BMS update fail...

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apu said:
I have an update on my situation. For the moment it looks like all my troubles may not after all be related to the BMS update. I guess that is good. That said I think I need to start a new thread with me entirely moaning about my rotten luck with the Kona electric.

OK so after 5 days at the dealer I get a call from my service advisor today telling me my new key fob is in and programmed I just need to swap over the physical key from the non functional fob, great! They also tell me the tech found a pin fitment issue at a junction box motor harness, likely messed up from plugging and unplugging during the traction motor swap. They think that has something to do with my intermittent no start. They have a new wiring harness on order. Not sure when it will be in maybe next week, in meantime whenever they try to start the Kona it starts OK, so they suggest I take the car home while I wait. Now I know it mostly got a wall job(i.e.parked by the wall and left there) as they only tried starting it all of twice in the last 3 days because the frigging bluelink keeps pinging my phone the moment the doors are opened but nonetheless I agree, collect the car, new FOB and head home. Just for fun when I get home I try restarting and surprise surprise it won't turn on. My previously mentioned trick about holding down the start button for more than 15 seconds does not work on the Kona, only momentarily disconnecting the battery lead allows it to start. Again just for fun I decide to try the physical key from my "dead" FOB, it won't rotate the cylinder, eureka I figured out the problem with key FOB, it belongs to another Hyundai. Head over to my dealer pull into the service bay, cycle the start button and oddly I feel somewhat vindicated when the car won't start in their service bay. I proceed to express my displeasure about the rolling service gong show. They are ordering a new key blank and I leave with a loaner Accent. At least I get to hold their car ransom while they do nothing with mine :)

I gotta laugh as I am starting to like the loaner Accent as it starts regularly, gets me to where I need to go and gets a very respectable 5.2 liters/100km fuel consumption. It has he same cheapy interior quality as the Kona. If it had adaptive cruise control and LKA it might be a contender :) Had a look at my paper work today and between dead batteries, motor swap and no start condition this is my 10th unscheduled service visit in 9 months of ownership. I am starting to know everyone in service department a little more intimately than I really should.

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I really have to admire your composure regarding all this. Feel free to start a new thread "rotten luck" would be a good title. IMHO Hyundai Corp should be more aware of the amount of failed service repairs attempts and the inconvenience on your part and provide better satisfaction from what you have described than just issuing a gasser for a loaner. I hope they are at least paying for the fuel costs, and the re-training of how to actually put the stuff into a vehicle.
Just curious, is this the only Hyundai EV approved repair dealership in your area?
 
Update here..or rather no update. Its the 3rd week now my car is waiting at the dealership for the new traction battery to arrive. Last week I got a coutesy call from hyundai corporate asking if the dealership was keeping me up-to-date on what was going on. I gave them a piece of my mind on that. They then told me they are coordinating with the dealership and the tech team and the battery was on back order and there is no eta. Basically it could take weeks :(. I asked them to give me another ev as a loaner or at least reimburse me for the gas in the loaner car. But they said it was up to the dealership to provide a loaner and they have no policy to reimburse. Oh well oh well...
 
electriceddy said:
I really have to admire your composure regarding all this. Feel free to start a new thread "rotten luck" would be a good title. IMHO Hyundai Corp should be more aware of the amount of failed service repairs attempts and the inconvenience on your part and provide better satisfaction from what you have described than just issuing a gasser for a loaner. I hope they are at least paying for the fuel costs, and the re-training of how to actually put the stuff into a vehicle.
Just curious, is this the only Hyundai EV approved repair dealership in your area?
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Don't get me wrong I have had my moments of being livid, but I generally find there is no profit in sharing those emotions. I believe there are only 2 other EV approved dealers in the area. Problem is I don't really suspect they have that much experience either based on how few EVs are sold on the prairies. For the moment its one of those "the devil that you know" situations and I want them to to succeed, but if it suites me I will try another. I still really like my Kona EV and remain hopeful that it will be fine at some point. I am also grateful for being able to vent on this forum and kind words of encouragement.
 
