What is the "final" fix for the battery fire recall?

Maybe I'm just lucky, but with all my repairs and recalls have never had the car in for more than 1 day. And that includes the reduction drive and motor replacements. And the dealer never screwed anything up requiring me to come back. So hard for me to believe all the dealer screw-ups I read about on this forum.

Maybe it helps that we have a lot of competition in our metro area, about 5 or 6 Hyundai dealers, same with most of the other brands. And oh, can always get a loaner car if I want. But some of software updates did not take that long, so I just waited. Also gave me a chance to chat with the sales and service people about the cars, and what the repair hot spots are. My other car is a Subaru, and it too, has had its share of recalls, but always handled well and quickly by the dealer.

At this time, my car is working perfectly, and no problems with the batteries, big one and the aux. So I am happy with it at this time.

 

Boy, having purchased my Kona EV two weeks ago, the articles about this issue are not giving me a warm and fuzzy. I love the car and have already taken it on a 1200+ mile shake down cruise (return trip in a week) and find it to just be an overall wonderful vehicle. I'm less concerned about the fire possibility (the odds seem very low) but am more concerned about the "scarlet letter" effect a massive recall would have on the Kona as a brand (and thus the potential hit on the resale value should I at some point decide to sell it). Is there any clue as to when a decision is going to be made about next steps?

 

Oh, just enjoy your car. You have a warranty, and I expect long before that is up, all the bugs will be worked out.

 

I am thoroughly enjoying this car, it's fun to drive and I love the zero emissions. I'm really happy with my purchase. Nonetheless, the looming of an incredibly disruptive logistical nightmare would give anyone legitimate concerns.

 

Well, if they do a recall on the battery, I would expect them to be pretty proficient at that before too long. I had both my reduction drive and motor replaced (at separate times), and each only took 1 day. No big deal.

 

Well the upside to a possible battery swap would be another free "expensive" coolant change. Here is hoping they don't do any secondary damage during the install like they did with my motor swap messing up the wiring harness and ultimately putting the car out of commission for a month.

Pro tip, don't let your dealer's EV tech do their first battery or motor swap on your car.

 

This highlights perhaps the biggest issue I've had with the car. All these problems would be relatively no big deal (COVID aside) assuming they were just fixed. But everything is a fight.

Software update? Schedule to drop the car off all day, have my wife and 2 small kids pile into the car to come and pick me up and then work around naps and pile back into the car to drop me back off again (complicated by my 2 year olds car-sickness), or wait around for 3 hours in their waiting room. No loaner. In a non-COVID world, maybe I would wait around or call an Uber, but right now, no thanks.
Grinding noise? Yes, my car does that. Have I been able to get the dealership to address it? No.
Another software update? See above.
Playing card in the spokes noise on the brakes? Yes, my car does that. Have I been able to get the dealership to address it? No.
Another software update? See above.
Oh, what's this, a fourth software update? No, I haven't bothered to take my car in for this one yet.

And yes, I could go try another dealership. BUT I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO! I shouldn't have to fight to get what are clearly design issues fixed. Hyundai knows this stuff is wrong. They have new replacement parts. So why is it a fight to get them?

I knew that there could be trouble owning the car where it isn't sold. But the number of issues I've had with a "maintenance-free" car has been very unexpected. And if some combination of Hyundai USA and their dealerships would just fix the problems the cars have, I'd be a lot less annoyed.
I will never own a Tesla due to what I know about their build quality issues (and the company set up and culture that encourages these), but at least they seem to fix things when they break (eMMC issues aside).

 

I believe in the power of competition. If I don't like a dealer, I don't hesitate to go to another. Why should a dealer be any different than a store or restaurant? Why go back to a place that treats you badly?

 

Partially, because on the phone, they both treat me the same. Partially because one is a 10 minute drive, and the other is a 30 minute drive.

 

30 min for the occasional dealer visit is not far. I have about 6 in my area, ranging from 10 min to 45 min. Luckily my closest one has been good. But trust me, I would not hesitate to go elsewhere. I did not buy my car at this dealer, because of availability (Kona's were very scarce here in early 2019). But I went to pretty well every dealer to see what they had and what they would sell them for. Plus what they would give me for my trade-in. The differences in price for the latter were remarkable.

 

Its not 30 minutes for "an occasional dealer visit". There have been 4 recalls in 2 years. Right now, each one requires me to drive 30 minutes, and either sit in a COVID room for 3 hours, or have my wife and 2 kids drive an hour round trip (causing one of the kids to probably puke) to get me and then again to bring me back to the dealer.
I'm glad you've had a good experience. I have not.
And again, if Hyundai knows these are problems (and they do, that's why they made different replacement parts for them), then I shouldn't have to fight with dealerships to get them fixed.

 

My dealer would always give me a loaner car if I booked about 2 weeks in advance. Also, I always combined my recalls and drive train repairs, so that reduced my visits. But yeah, I would not wait around for 3 hours, 1 hour yes.

I agree there have been more than usual visits with this car to the dealer. But not near as bad as my son with his Tesla M3. He has had it in for repairs/recalls about 15 times in just 3 years. He is out of warranty now, and still has a few outstanding problems. But he is just living with them for now. With Tesla, dealer service is much worse. There is only one in our entire metro area, although a new one is just being built now, actually close by to us. And given that Tesla EVs far outnumber all others, and require more service, that is not good.

 

I noticed while fast charging, car would only charge @ 42kw, last time there was charging @ 74kw.

 

The battery was probably "cold" when you hooked up to the DC charger. I had to recently fast charge with the battery very cold, the BMS kept the DC charger limited to 12-13 kw/hr until the battery heater was able to warm the pack above 5C. I think it cost me over $12 to get 16kw that -30C day, oh well.

 

Just out ...
http://m.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20210224000773

 

Well, guess it's official then. Wonder when this will actually start where I am (Canada) and over how long this will have to be done... I'm sure Hyundai doesn't happen to have 77 k x 64 kW batteries laying around waiting to be installed.

 

Does anyone know how to determine the manufacture date of a Kona battery?

Also, do we know if some form of mitigation occurred for batteries manufactured after March 2020 that renders them not included in the recall?

 

Actually the longer it takes to replace mine, the better, for multiple reasons. Meanwhile I guess I can drive and charge (and discharge) the crap out of it with no worries about future degradation.