I was told today because of recall 200, Hyundai wants buy back our cars

Ed, you pointed out correctly that in general car prices have gone up.

And in turn I pointed in the Northeast U.S. you can now buy a new Kona EV for less than 2 years ago given the incentives Hyundai is offering. So it's quite possible a buy back could end up being a windfall.

I DO happen to believe there's not a significant fire risk on any brand new Kona EV's available for sale today. Feel free to call me naïve, but given everything that's transpired to date I have to believe if this were the case Hyundai would have issued a stop sale on those cars. The LAST thing they would want to do at this point is allow the problem to become larger. And if there were fire risks with the newer cars their already huge liability problem could grow exponentially, especially if there was any indication at all they were aware of this. They already have the hands full.

I do agree with you the demand for Kona EV's has fallen off. I've assumed it's largely related to the publicity about the fires, and given I believe the brand new units for sale today are not subject to the risk, I think there's a significant opportunity to acquire a new Kona EV for far less than would have otherwise been the case (for example the $18,000 in lease incentives being offered on leftover '20's right now).

And if I'm wrong, granted it could be a mistake to acquire one right now, but I would have the protection of a warranty and state lemon laws to at least mitigate the situation somewhat.

I don't know what to make of Mattsburg's comment. I'm thinking it's possible there was a misunderstanding or someone at Hyundai simply does not know what they are taking about. Learned long ago not to trust everything one reads on the internet.

What I do feel confident is saying is that at this point if Hyundai had any indication the battery fire problem is more widespread than they have reported to the Feds, they would have to be absolute fools to withhold the info/data after watching what the Feds did to VW. If the problem is larger, they know the truth will eventually surface.

If the problem was not with the battery manufacturer, why on earth would the battery manufacturer have agreed to contribute so much to the cost of the recall?

 

I left my car today at the dealership to do all the dues recalls and I spoke to the director of the service department. He told me that the plan is to replace all the batteries before October here in Quebec. I asked about buybacks and he didn't seem open to that solution.

 

Thanks fir the update. I sure hope it's similar across Canada. I'm not gonna be happy being restricted to 80% during the winter.

 

Just got a generic email from Hyundai basically telling me: hey we noticed(via bluelink) you seem to be charging above 80%, you really should stop it.
Actual text:"Our records indicate that the maximum charge level of your 2020 Kona EV , may be above 80% for either or both the AC and DC parameters in the infotainment system of your vehicle...In the interim, some actions with the BlueLink app have been taken to limit the Maximum Charge Level of your vehicle to 80%. We strongly recommend that you do not modify the parameters above this level in the infotainment system of your vehicle."

Hyundai if your listening, I "strongly recommend" that until you can either fix the problem, get me into an equivalent EV loaner or buy the vehicle from me, stop peeping into my bluelink records and emailing me pointless recommendations( as you have not absolved yourself from liability by doing so, rather you just come off as creepy and condescending). Not to mention I still need to use the vehicle the way it was designed to be used.

 

^^^^^^
It's funny they can do that but 80% of the time, I try using Bluelink it fails.
I'd email them back and "strongly recommend" that they resolve this safety hazard in a timely fashion or all measures will be taken to bring it to the publics attention.
Lol

 

Bluelink is watching! Not unexpected that you would see this, but the bottom line is fix the problem or at least give us some dates and options. Right now here in BC chargers that were free are now starting to charge, which I have no problem with. EXCEPT that I can no longer make it home on a long road trip to my own home charger where I pay half the rate, so now thanks to the latest de-rating of charge levels it is costing ME more , not Hyundai! And giving people an ICE loaner if they complain?! Not a solution...

Maybe you should ask Hyundai what you should do to get the range you paid for?

 

Perhaps an attempt to try to shift the blame to you in case your Kona catches fire in your garage and burns your house down?

