Battery Recall for Canadian Kona Owners

[Wildeyed]

I got the recall letter last week about the battery inspection to determine "if" a new battery is required. I called the dealer and they said that I didn't need to come in and that my car had already been identified as requiring replacement and my battery is on order. They estimated 6-8 months wait as my dealer has 88 cars in the queue and they are prioritizing by build date (Sept 2019). So my battery is on order and I am happy that replacement is in the works. Not so happy about the wait, but I don't think my dealer really knows when batteries will show up. We are still waiting for the $250 and the time has now passed for when we were told to expect that - we did do the dealer visit for the 80% charge limit in March.

Is the recall letter you speak of getting the same as the previous letters that have been seen on this site or did it contain new information? Did it come from Hyundai or your dealer? I'm just curious that some people are getting letters from somewhere about something while others, the majority it seems, have had radio silence since March. I'm especially curious why you might be singled out for a letter when it seems that your battery replacement is both confirmed and so far in the future.

 

[EVatLast]

So the Hyundai runaround keeps getting better and better.

Looked up the H recall page to see if things have changed. Got different info presented, showed incomplete recall and 'book service appointment' as well as a new version of the R0183_v1 pdf. This version has new info stating,

"What should I do?
Your Hyundai dealer should have contacted you, or will be contacting you shortly, to make arrangements to have this recall carried out on
your vehicle.
Should you not hear from your dealer by the end of July, 2021, we urge you to call your Hyundai dealer to schedule an appointment so the
dealer may perform the repairs required by this recall on your vehicle. The actual time required to perform this procedure on your vehicle
will take at least four hours, however, it is possible your vehicle may be needed longer. Please refer to Recall 11D043 (R0183) when making
this appointment."

So I called the dealer today to make appt and they said that when Hyundai sends them the list of vins they (dealer) send snail mail to customer to let them know to book an appt. So much for booking that appt per the recall info. :-(

The dealer also said it was done by purchase date and that they don't know the purchase date so cannot even tell you where you are in the line. Really! You don't know when you sold the car to us....priceless...

The lack of basic information from Hyundai and the dealers is...well...not surprising...it's a car dealer nuff said. I give up on trying to get a straight answer from dealers or Hyundai. Not worth stressing over anymore. I'll get battery when I get battery.

I just wanted to put the new recall pdf info out there in case someone else has better luck making the appt with their dealer.

 

[Wildeyed]

So the Hyundai runaround keeps getting better and better.

Looked up the H recall page to see if things have changed. Got different info presented, showed incomplete recall and 'book service appointment' as well as a new version of the R0183_v1 pdf. This version has new info stating,

"What should I do?
Your Hyundai dealer should have contacted you, or will be contacting you shortly, to make arrangements to have this recall carried out on
your vehicle.
Should you not hear from your dealer by the end of July, 2021, we urge you to call your Hyundai dealer to schedule an appointment so the
dealer may perform the repairs required by this recall on your vehicle. The actual time required to perform this procedure on your vehicle
will take at least four hours, however, it is possible your vehicle may be needed longer. Please refer to Recall 11D043 (R0183) when making
this appointment."

So I called the dealer today to make appt and they said that when Hyundai sends them the list of vins they (dealer) send snail mail to customer to let them know to book an appt. So much for booking that appt per the recall info. :-(

The dealer also said it was done by purchase date and that they don't know the purchase date so cannot even tell you where you are in the line. Really! You don't know when you sold the car to us....priceless...

The lack of basic information from Hyundai and the dealers is...well...not surprising...it's a car dealer nuff said. I give up on trying to get a straight answer from dealers or Hyundai. Not worth stressing over anymore. I'll get battery when I get battery.

I just wanted to put the new recall pdf info out there in case someone else has better luck making the appt with their dealer.

Thanks for this. That's weird. I don't see what you've quoted about seeing the dealer or them contacting you by the end of July.

I do see this on the Hyundai recall page after clicking the "see details" link.

Note: As of July, 2021, due to Parts Supply Issues, this recall is launched for a limited number of Kona EV Vehicles Only. For the remaining Kona EV vehicles, and for the Ioniq EV Vehicles, please check this website periodically.

I feel like that's new. Not in any way helpful or informative but new.

How could you be seeing something I'm not seeing? Again... weird.

 

[EVatLast]

Thanks for this. That's weird. I don't see what you've quoted about seeing the dealer or them contacting you by the end of July.

