Recall 196 now shows on US Hyundai Recall website..

My Kona is on the naughty list (recalled).

I called the service department at the dealer today and the staff I spoke with knew nothing about the recall or the timeline for a fix. He advised me to wait for the recall letter from Hyundai Canada.

My Kona is sleeping outside tonight (and will be every night until its BMS is updated and/or the battery replaced). I plan on using a public charger to charge it until Hyundai Canada trouble shoots, fixes, and signs off on the repair. I’m not a worrier but my youngest child’s bedroom is right beside our garage— I don’t feel comfortable having my progeny sleeping beside a time bomb (the photos from the Montreal Kona that blew the garage door across the street come to mind).

BTW, our electrician who is a fireman replaced our outdated smoke detectors a year ago. I had him wire one into our garage too. He initially tried to talk me out of it but when I brought him up to speed on some of the unexplained Kona EV fires that had even then been reported, he agreed that it was a good idea and wired one in for me.

Thank you to this forum for bringing the recall to my attention. I haven’t checked the forum in the past several weeks and came across these very important threads while catching up on things this morning.

 

Oh man, you've been around long enough to know Hyundai better than that. I admire your optimism though.

 

Soooo, my car is on the LIST! If I'm reading all these posts about this recall properly, it APPEARS that the issue is "out of whack or out of balance" (my term) Lithium Cells when the vehicle is charged to a SOC of 100% .. In my particular case, I have only charged to 100% twice in the last year - in prep for 2 long trips. I normally charge about every 2-3 weeks to a SOC of 80% ... I could easily change that to like 50% and be fine. (I only use the car for short trips around town).

My charging station is inside my GARAGE. And of course is where I park my car. While the Hyundai recall bulletin states to "PARK OUTSIDE", is that because of the SOC to 100% ???? I honestly don't want to park outside unless it is imperative to do so. (Winter coming). What are you all DOING regarding to charging & Parking? ugh .. I used to REALLY love this car ... now THIS !

 

It’s likely they are just covering their butts. You certainly don’t want to charge your car inside to 100% anymore, especially if you have always charged to 100%. I don’t think you will get Hyundai to say it’s ok to even charge to 50% indoor even if you only charged the car to 100% twice. These fires are generally extremely violent and difficult to put out.


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Before the yet-to-be released update, the only way to balance the pack is to charge to 100%. I suspect that the pauses in the recall will add balancing at lower charge levels, but this is just a guess and I can't prove this. Perhaps there are other things going on during the pause.

 

So... I usually charge at home in a plain ole wall socket, and almost never past 80%. But Friday I'm taking a trip and really will need to charge to 100%, and again before heading back home a couple days later. Should I make sure my will is up to date?

 

As best as I'm aware there are no restrictions or recommendations in the US so far despite the recall being opened. Statistically speaking it's unlikely this would be the reason you'd need a will.

 

I sincerely hope you're right!!!

 

No one has been injured from a Kona fire. Statistically speaking you have a greater chance of dying from COVID or even traffic accident so keeping an up to date will is not a bad idea but I don't think charging your car to 100% should keep you awake at night.

 

My level 2 charger is in my garage, but the long cord easily reaches outside so that's where the charging happens for the time being. I charge to 90% unless it's just before a drive, then it's 100%. As long as it's not at 100% I'm comfortable parking in the garage, but I made sure to place a smoke detector out there.

 

I just put a smoke detector in my garage... but I also did it because my neighbor almost burned down his garage/house due to a poorly installed Tesla charger (smoke pouring out of the connection to the wall).

 

I'm not an electrician, lawyer, doctor, etc. But my uninformed advice is to continue to follow the existing guidance that charging to 100% should be brief -- as in, try to time it so that it reaches 100% just before you need to drive it.

 

Yes, that does seem to be conventional wisdom. But then how do you explain the Hyundai manual advising to charge to 100% if you plan not to drive your vehicle for an extended period of time?

 

I think the precautions we take in response to this recall have to overrule the manual for now.

 

Definitely! That particular paragraph in the manual was questioned by a lot of people in the first place.

With the only guess that Hyundai knows something that nobody else knows in order to explain it.

 

My 2020 Kona is also listed as being under (U.S.) recall but under "Recall Status" it says "Recall Incomplete" whatever that means and under "Remedy" it says "REMEDY NOT YET AVAILABLE". I telephoned the NTHSA's help line and the assistor had no more information beyond what is printed on their webpage. He suggested I contact Hyundai to see what they recommend owners do to keep themselves safe.

 

As mentioned before in this thread Hyundai recommends limiting charging to 80%, unplugging after reaching that state of charge and parking/charging outside.

No other information at this point.