 

That's exactly it because , a person changing it it is documented then.
This past Saturday, I had to charge twice at DC charger bcuz of this 80% range and doing a 450km return trip. The charger stopped 3 times, 51%, 65% and 76%. Do they have record of this and why it happened. Imo that was bcuz the ev battery was hot and it was peaking at 73kw charging. In light of that latest email, and them covering their a$$, later today, I will be emailing them and advising them of this quirk to cover my boot and in case I need to goto arbitration.
I really don't want this car , going up in flames , jacking up my house and or car insurance or damaging my pristine 08 335i convertible bcuz an insurance payout on that would be an insult and a slap in the face bcuz it's worth more then the book value.
As each day goes on, I'm getting more pissed about this Kovid Kona and what chokes me, I really like this car.

 

Hey Hyundai, I'd recommend if you are going to prevent me from using my car as it was intended to be used, you Take this one back and Give me a new one that works as advertised. Thanks!

 

I sure they would try but if it came to actual litigation this is how I would imagine their argument to unfold: "yes we had recalled his vehicle at least twice for this concern with no actual resolution, yes the vehicle subsequently bricked because the software update we installed in the first recall actually detected a problem with the traction battery but instead of replacing it we decided we should just reflash the BMS firmware, told the customer all is good and pretended like the brick didn't happen. Yes we had opportunity under campaign 29 in Canada to hard limit his charging capability but instead we decided the problem was not serious enough but rather the subsequent strongly worded emails should clearly absolve us of any responsibility." LOL

 

I always thought it would be rather costly of them to replace all the batteries of 80k cars.. but I thought they would be able to do something like provide a discount on a trade-in to the Ioniq 5 when it gets here rather than just a straight buy back.

On a side note.. none of this seems to be covered in the news yet, so any confirmation on whether this is really their stance or not?

 

Please let me know how your buyback goes.. I may go the same route as you with a Model Y, but not really loving the increase in price for it. I believe your KonaEV is over 30k miles like mine too.

 

I'm thinking the least expensive way out of this for them is to replace the batteries, especially with the battery manufacturer paying the vast majority of the cost (think I read 70%?) If they buyback the cars, AFAIK their cost to replace the batteries does not change, and what's the resale values going to be like when 80,000 used Konas with new batteries hit the used car market?

And it's difficult to believe they would scrap the cars. Would not that be the most expensive solution of all?

 

For the US, I'm wondering if Hyundai is assessing buybacks on a one by one basis (i.e. only if the owner complains) and based on the existence/strictness of the local lemon laws for the State in which the owner resides. Hyundai seems to be operating in stealth mode and I'm shocked that no media outlets have really picked up on this and provided any updates.

That said, the fact that Hyundai Customer Service flat out told me they won't be replacing my battery still stumps me as to why not. Is it the cost? The fact that they don't believe it will fix the problem (which she seemed to allude to)? I wish they would communicate better.

 

Well, administrators are not forensic scientists. Presumably a buyback is the most pragmatic solution in the opinion of the importer for the very-fickle and often entitled US market. I'm sure the new battery will work fine but it seems they want this problem gone ASAP. You could always negotiate to purchase a new one.

 

Very much agree especially given all the media attention EV's are currently receiving. Perhaps a little noise needs to be made.

 

Mine is over 51k miles.. I will post updates when I have them..

 

If you have a high mileage car, buyback has no economic sense. They usually calculate 100% appreciacion at just 100 k miles.
While Kona EV with replaced battery would last you at least twice this mileage.

 

In California, the Lemon Law clearly defines the buyback price. It's what you paid for the car, excluding only dealer add-ons, less a mileage adjustment.

The price includes transportation charge, sales tax, and license and registration fees. It does not include third-party add-ons, but may include a service contract sold by the manufacturer.

The mileage adjustment percentage is the mileage when you first took the vehicle in for repair of the issue, divided by 120,000 miles.

There is no deduction for the $7500 tax credit, rebates, etc.

Per California Civil Code 1793.2(d)(2)(B-C)