I do see this on the Hyundai recall page after clicking the "see details" link.

Note: As of July, 2021, due to Parts Supply Issues, this recall is launched for a limited number of Kona EV Vehicles Only. For the remaining Kona EV vehicles, and for the Ioniq EV Vehicles, please check this website periodically.

I feel like that's new. Not in any way helpful or informative but new.

How could you be seeing something I'm not seeing? Again... weird.

I see what you see on the main recall page as well. What I quoted comes from the downloadable documents 'Safety Recall Notice' directly below that blurb.

When I looked at that link (R0183 pdf) weeks ago it was different than it is now. This new doc has an _v1 at the end of it so it's been updated.

 

[Wildeyed]

I see what you see on the main recall page as well. What I quoted comes from the downloadable documents 'Safety Recall Notice' directly below that blurb.

When I looked at that link (R0183 pdf) weeks ago it was different than it is now. This new doc has an _v1 at the end of it so it's been updated.

Ah! Thanks. I have never bothered to download because I thought it was just the same as the recall webpage in a pdf form. Nope. Totally new information hidden away. Batting 1000 Hyundai! "Your dealer should have contacted you"? Ha! Who says?

 

[EVatLast]

Ah! Thanks. I have never bothered to download because I thought it was just the same as the recall webpage in a pdf form. Nope. Totally new information hidden away. Batting 1000 Hyundai! "Your dealer should have contacted you"? Ha! Who says?

Yep, no kidding. My heads spinning from all the different stories

 

[Wildeyed]

Called my dealer first thing this morning. They have no batteries and are not making appointments despite what the letter suggests. Apparently VINs are attached to the battery orders and I am on the list. They literally have no idea when batteries might arrive though they also assume it will be without notice. So it'll be a (potentially) long wait followed by a scramble. Sigh.

 

[Shawn Schinkel]

My car is in getting the traction motor replaced right now. They’ve had a few issues so today will be a week (obviously not working over the long weekend) but hopefully it is finished today. I was hoping they would be able to do the battery pack at the same time as I’m pretty sure they had to pull the pack to do this job but I don’t think that’s the case unfortunately. So back again when the time comes! On a side note, the traction motor was making noises similar to a hockey card in your bike spokes, more noticeable when decelerating and loudest on Regen 3 setting. Replaced under warranty at 37,000km at Airport Hyundai in London Ontario.

Shawn

2019 Kona Ultimate Galactic Grey


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[Kathryne]

Is the recall letter you speak of getting the same as the previous letters that have been seen on this site or did it contain new information? Did it come from Hyundai or your dealer? I'm just curious that some people are getting letters from somewhere about something while others, the majority it seems, have had radio silence since March. I'm especially curious why you might be singled out for a letter when it seems that your battery replacement is both confirmed and so far in the future.

Well, it had more detail than previous recalls, the last being the letter to take your car in to have it set to 80%. The new letter talks about the actual problem with the Anode potentially contacting the Cathode and causing a fire. What it did say was that the battery would be assessed and determined if a replacement was needed, in direct contrast to what my dealer told me (battery will be replaced). It says the dealer would need to do an inspection of the battery to make this determination. I think it may be similar to others who shared here but I haven't been following that closely. I can post a picture later.

 

[Kathryne]

Well, it had more detail than previous recalls, the last being the letter to take your car in to have it set to 80%. The new letter talks about the actual problem with the Anode potentially contacting the Cathode and causing a fire. What it did say was that the battery would be assessed and determined if a replacement was needed, in direct contrast to what my dealer told me (battery will be replaced). It says the dealer would need to do an inspection of the battery to make this determination. I think it may be similar to others who shared here but I haven't been following that closely. I can post a picture later.

 

[MLKFLOT]

Kathryne, thanks for the image of your Safety Recall Notice . Just checked the SRN for my 2019 Kona Ultimate online and, interestingly, the wording in one paragraph is different:

What will Hyundai do?
Your Hyundai dealer will replace the Battery System Assembly (BSA) in your vehicle. This procedure will be performed at NO CHARGE to you.
After the recall repairs are completed, your “Max Charge %” level, as shown on your vehicle’s infotainment system, will be restored to 100%. Note that the Bluelink App may take up to 10 business days to update.

No mention of an inspection for my car. It seems Hyundai have a list of ‘definites and maybes’ when it comes to this battery problem. I asked my local dealer (yesterday) to make enquiries wrt my battery replacement, if indeed it’s going to happen, but I’m not holding my breath.

