Kona EV Owners Confused
Hyundai Motor has been found to have omitted some Kona EVs loaded with LG Innovation batteries from the recall list.
"We have found that some Kona EVs with LG Innovation batteries were excluded from the recall list as they were mistakenly classified as Kona EVs with SK Innovation batteries," a Hyundai Motor official said on July 8. “We have told the owners that their cars are subject to recall.”
Kona EV owners are increasingly anxious as some vehicles subject to recall were excluded from the recall list. In internet car owner communities, members are sharing the way to identify the manufacturers of Kona EV batteries.
The production period of cars subject to recall is from November 2017 to March 2020, while the production period of batteries subject to recall is from September 2017 to July 2019. This difference is confusing Kona EV owners.
Hyundai Motor announced that a voluntary recall will apply to the Kona EV, the IONIQ, and the Elec City produced from Nov. 16, 2017 to March 13, 2020. About 26,699 units of the three models were sold in Korea and 81,701 units abroad.
Among them, only those which were manufactured at the time and loaded with batteries produced by an LG Energy Solution plant in China from September 2017 to July 2019 are subject to the recall.
In other words, vehicles manufactured between August 2019 and March 2020 are mixed with vehicles subject to battery replacement and vehicles that only need to update their battery management systems (BMSs). Hyundai Motor is selectively replacing batteries for the vehicles in question.
However, Kona EV owners are still confused, as Hyundai Motor informed them of the recall without distinguishing between cars for battery replacement and those for BMS replacement.