2019 Niro EV complete electrical system failure!

[Calvin Dinh]

My car with only 9200 miles in it had a complete electrical system failure! Has anyone have similar issues with the NIRO EV?? My car has been at the dealership since April 1st and they still haven't figured out what's wrong with it even with the error codes that are displayed.

I've only had the car for less than 7 months and I am very disappointed in my first Kia purchase and honestly when my lease ends, I might never purchase another Kia.

Does anyone know what my options are? Is there a possibility that i can return the car and end my lease early without any termination fees??

 

[hobbit]

I had an important connector that carries most of the CANbus lines pulled out of
its place in the main junction block in my Kona a while back -- I was putting a
tap onto one of the buses so I could monitor it. Just for yucks, I powered up
the car without plugging it back in, and got a similar christmas-tree of lights
and a bunch of errors about many subsystems seemingly unrelated to each
other, like in your report. [they displayed in sequence in the binnacle screen.]
They *are* related in that they sit on the same network(s) and depend on
being able to talk to each other, however, so network failure looks like the
apocalypse. Since the disconnect was between the powertrain group and
the rest of the "chassis" stuff, though, the car could still drive!

Have your service folks look for network problems... for all anyone knows,
something like this could be a connector that partially pulled out. I know
they're supposed to lock in with release tabs, but maybe there was an
assembly error..

_H*

 

[TheHellYouSay]

My car with only 9200 miles in it had a complete electrical system failure! Has anyone have similar issues with the NIRO EV?? My car has been at the dealership since April 1st and they still haven't figured out what's wrong with it even with the error codes that are displayed.

I've only had the car for less than 7 months and I am very disappointed in my first Kia purchase and honestly when my lease ends, I might never purchase another Kia.

Does anyone know what my options are? Is there a possibility that i can return the car and end my lease early without any termination fees??

I've never leased a car, I always buy, but Kia still has a manufacturer's warranty, doesn't it? I understand that it might be hard to fix since there are so few in the states, but somebody should be providing you with a rental car, I would have thought. Then, you just wait until they fix it.

I'm sorry this happened to you, but when you lease a car, can't you just finish out your lease and say sorry, no thanks, this one's a lemon? I sure hope that don't happen to mine, I plan to drive it 'til I die.

 

[Hedge]

I had a problem with the rear camera when it got too hot. It would send all kinds of errors with those systems. They had a regional tech come out and look at the car. It took them a couple days working on it to figure out that changing the camera fixed it. Haven't had any problems since. I would have them check the rear camera.

 

[CR EV]

Look into your state's Lemon Law...I had to use that option once when my dealer just couldn't figure out how to fix a car I bought...not a Kia, btw.

 

[Calvin Dinh]

Still at the dealership. All they're doing is replacing parts and hoping it fixes the problem smh... sadly the parts are on backorder which adds insult to injury. In the meantime i filed a claim with BBB Auto line to help me in case i'm left in the cold since i had to pay for the rental car out of pocket as well as car payments for months i wasn't able to drive the car.

 

[Andre Laurence]

Still at the dealership. All they're doing is replacing parts and hoping it fixes the problem smh... sadly the parts are on backorder which adds insult to injury. In the meantime i filed a claim with BBB Auto line to help me in case i'm left in the cold since i had to pay for the rental car out of pocket as well as car payments for months i wasn't able to drive the car.

I am sorry to hear you are having problems. I have owned my 2019 Niro EV, my wife has her 2019 Soul EV, since May 6th 2019 (our first Kias ever) and both cars have been flawless. I understand your frustration; the dealer or Kia should provide the rental for free like they do here in Canada. Regarding your issue, I have not heard of this problem so I can't help, sorry, but seeing as this is a new car and very, very rare in the US, I am not surprised that the garage is playing a guessing game to fix the issue. Has the dealer been in touch with Kia US about the issue? In some cases Kia has sent technicians from Korea to investigate if the situation merits it. I hope they find the solution quickly.

 

[wizziwig]

Not sure how it applies to leased vehicles, but if you're in the USA, you might want to look at your state's lemon law. Over 30 days being serviced is usually enough to justify a buyback claim.

Have you tried opening a case through KIA's website? They should at least offer to refund your lease payments.

 

[Robert@SF]

Still at the dealership. All they're doing is replacing parts and hoping it fixes the problem smh... sadly the parts are on backorder which adds insult to injury. In the meantime i filed a claim with BBB Auto line to help me in case i'm left in the cold since i had to pay for the rental car out of pocket as well as car payments for months i wasn't able to drive the car.

I'm surprised they didn't offer you a loaner.

 

[Calvin Dinh]

Update 2.5 months later the dealer still can’t figure out what’s wrong with it. Kia of America is going to buy it back under the lemon law and reimburse me minus the mileage deduction. Good riddance! My first Kia and probably my last for at least another 10 years. I know Kia has improved a lot over the last 10 years but i am going back to Subaru.

 

[electriceddy]

Update 2.5 months later the dealer still can’t figure out what’s wrong with it. Kia of America is going to buy it back under the lemon law and reimburse me minus the mileage deduction. Good riddance! My first Kia and probably my last for at least another 10 years. I know Kia has improved a lot over the last 10 years but i am going back to Subaru.

One other owner of Kona EV also had a buyback due to unsolved issues:
https://insideevsforum.com/communit...g-vibration-type-sound.7262/page-4#post-90162
and purchased Bolt Ev.
Glad your nightmare is over - a situation no one wants to be in.

 

[CR EV]

Consumer Reports still lists the Kia as a very good bet for reliability. Reliability scores for the 2020 Niro EV (below) are based on previous model years:


I have had recourse to the lemon law once (in 56 years of driving lots of different cars). In that case, my wife had the same model and we had many years of good service from it. Lemons happen. If Kia treated you well (loaners and no hassle on the lemon claim), you might think about giving them another shot. I don't have anything against Subaru; my 2013 Outback has been great, but I wanted an EV for the 2nd car and the Kia was the best option in my state.

 

[wizziwig]

Consumer reports rating are based on polling subscribers. How many do you think own this car? Most likely single digits. That's too small a sampling size to draw statistically relevant conclusions on a brand new model car. They just base their "prediction" on what they've seen with similar KIA vehicles in the past - none of which shared this new powertrain. Alex on Autos has a good video about reliability scores for new cars.



Regarding vehicle buybacks. There are a lot more Kona/Niro EV cases than what you've seen posted publicly. I won't go into details to protect ex-owner privacy.

 

[CR EV]

I have seen Consumer Reports not list a rating because of too few responses...how many responded, don't know. Best rule of thumb is never buy a car that hasn't been out for two years in its current iteration. Departed from that for going on the edge with an EV. Again, dealer support is critical. Do they do loaners? Are they trained? Check their reputation before buying.

Not surprised that there are teething issues with any new EV, though.

 

[wizziwig]

When I look up the Niro EV on CR, all I see is predicted reliability. All the stats based on actual owner feedback are not available due to insufficient sample size.
"
No Detailed Data Available
Consumer Reports obtains its reliability data from a questionnaire that is sent to subscribers. In the questionnaire, we ask subscribers to note any problems with their cars that occurred in the past 12 months. They are asked to identify problems that they considered serious (because of cost, failure, safety, or downtime).

A typical model has about 200 to 400 samples for each model year. For some model years, typically those of older or less popular cars, we do not have a large enough sample size to provide results of statistical confidence.
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