Cold Soaked for Weeks

C

CanuckTom

Member
Hi all,

So I'm trying to deal with my insurance company over a recent collision I had with my 2019 Kia Niro EV. The collision repair facility so far has assured me they have dealt with EV's before but I was sceptical from the get go. I went in to inspect my vehicle today as the temps have been below 0 now for at least 4-5 days consistently and we have had considerable snow in the GTA. I found that my car had not moved since it was dropped off on October 31st. The EVSE 120v was in the trunk, the hood was ajar and the drivers side rearview mirror was removed with the mounting holes exposing the interior to potential rain/snow ingress. My biggest concern however was the fact that the car was completely dead, my spare key wouldn't unlock or lock the vehicle and I checked as the hood was ajar that the 12v battery was still connected.

This leads me to believe that the 12 volt battery is dead, and I do not know the condition of the high voltage battery pack at this time. The last time I was able to see from the UVO app what the status was on Nov 1st and it was at 68%. But this was before the freezing temps kicked in.

I'm trying to get a Kia EV technician to look at my car but in the GTA (greater Toronto area) there are only 2 dealerships with trained EV technicians.

I'm very concerned about the potential long term damage that may have been done to the battery and the potential they have voided my factory warranty.

Any advice would be appreciated, and I'll keep everyone in the know about what happens.

Pics:IMG_20191113_100317.webp IMG_20191113_095724.webp
 
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Sorry to read about your misfortune, very stressful. Hope you are ok.
Only thing I can think of, there is a small wiring harness in front of the 12V battery. It has a yellow tag on it for emergency personnel to cut the wires in an emergency. That will disable the battery and shut down the electrical. It has a plug connector that could work without cut the wires. Was there any emergency people called or a tow truck that could disable the wires/connector or the repair shop.
Be sure the 12V battery is connected.
Just a thought. HTH.
 
Wayne C said:
Sorry to read about your misfortune, very stressful. Hope you are ok.
Only thing I can think of, there is a small wiring harness in front of the 12V battery. It has a yellow tag on it for emergency personnel to cut the wires in an emergency. That will disable the battery and shut down the electrical. It has a plug connector that could work without cut the wires. Was there any emergency people called or a tow truck that could disable the wires/connector or the repair shop.
Be sure the 12V battery is connected.
Just a thought. HTH.
Click to expand...

Luckily (if you want to consider it that way, the body shop was kind enough to leave the hood ajar this whole time) so I was actually able to confirm that the 12 volt battery was still connected and that the emergency power interrupt was still in place. So at the moment it seems the car was basically bricked. No response from my key fob whatsoever. Unfortunately, I'm guessing this had already caused the body shop some problems as the driver side lock cylinder has been removed probably so they could get into the vehicle in some way (I couldn't figure out how) because I'm sure they were having the same problem with the key fob they had.

The part that really grinds me is that had I not have come to check this out, would I ever have known or been told that my car sat in the back lot of this body shop for weeks, possibly over a month (in sub 0 temps), waiting for parts without ever being plugged in... How would Kia look at that should a warrantee claim come forward for the battery?
 
Looks like you just have a dead 12 volt battery, I doubt that your car is truly bricked if had a 68% SOC on Nov 1. I suspect once you get a 12 volt boost your traction battery is still going to be around the same SOC. Inactivity or cold won't drain the traction battery. Worst case scenario is likely your 12v battery is in poor health from being discharged so long and might get freeze damage.
 
I haven't yet had my car returned. Collision was on October 25th and it's looking like It'll be a Christmas miracle if I get the car back before Christmas. I'm expecting the repairs will hopefully be completed before the new year.

At the second repair shop I took the car to they did a full rundown on the battery and have told me that there was no damage to the traction battery, in fact it had barely lost any charge whatsoever, it does seem that the 12 volt battery may need to be replaced however, and I am also going to be making sure that Kia has a chance to do a full work over on the car and provide me with written confirmation that the traction battery wasn't damaged and that the repairs bring the car back to original quality.

I miss my car, and worse than that is I am still paying the hefty monthly cost of the vehicle while also now paying for gas in a rental, which probably increases my monthly costs near $300. Unfortunately, I can't see the insurance company compensating me for any of that...
 
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