

Driving it home, didn't see/feel any diff, so whatever these recalls were, didn't seem to affect anything that I could tell. All seems good.

 

Was walking by my dealer today and couldn't resist dropping in and ask what I'm due for. There have been so many campaigns recently and it's been nearly 7 weeks since my 2nd service. It appears they did the brake campaign (what we call "199" but they called 01D102) mid-Dec (along with 196) but had not mentioned it to me at the time. I thought the braking seemed a little smoother...
This is what remains:

Heat pump compressor fuse replacement (that's an old one but they have no parts and no visibility of their arrival)
00D118 BMS improved monitoring logic
00D111 VCULDC control logic improvement

Bear in mind my early example doesn't have the app capability. Also, my car charges and drives without any apparent problems.

The service advisor printed out all the recalls and I had hoped I could take them away. No such luck, she made a "virtual appointment" mid-March including the printouts, so that her efforts today would not get lost. It seems that's just part of their system ...

As a note, from a post on SpeakEV, it seems 118 supersedes 111.

 

Thanks. I just checked the local website and mine is listed for the same firmware items. I'll get it done with the 15000km service.
sadly, no heat-pump for Oz Konas.

In Oz, that app only works with a dongle they plug into CAN bus socket behind the fuse panel cover (it's got a 4G sim card in it).
Note that it captures a pretty accurate GPS track of each journey and your maximum as well as your average speed. I got them to take it out because it might limit the performance of the car..

 

I mentioned "heat pump" but it's applicable to the AC compressor. I think your's would already have the correct parts since it's about 2 years newer.

We don't have the app in NZ because the first examples like mine were not AU-NZ spec but hijacked from production of the Irish EU specification (to beat the Model 3 launch by a year, I assume) and there was no existing arrangement for Hyundai-paid cell service. I don't have NAV either and the indicator stalk is on the left.

 

It's amazing how different the offerings are from country to country (even ignoring left/right hand drive).
But... Your gummint was doing the right thing and got the ball rolling - ours still hasn't and Big Joe has already told the PM the US will be taking climate change seriously...

 

That 00D111 is that 3rd one that I got done today. Sounds like it is just bug fixes on the telematics and some improvements to the LV battery charging.

 

We have had no contact from Hyundai regarding any of these recalls, etc.

I told my wife once the COVID lockdowns are over and the snow has melted, I'll ping the dealership and ask the questions.

Her car operates flawlessly and we have better things to do with our time than get software updates to a car at a dealership...

 

I had no contact either. But when I called the dealer (because of the website recall for the brake one), they looked up my VIN and said I had these three recalls outstanding.

 

Right or wrong, my opinion is I shouldn't have to scan online forums for issues that maybe safety related.

 

Battery/fire recall? Brake recall? Does #199 mean there have been 199 recalls? Sorry, I'm new here and am millimeters away from pulling the trigger on purchasing a Limited - I loved the test drives and have loved the reviews I have read and videos I have watched. Should I be concerned??

 

No, not 199 recalls. I don't know what the numbering scheme is, but there have been a couple. Maybe 4 total, but 3 of them are battery (or BMS) related.

The battery fire issue is the elephant in the room. There really weren't all that many battery fires in the broader scheme of things, but from Hyundai's point of view one battery fire is one too many. For some reason there are more in Korea - my recollection is that there was only one in North America (Montreal?). I don't know the absolute number of battery fires - maybe a dozen worldwide. That's a rough guess, really. Most of the changes to try and fix this are software related - mainly to try and detect an issue before a fire occurs, and it gives a warning of some sort if there is some condition that is sufficiently abnormal.

Worst case, the software bricks the car which forces you to have the thing towed to the dealer. Getting a replacement battery is a several month process - I have no idea why it takes so long. A handful of us have gotten lemon-law buybacks simply because of how long it was taking to get the replacement battery pack. But they do eventually come through. That being said, the vast majority of people have no issue and are just driving around like normal.

If you are buying new, it will already have all outstanding recalls addressed. In addition, there is a belief that the battery fires were caused by a defect in manufacturing that has since been corrected (the original recall only applied to a range of VIN numbers - I don't recall the manufacturing dates) - a new car probably wouldn't have the issue to begin with.

 

Thanks so much, this is very helpful and reassuring. I wasn't all that worried, but given that this was my first look at this forum as I was simultaneously negotiating for my car I figured I should find out the story. Perhaps it will help the negotiations....

 

I'm taking my '20 Kona (mfg'd. Oct. '19) in next week for the software update. Just to be clear about this subject recall ( #199, Integrated Electronic Brake), the problem stated is "detection of an abnormal sensor signal". So I expect that the fix to not change anything except to prevent bogus braking if getting a bogus sensor signal.

 

Correct. None of my settings were changed when I had the update done.