apu said:
Don't get me wrong I have had my moments of being livid, but I generally find there is no profit in sharing those emotions. I believe there are only 2 other EV approved dealers in the area. Problem is I don't really suspect they have that much experience either based on how few EVs are sold on the prairies. For the moment its one of those "the devil that you know" situations and I want them to to succeed, but if it suites me I will try another. I still really like my Kona EV and remain hopeful that it will be fine at some point. I am also grateful for being able to vent on this forum and kind words of encouragement.
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I know a little about how you feel, when I had to go in multiple times with my clicking, getting the reduction drive replaced and then finally the motor. They were a little rude with me at first (when I referenced this forum), but changed their attitude when the reduction drive replacement didn't work and had to replace the motor, like I told them initially. And the recalls with the coolant leak and BMS. They always gave me a loaner, though, but a gasser, yes. I just didn't fill it with gas when I brought it back, and they never complained.

Things are better now, though, and no issues for the last several thousand kms. I do appreciate the many fine features, comfort, and nimbleness around town. I have even adapted to the premature FCA (hasn't done it to me for a long time now). So I do feel much better about my Kona now. Hopefully, you will eventually get yours all fixed up, too. It really is a pretty good car.
 
Gjpzee said:
Update here..or rather no update. Its the 3rd week now my car is waiting at the dealership for the new traction battery to arrive. Last week I got a coutesy call from hyundai corporate asking if the dealership was keeping me up-to-date on what was going on. I gave them a piece of my mind on that. They then told me they are coordinating with the dealership and the tech team and the battery was on back order and there is no eta. Basically it could take weeks :(. I asked them to give me another ev as a loaner or at least reimburse me for the gas in the loaner car. But they said it was up to the dealership to provide a loaner and they have no policy to reimburse. Oh well oh well...
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I got the call today from the dealer that the battery had been ordered. Same story - back-ordered. 20 minutes later, Hyundai corporate called and wanted to make sure I was uptodate. I asked for an ETA for the thing - she said she would try and get back to me.
 
"Hyun. ... Campaign 960" is to update BMS to "include additional monitoring when parked".
Maybe I don't get it, but seems that the BMS-update (960) is the biggest current problem for existing Kona EV owners. I don't want to let my local Hyun. Dealer Service touch my '20 (mfd. 10/19) until they find out how to do it right.
Am I right ?
Would appreciate feedback about "BMS 960 Updates" done , especially by dealers in L.A. area.
 
Ed Zwieback said:
"Hyun. ... Campaign 960" is to update BMS to "include additional monitoring when parked".
Maybe I don't get it, but seems that the BMS-update (960) is the biggest current problem for existing Kona EV owners. I don't want to let my local Hyun. Dealer Service touch my '20 (mfd. 10/19) until they find out how to do it right.
Am I right ?
Would appreciate feedback about "BMS 960 Updates" done , especially by dealers in L.A. area.
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That is a tough one as it seems at least some of the "updates" are safety related in regards to the main traction battery monitoring. It would be nice if Hyundai actually told us what the changes are so you could make a informed decision vs the typical "you better get this done or else" communication.
 
apu said:
That is a tough one as it seems at least some of the "updates" are safety related in regards to the main traction battery monitoring. It would be nice if Hyundai actually told us what the changes are so you could make a informed decision vs the typical "you better get this done or else" communication.
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My own theory is that it is in part something to try and prevent battery fires. If this is the case, Hyundai lawyers are going to keep a really tight lid on any information about what the update really does. But that's really just a guess on my part.

Further speculation on my part is that the BMS update tries to watch for conditions where one of the battery cells is more than 0.10V different from any of the others. The idea is that if one of the cells is weak and/or failing, that they can catch it earlier and get the car brought into a service center. This is based on the TSB where they instruct the dealers to check the cell voltages before attempting the BMS update - if any cell is more than 0.1V different from the others, then replace the traction battery *before* attempting the BMS update. Now the TSB doesn't explain why it is the case that they instruct the dealers to perform this test - in my case, having a cell voltage that is 0.12V seemed to be enough to prevent the car from charging at all.

The piece about it that doesn't fit here is that if the car has more than 22500 miles, then they assume the battery test has passed. So if you have one cell that is more than 0.1V out of line with the others, and you have more than 22500 miles, then what happens if you try and charge? Does this also fail? Or are they trying to catch oddball cases like mine where one of the cells starts to fail prematurely? Or is some or all of my speculation completely wrong?

There are other aspects of this (keeping 12V battery topped up) that are also possibly part of this.

