Australian Kona EV owners + battery replacement

Sunpowered said:
Hello all,
Any relevant information or advice would be appreciated.
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From another forum, I understand that Hyundai Oz found approx. 600 cars that could need a new battery. Of those, approx. 100 are to be tested first to see if they need a replacement, the rest are definitely getting a new battery. All of those folk have been contacted.
Like you, my car is in that ""window" that we were told via the media reports, was affected (mine also has a Jan.2020 build date).
Like you, I've had no useful response to my email and calls requesting information and my local dealer also claims to have no idea what's going on.

The trouble is that there aren't enough of us for Hyundai Oz to care (total cars sold in Oz was under 800 when this was getting flagged as an issue). I estimate that less than 200 cars have been excluded.
If they are sure those cars don't need fixing, it would be nice to get something in writing saying that our cars are not affected rather than just silence or worse, stonewalling.
 
syntaxfx said:
From another forum, I understand that Hyundai Oz found approx. 600 cars that could need a new battery. Of those, approx. 100 are to be tested first to see if they need a replacement, the rest are definitely getting a new battery. All of those folk have been contacted.
Like you, my car is in that ""window" that we were told via the media reports, was affected (mine also has a Jan.2020 build date).
Like you, I've had no useful response to my email and calls requesting information and my local dealer also claims to have no idea what's going on.

The trouble is that there aren't enough of us for Hyundai Oz to care (total cars sold in Oz was under 800 when this was getting flagged as an issue). I estimate that less than 200 cars have been excluded.
If they are sure those cars don't need fixing, it would be nice to get something in writing saying that our cars are not affected rather than just silence or worse, stonewalling.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for that information.
I was beginning to think that I was an isolated case being ignored in the hope that the issue would just go away.
Another Kona EV owner in Perth has told us that the dealer can't verify the battery origin from the barcode/serial number, but that Hyundai Australia can. He has been told that his battery was from the Nanjing factory and will be replaced.
I find it somewhat incomprehensible that Hyundai have not clearly stated which vehicles are affected, and arranged to take them off the road until repaired. Allowing defective equipment to remain in service for such a long period is negligent.
It appears that the probability of failure is low, but the consequences are potentially very severe (think along the lines of aircraft defects - aircraft are normally grounded until the defect is rectified).
It might actually get Hyundai Australia's attention if the defect results in property damage or injury to people. The consequent legal action would be extremely difficult to defend, given the lack of communication and lack of timely action to correct the problem!
 
Sunpowered said:
It might actually get Hyundai Australia's attention if the defect results in property damage
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Took more than a year before any acknowledgement of possible defect, long after this first occurrence shortly after introduction into Canada:
hyundai-kona-explodes-with-no-apparent-reason-in-canada.jpg

https://insideevs.com/news/362202/hyundai-kona-electric-explodes-canada/
Hopefully it won't be a repeat down under:eek:
 
Sunpowered said:
Thanks for that information.
I was beginning to think that I was an isolated case being ignored in the hope that the issue would just go away.
Another Kona EV owner in Perth has told us that the dealer can't verify the battery origin from the barcode/serial number, but that Hyundai Australia can. He has been told that his battery was from the Nanjing factory and will be replaced.
I find it somewhat incomprehensible that Hyundai have not clearly stated which vehicles are affected, and arranged to take them off the road until repaired. Allowing defective equipment to remain in service for such a long period is negligent.
It appears that the probability of failure is low, but the consequences are potentially very severe (think along the lines of aircraft defects - aircraft are normally grounded until the defect is rectified).
It might actually get Hyundai Australia's attention if the defect results in property damage or injury to people. The consequent legal action would be extremely difficult to defend, given the lack of communication and lack of timely action to correct the problem!
Click to expand...

Yep, I concur with what you're saying. In particular, that Hyundai Oz have been very lucky so far; no fires here.
My last car was in the VW dieselgate class action. It went for years, but that's what it takes to move car companies in Oz. They have great lawyers, deep pockets, plenty of time and (personal opinion) a "Don't worry, it's just a dumb customer and that toothless tiger, the ACCC" attitude.
Oh yeah, and they know most customers don't have the first three...
Having said all that, although our cars fit the timeline, it's possible that our batteries were made elsewhere - hence the lack of communication.
My dealer's service folk tried to run the test for D043 but the diagnostic system said it didn't apply to my VIN and refused to continue.
Maybe your dealer would be willing to try the same thing?
 
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