Have you driven in other Kona EVs to see if they make the same noise? I don't hear it in mine
Do you hear it in my video though, at 2:08? That's in the motor bay, so it's louder, but that's exactly the sound I am hearing when driving. If you hear it in the video, you should be able to hear it in real life, assuming your car is also making the noise. Out of curiosity, do you drive with a very light foot, or do you ever step on it? Curious if aggressive driving is harsh on the parts, making the issue start to happen (I generally drive economically, but like to accelerate quickly from time to time...not even enough to change my "aggressive driving style" to 1% on the dash). The only other Kona I drove was when test-driving, and that was over a year ago before purchasing, but I can't be sure if it was there or not. It's worth noting that I test drove it at Grimsby Hyundai and that's around large open fields, so there wouldn't be much for the sound to bounce off of. I was listening hard for it when I picked it up in October, as I was following this thread at the time, and I didn't hear it anywhere (even beside walls and cars), but after winter passed, once the windows were down again, I heard it immediately.
What I am hearing in your recordings sounds like classic inverter whine
I know this might be the case, but it doesn't really explain why the noise wasn't there when I got it, and why it is now.. Also why some people don't have it after the gear reduction unit replacement (such as
@echeck ), while others still do (such as
@Brennan Raposo ).
If you can hear it in the recording, then you should be able to hear it from the car and it wouldn't be a hearing sensitivity issue. Or is the recording much louder than what the car produces?
The recording was in the motor bay at 2:08, so I guess it just depends how loud you have your speakers set
. If you hear it earlier in the video when I'm driving beside a wall, you'd probably have to turn up the volume at least a little to hear it properly...wind noise obviously didn't help, which is why I enabled the high-pass filter, but then having low quality speakers makes it hard to hear as well.
The best way to get your service tech to immediately drop the "blame it on brakes, tires, etc." excuse is to switch car to neutral while it's emitting the noise.
Thanks, I thought of that a few days later as I did the test in N. Might try again soon.
Hi Rob. I too have this same noise.... Hard to hear unless you have a rebound surface close to the car. Interestingly my mate had his motor replaced due to the tapping noise and I was keen to see if he had this noise after the replacement. He did.!
I hear it all the time on residential streets, even without passing beside a car. I feel like I can just hear it bounce back off of the curbs on the side of the street. I obviously hear it at a higher amplitude when driving beside a car or wall though. I also hear it when driving beside concrete medians/barriers on the highway, though I live in Toronto so there is often traffic.. Would have to see to what speed I hear it at sometime. If your friend had his motor changed, which resolved the tapping, but this noise persisted, it points to the gear reduction unit being the cause.
@echeck said he got his gearbox changed and it's quiet as a mouse now. There were reports of the oil being black, indicating metallic (aluminium, perhaps?) discolouring it all. If this is indeed the case, I
believe it would eliminate the argument of harmonics or inverter whine (though
@Anaglypta or
@victor_2019 might have some additional thoughts on that. Just remember guys, just because something sounds like something you know, doesn't mean that something else can't make a similar sound too
)
Hi again Rob, just interested when you hear it. EG mine occurs when I accelerate, even mildly, it then disappears at throttle off, then comes back on when you feel the regen cut in. Says to me its drive train related.
I basically hear it all the time, as I drive with auto-regen on level 2 most of the time. Would have to test it out with auto-regen off on level 0, though my assumption is that I would still hear it on acceleration, as the motor is engaged, nothing on coasting, but then again on braking, as stepping on the brake pedal uses regen. It stops immediately when I shift the car to N.
.