A quick update on other issues I’ve had. The steering column was changed recently, sounded like a dry bearing in the column. After two previous reduction gearbox changes, for the “card in the spokes” noise, I am now ‘jumping through the hoops’ process of getting the motor and gearbox changed. It seems Hyundai want a bracket to be changed first to see if that will fix the problem, once again I’m not holding my breath.

Despite these problems I am still loving this car and intend to keep it when I replace our ICE car with another EV, potentially the I5.

 

[EVatLast]

So my SRN also indicates the same as MLKFLOT (and probably Wildeyed). No mention of inspection first. I'm wondering if Kathryne looks at her SRN online if it says what ours does.

Here's where I'm going with this. Since Hyundai is apparently assigning batteries by VIN, could they be directing owners to 2 different versions of the recall pdf, one for those already assigned a battery and another for those pending. Might be a way to figure out if you're at least close to new battery if this is true. Just a thought.......

 

[Wildeyed]

So my SRN also indicates the same as MLKFLOT (and probably Wildeyed). No mention of inspection first. I'm wondering if Kathryne looks at her SRN online if it says what ours does.

Here's where I'm going with this. Since Hyundai is apparently assigning batteries by VIN, could they be directing owners to 2 different versions of the recall pdf, one for those already assigned a battery and another for those pending. Might be a way to figure out if you're at least close to new battery if this is true. Just a thought.......

I think you are exactly correct. The messages we are seeing on the website and in letters are tailored to our VINs. Also, I believe that some owners are actually getting letters sent to them from their dealers (as the message suggests SHOULD happen) while others, like myself, are not. It goes a long way to explaining why things seem so random and arbitrary... because they are.

But I would add that it does appear that there is a "definitely" list and a "maybe" list. Perhaps tied to date of manufacture. Earliest being favoured for first servicing.

 

[Kathryne]

So my SRN also indicates the same as MLKFLOT (and probably Wildeyed). No mention of inspection first. I'm wondering if Kathryne looks at her SRN online if it says what ours does.

Here's where I'm going with this. Since Hyundai is apparently assigning batteries by VIN, could they be directing owners to 2 different versions of the recall pdf, one for those already assigned a battery and another for those pending. Might be a way to figure out if you're at least close to new battery if this is true. Just a thought.......

I checked the VIN online and the recall notice attached to that only mentions replacement and not inspection to determine if replacement is necessary. It's a different letter than the one I received.

 

[Wildeyed]

This is so great. Thanks. See my pdf message says that I will get a replacement and it takes four hours. No one hour, no maybees. So illuminating.

 

[Wildeyed]

I checked the VIN online and the recall notice attached to that only mentions replacement and not inspection to determine if replacement is necessary. It's a different letter than the one I received.

Shoot! Kind of messes with our theory, however the fact that you got the paper inspection letter (and others didn't) still makes me think that there is a group of maybees out there and you seem to be one of them.

 

[EVatLast]

Well darn, thought we were onto something with that one. I haven't gotten an inspection letter either so maybe that is differentiating factor. Thanks Kathryne for looking up your online info.

Funny, this is what we are reduced to, trying to make sense out of a vacuum of concrete direction from Hyundai.

 

[Shawn Schinkel]

No battery for me yet! More or less entirely new drivetrain though for the card in the spikes noise. The mechanic said new traction motor, reduction gearbox, all the mounts and new bolts. Pretty much everything except a battery lol. I asked about the battery and he said I will most likely find out from corporate before they do as they’re as much in the dark as we are. He also mentioned that he wasn’t sure how they were going to change it as the pack is almost the entire width of the car and their hoists have an overlap under the car [emoji2371].

He mentioned that Hyundai is in the process of setting up a warehouse in Markham ON for all the new and old packs so it doesn’t sound like they’re too far off from finally getting the ball rolling here in Ontario.


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[Wildeyed]

There's a purpose-built lift table required for battery replacements. Getting that delivered to dealerships is key to the battery swaps

 

[Kathryne]

Shoot! Kind of messes with our theory, however the fact that you got the paper inspection letter (and others didn't) still makes me think that there is a group of maybees out there and you seem to be one of them.

Yeah, well my dealer is telling me something different. I'm on their list for replacement and the battery is "on order" whatever that means. They wouldn't book and appointment for an "inspection" per the letter I received. They said all batteries for the affected cars they sold would be replaced.