I purchased a new 2024 KONA EV in April this year. In July the car was making strange noises so I booked it in with the dealer. In August I took the car in and they confirmed there was an issue so I had to leave the car with them. Two weeks later they told me I could pick up the car and continue to drive it, but they needed to order a part from Korea (to do with the reduction gearbox) and that the part would take up to a month to arrive. It is now November and I have made several calls to the dealer to find out when the part is due. Each time they said they did not have an arrival date and could not even tell me if the part had left Korea. I advised that the noises were increasing and I was concerned that I should not be driving it, so they listed the vehicle as (VOR - Vehicle off road) and to call their Customer Care which I did. A few days later Customer Care called and said they would have the vehicle towed to the dealership, and give me a rental car (petrol) and I would need to pay insurances and extra driver (wife) fees until the car was fixed. I have not taken this up yet.
There appears to be no end date to this. Am I expected to just put up with this issue for an indeterminate length of time, and be out of pocket with their rental deal as well? I now believe that this issue may be a fault with many of this type of vehicle. Am I entitled to a new car or refund?
Hi @aljumps, welcome to the community and for sharing your awful experiences with Hyundai.
Choice has some excellent information on what to do when one has bought a ālemonā. The advice can be found here:
It is worth reading and hopefully is of assistance.
Thanks so much.
Best regards
Update 7 Nov - After being told by the dealership two days ago that the part had left Korea but arrival date was still not known, I find out this morning by their parts department, that the part left Korea on 3rd Nov (3 months after the order was supposedly placed) and that they should arrive in Australia 14 Dec, then go through customs and arrive some time after that. I am feeling that I would be lucky to get anything started before mid to late January, (7 months after problem was raised with Hyundai on a 3 month old vehicle) after Xmas and New Year and public holidays etc etc. Customer Care are arranging for the Area manager to call me this week.
Seems your issue is not classed as a āmajor faultā under the ACL, and is not being treated as such by the dealer, or Hyundai.
So the dealer said it could be driven until the fix could be done. Why not continue to drive it?
They offered a replacement car in the interim. Not a good sounding deal, but one could get more insistant about it being free.
And as soon as possible stop dealing with the dealer, and deal with the company only. If oneās car sits in the corner of a garage gathering dust, the dealer doesnāt care. But the company should. Itās their product, and they are the ones responsible.
@aljumps indicated customer care has agreed with the owners assessment that the vehicle should not be driven. In arranging to have the vehicle towed is adding to that assessment. The dealership and Or Hyundai could if they chose make an alternate assessment, given they have possession of the vehicle. Clarity needed.
The Choice guide provides advice on what constitutes a major failure.
My highlights.
Whether the vehicle would be unsafe to drive would require expert advice or knowledge of the fault. The unavailability of the required part/s in a reasonable time might need the support of the respective State/Territory Consumer Affairs or ..CAT hearing.
I would be pushing for them to provide a car, at their cost with exception of fuel. The reason is that you have grounds to request reasonable compensation under the Australian Consumer Law. Reasonable compensation as a minimum would be to provide you with a vehicle to replace the Kona which is currently off the road. You shouldnāt have to pay for insurance, as you are already paying for insurance on the Kona. They should be making a offer to minimise any out of pocket expenses.
I would also be pushing for a full manufacturer warranty on the replacement part and componentry it is fitted to.
Good luck in your negotiations to acheive an acceptable resolution.
I did say it is seemingly not being treated as a major fault by the dealer. Should it be? Maybe.
Highlighting the spare parts availability?. Well, the spare parts ARE available. Just where the manufacturer has them. In this case Korea. Now if I can get stuff from overseas in a few days, like from Amazon, then so can Hyundai get a part from Korea to Australia in a few days. And they would if they cared. Or if the dealer was not left to do the ordering.
We bought a 2004 Hyundai Tucson shortly after it was released in Australia. 2 weeks in it got rear ended. The panel work was done quickly but there were no exhaust systems in the country. Hyundaiās stance was they were stainless and it would be many years before one needed replacing. Nobody had considered crashes.