No further word this week on an ETA for the battery or anything. I wish they could give me a sort of tracking number so I could see where the heck the thing actually was. I usually get a call from the dealer once a week, but Hyundai isn't doing all that great of a job of keeping them uptodate either.
 
I am now a month without the car. The dealership is still waiting on the battery and the tools to remove the existing battery. So much for the two week estimate they gave me. I called hyundai corporate and they basically said that only the dealership can provide updates. I then asked them to either give me a new car or buy it back. They opened a case on that. Will see how that goes. I also need to see if this will qualify under the California lemon law as it has a clause for repairs not completed within 30 days.
 
In addition to the battery issue I had them add to the ticket notes the clicking sound issue I have been having since 4k miles which two dealerships were not able to diagnose. So hope that gets attention as well.
 
Gjpzee said:
I am now a month without the car. The dealership is still waiting on the battery and the tools to remove the existing battery. So much for the two week estimate they gave me. I called hyundai corporate and they basically said that only the dealership can provide updates. I then asked them to either give me a new car or buy it back. They opened a case on that. Will see how that goes. I also need to see if this will qualify under the California lemon law as it has a clause for repairs not completed within 30 days.
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You might need to given them written notice asking for buyback, that usually gets you more attention from them. You definitely should invoke any privileges you have under the Song-Beverly Consumer Warranty act.
 
Battery lift table has arrived at the dealer. I guess that's a sign of something.

It is probably the case that the battery needed to ship from South Korea - if so, one would need something like 16 days just for the transit (bringing it to somewhere on the west coast), plus at least another 7 days to go by truck across the country, and add in some more time to get loaded/unloaded/etc. So my expectation right now is that it would probably be another 2 weeks or more before I get my car back.

It surprises me that Hyundai apparently does not maintain a stock of replacement parts like motors, reduction gears and batteries somewhere in the US.
 
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ericy said:
Battery lift table has arrived at the dealer. I guess that's a sign of something.

It is probably the case that the battery needed to ship from South Korea - if so, one would need something like 16 days just for the transit (bringing it to somewhere on the west coast), plus at least another 7 days to go by truck across the country, and add in some more time to get loaded/unloaded/etc. So my expectation right now is that it would probably be another 2 weeks or more before I get my car back.

It surprises me that Hyundai apparently does not maintain a stock of replacement parts like motors, reduction gears and batteries somewhere in the US.
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That sounds encouraging, hopefully the battery will arrive soon.
I'm into my 2nd week awaiting for a new wiring harness, with no further ETA updates. Dealer had a buyer for my loaner Accent, so I got "upgraded" to a Venue loaner yesterday. Its OK but I miss my Kona.
 
Wouldn't the two OBD2-readable PIDs for highest-voltage and lowest-voltage cells that
the BMS can report be the easiest immediate diagnosis of this, especially when watched
under various loading conditions?

_H*
 
Yes, and SoulEVSpy can show you the voltages as well. Either tool would do the job really.

If nothing else, it is one of those things that that probably makes sense to check once in a while.

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apu said:
That sounds encouraging, hopefully the battery will arrive soon.
I'm into my 2nd week awaiting for a new wiring harness, with no further ETA updates. Dealer had a buyer for my loaner Accent, so I got "upgraded" to a Venue loaner yesterday. Its OK but I miss my Kona.
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That's pretty decent of them to upgrade the loaner with a more expensive model. Who knows... by the time you get the repairs completed, you might be driving a Palisade:D
 
electriceddy said:
That's pretty decent of them to upgrade the loaner with a more expensive model. Who knows... by the time you get the repairs completed, you might be driving a Palisade:D
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They kept giving me a Sante Fe loaner, didn't have anything smaller. Didn't need two larger SUVs in my garage. It was a lower trim model, too, and I missed all the features and comfort of my Kona Ulitmate.
 
R P said:
They kept giving me a Sante Fe loaner, didn't have anything smaller. Didn't need two larger SUVs in my garage. It was a lower trim model, too, and I missed all the features and comfort of my Kona Ulitmate.
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I got an Elantra - it is OK, I guess, but missing most of the features in the Ultimate. The dealer tells me that if I get close to 3000 miles, they need me to bring it back to swap it for something else.
 
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