UPDATE!!! 2016 Kia Soul EV UVO services terminated

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LegoZ

LegoZ

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Sent this in to [email protected] also:

I just received an error in the Kia Access app for my 2016 Kia Soul EV that I need to activate UVO service. I called and they stated since this model uses a 3g modem they "can" (will) not reactivate the service. This results in no way to precondition the car and the key fob does not offer a remote conditioning button, no way to start or stop charge remotely or verify the car is charging remotely, among other things. I’d like to work with you guys to start getting this out there there are some other reports here: https://www.mykiasoulev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1283&p=11826&hilit=uvo#p11826

No one informed me that I was going to lose this functionality when I bought the car CPO two years ago. I also never received any emails stating this would occur prior to my warranty expiring or the service terminating. They evidently use Verizon 3g and they state that Verizon is shutting down their 3g network but that information was announced back in 2012 and the network originally was going to be shutdown in 2019. So Kia built and sold the Soul EV KNOWING that the system would stop working in the near future without disclosing it to the customer.
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:mad::mad::mad:
 
Working with my local dealer and going a slightly different route to see if they can nudge the right people. I really want to work with someone at InsideEVs to get an article about this and raise awareness. Trying to find out if a newer infotainment unit would work, and if so which year would be needed then i'd have to try to find one.
 
“Unfortunately, this is true. For 2015/2016 Soul EVs, customers will only receive 5 years of complimentary UVO services.


The newer models do have a newer modem, but it can’t be retrofitted to the older vehicles.”
 
LegoZ said:
@Domenick any willingness to get this out there?
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I can bring it to the editorial team, but I suspect they won't be too enthusiastic about covering it, since it affects a relatively small number of people. Will definitely give it a shot, though.

I can definitely put it out there on our socials channels, especially if you can say definitely whether or not there is or is not a solution.
 
Started getting “Subscription Updated” also after this so have a call in to them on that and will have to call back in about that next week as we don’t have access to the car until then.
 
I reached out to Kia yet again because after the subscription expired I’ve been getting a pop-up that will pull me out of Apple CarPlay back to the main screen saying subscription updated, which is just added insult on top of losing connectivity. C013DD0D-35CB-475C-AF1C-D8A96C983120.webp

The representative I spoke with on the phone and thought that I should be able to reactivate the service and looked into that for me. As she was having an extended delay getting a hold of the back in support she verified my email and let me know she would get back with me once she had the information. She did send me an email that confirms that they are not able to renew the subscription due to the modem and that the case has been forwarded for the pop up message.
“The info you were previously provided is correct, you are not able to renew your subscription due to the version of your vehicles modem.”
 
So no solution to the modem debacle I just won’t be able to buy/get service. I am still working with support (2 months later) on the “Subscription Updated.” message they had me upgrade the software (to do this I had to buy a 32gb SD Card with certain specs), however not only did this not fix the issue, it now has introduced an issue where the touchscreen will become unresponsive except for the home button on screen. With the car being on the third EV battery, limited service locations and the recalls/problems on the newer Kia/Hyundai vehicles this will likely be my 4th and last Kia/Hyundai vehicle.
 
FWIW we had a similar issue with our 2016 BMW in the last few months. But BMW notified us we were eligible for an upgraded modem and revised software so the vehicle features that use the modem would continue to work. Apparently we were lucky because on the BMW forums I read that at least some 2014 and 2015 owners were notified their modems would cease to work in the near future and the upgrade that was made to our car would not work on their cars, and they were SOUL.
 
Was the BMW Upgrade free?
I’d be willing to pay a reasonable fee for an upgrade but that isn’t even an option
 
Yes, it was free. But I should add the upgrade process was very clunky.

When BMWUSA notified us of the situation and directed us to contact a dealer for the upgrade, I called the dealer and they had no idea what I was talking about. They said they would look into it, but after a week I heard nothing.

The second time I called the dealer, the person on the phone (a different person versus the first time) seemed genuinely interested in helping us and asked me to send her the correspondence BMWUSA had sent, and within an hour they were up to speed on what needed to be done.

As they know our VIN number, one would have thought they would have simply ordered the needed parts before having us bring in the car in, But no, we had to make two appointments, one for them to determine exactly what parts were needed, and then a second appointment for the actual repair once they had the parts.
 
Danhen said:
Yes, it was free. But I should add the upgrade process was very clunky.
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This really was a night and day difference your experience with BMW versus my experience of Kia as Kia didn’t even notify me that service would end nobody notified me at time of sale that this was going to be an issue and the steps they had me take to try to resolve it have left me with weird software bugs and even further reduce functionality. The case is still open and I am taking the car in tonight and dropping it off for them to look at the head unit for the subscription updated message that still coming up even after the software updates and they may Goodwill replace the head unit to resolve that issue. however my assumption is they will still use the same model with the same unsupported 3G modem and this issue will continue. Something I should talk to Kia about to see if they would upgrade it to a 2017 headunit with 4G modem.

These infotainment system really need to be made easily upgradable and not as deeply integrated as they are. There should be a user replaceable plug and play “brain” module somewhere in the car that is as easy as removing one or two captive thumbscrews Pulling the unit out and putting a new one back in. The question is what price point what are user be willing to pay to update their cars technology to stay fast and current.
 
If Kia won't correct the issue, seems like an excellent class action opportunity. I assume there are tens of thousands of owners with the same situation.
 
Danhen said:
If Kia won't correct the issue, seems like an excellent class action opportunity. I assume there are tens of thousands of owners with the same situation.
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Well that’s part of the issue the EV was a very limited run I couldn’t even get insideEVs to run with the story :( For owners of the non-EV they don’t really need to care as much about the connectivity as it’s even more of a nice to have vs leaning need to have.
 
Was looking into buying a 2016 Kia Soul EV. So, this means that ALL Kia Soul EVs have lost their ability to use the remote App?
 
Mark W said:
Was looking into buying a 2016 Kia Soul EV. So, this means that ALL Kia Soul EVs have lost their ability to use the remote App?
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After five years (date of first sale) all remote features will stop working and you cannot pay to turn them back on. I would look at a ‘17 or newer and confirm they have an LTE/4g modem.
 
So I was finally able to get a dealer to take a look at the car they stated that the head unit needed to be replaced (for a software issue) and that the district manager had denied the goodwill replacement claim and I would have to pay out-of-pocket to replace the infotainment system which would still not allow service to be turned back on.

At this point I’ve exhausted all options dealing with Kia internally so I am filing a complaint with the FTC, BBB, NHTSA and Texas AG under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA).

Kia waited until my car was out of warranty so I didn’t have any ability to seek remediation under warranty and what was even dirtier is the district manager that denied the Goodwill replacement had the nerve to say it was because it was out of warranty for so long when I bought the car certified preowned it had one year and 12,000 miles of platinum coverage which included coverage for the radio but again Kia did not turn off service to uncover this problem until after all of these warranty is expired.

so hey we did this thing remotely to your car and broke it and it doesn’t work right anymore oh I’m sorry you’re not under warranty…

definitely makes me think twice before going with any vehicles that have over the air updates.
 
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