To their credit they air freighted an exhaust system from Korea, only took a few days including customs. In those days they were still building ābrand reputationā with the Tucson probably the first of their better vehicles. Now that they have ābrandā dollars seem to matter more than customers.
Maybe the drive problem is a bigger one than expected (it might even be used over a number of different types of cars to add to the issue), so spares are scarce at the moment as the problems are rectified in their international marketplaces. Not every car maker is willing to disclose these types of issues more publicly, keeping competitors in the dark being one reason.
As this has been 3 months from ordering the part, the delay is one that, in my opinion, would categorise the issue into the major fault category. After repair this will have been at least 5 months without the vehicle, an unacceptable delay for such a new vehicle.
I would be pushing for a new vehicle as replacement, not as a āuse until repairs carried outā one. Major fault repair, replace, or refund are at the choice of the consumer not the business. The business can then sell the repaired vehicle off in whatever way they wish (auction, secondhand, or similar) or they can junk it, or use for spare parts for other vehicles.
As early as 2018 I can find mention of the drive train being an issue for the Kona EVs, as distinct from the drivetrain issues for the ICE models. Is this an ongoing issue, that remains somewhat hidden from the public?
Some threads about the issue
2018 issue
https://www.speakev.com/threads/kona-electric-drive-train-funny-noise.137774
2019 issue
From 2021, so no reliability data from 2022 onwards (as I donāt have an account I cannot see the detail of the issues)
Plenty of info here. Seems to be a know issue in some builds. Oil contamination from bearing or gear breakdown.
Thanks all for the invaluable info. I know now what I need to do and Iāll just wait until tomorrow with baited breath when Iām sure Iāll receive that promised call from the Area Manager of Hyundai. Standbyā¦
Update 8 Nov 24 - Still no call from Hyundai management. Called Customer Care again and they said they would try again to get them to call me today or if not, hopefully next week.
Decided to call South Australia Hyundai corporate HQ. Asked to speak with the Area Manager ref vehicle issues and they said they could only refer me to customer care. Told them I had tried that several times, and told that they will not redirect calls to any of their managers with complaints and to go through Cust Care.
Update 12 Nov - Eventually had a call on Fri 8 Nov from the service manager (Steve) who seems genuine and says he has escalated the issue to National HQ in Sydney. Said he would be the point of contact and he hopes to hear back from them Fri 8 afternoon or Mon 11th. Either way he would get back to me by Monday. Called me Mon afternoon to say he was still waiting on a call from HQ to either buy the car back or provide no cost car to use whilst waiting for repairs. Tues 12th Nov late afternoon nothing further heard. Iām thinking of telling them I no longer want the vehicle repaired but want them to just buy it back and Iāll be on my way. The longer this goes on the more Iām thinking that if I get it repaired or a new Kona, I may have the same issues 3 months down the track as the problem seems to be fairly wide spread.
At least some action is happening. Hopefully the dealer is out of the loop now as far as communications are concerned.
There is a very common issue, which will affect ALL EVās over about 2 years old, 80,000~100,000 km. The differential pinions were made by a process in the same way as traditional ICE cars. This has proven to be a weak point, as these pinions canāt withstand the regenerative forces of ācoastingā. Recently, this problem has been solved, so on-going, it should no longer be a problem. The manufacturers are now re-tooling to produce improved pinions. I know as I work with the equipment suppliers. Some car manufacturers have been slower than others to implement the improvement.
Update - Dec 24 they gave me a brand new Hybrid Tucson to drive whilst waiting for Kona to be repaired. They then missed another two repair deadlines so I asked for my money back. This was approved by them eventually and in Jan/Feb 25 received 100% refund for my Kona EV so I ordered a brand new Ionic5 EV from them. Six month wait on the new car. They let me keep the Tucson at no charge and then my original Kona was repaired. Swapped the Tucson for the Kona and drove that around for about another four months until the new Ionic turned up and then handed it back - no extra charge. In the end I have to say that Hyundai Nailsworth SA certainly did the right thing by me in the end.
Thank you for updating us on the outcome. Very glad you are happy with the outcome, hopefully from now on a pain free, and positive experience.
Always check the automotive forums and Google up known issues with the vehicle you intend to buy . A Kona EV would not be on my list as they have too many known issues .
