Battery recall - What's Hyundai to do? (reasonable and unreasonable suggestions welcome)

The following is a cut & paste from Wikipedia of Kona EV fire incidents. If the list is accurate (and I'm not sure if one or two are not in the list) it appears all but two fires occurred in S Korea. Of the two, one was in Austria, one in Montreal and both were almost two years ago. None have been reported in any other country.

I feel that getting struck by lightning on a sunny day is a much higher probability for any one of us. While most (if not all) of us may think Hyundai's doing the right thing, can we agree it's out of a super-abundance of caution?

First reported Hyundai Kona fire took place in Hyundai’s Ulsan production plant in May 2018.[111]

A second fire also occurred on the Ulsan production line on August 16, 2018 [112]

On July 26, 2019, a Kona Electric was parked in a residential garage in Montreal, Canada. The owner reported that the car was not plugged in at the time. An unprovoked fire began, and this triggered an explosion that projected the garage door across the street and caused damage to the attached structure. There were no injuries.[113]

Another Kona Electric caught fire while charging in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, South Korea on July 28, 2019.[114]

A fire in a Kona Electric occurred in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea on August 9, 2019. The flames began at the floor of the rear seat of the vehicle, which was parked at the time.[115]

On August 13, 2019 a Kona Electric caught fire while being charged in an underground parking level at an apartment in Sejong City, South Korea. The vehicle was completely destroyed.[116]

September 17, 2019 in Leonstein, Austria a battery fire reportedly occurred while driving. [117]

April 2, 2020 a Kona EV fire occurred in Gyeonggi Ansan South Korea while parked after a full charge[118]

On May 29, 2020 a Kona EV which after full charge at the electric charging station in Sangyeok-dong, Buk-gu, Daegu, Korea caught on fire. The fire went out in two hours, but the vehicle was completely burned, causing 29 million won of property damage. [119]

August 7, 2020 another Kona EV fire occurred in Buk-gu, Daegu City South Korea while charging[120]

August 24 Kona EV fire occurred in Jeongeup, Jeonbuk South Korea while parked after a full charge[121]

Kona EV caught fire in Jeju Island, South Korea on Sept. 26, 2020. The vehicle was parked, connected to an EV charger inside the parking lot of an apartment building. [122]

On Oct 4, 2020 a Hyundai Kona electric vehicle (EV) burst into flames in the early hours of Sunday morning while parked in the underground parking lot of an apartment in Daegu, South Korea [123]

The 14th Kona electric vehicle fire accident occurred at 3:41 am on OCT-17-2020 at the electric vehicle rapid charging site at the Wabu-eup Community Service Center, Namyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea [124]

October 18, 2020 Hyundai Hyundai Motor , citing an investigation by Korea's transport ministry acknowledged a battery issue that led to a worldwide recall of 77,000 Kona EVs. [125]

Januari 23, 2021 The fire mysteriously broke out at a Kona Electric being charged at a taxi company in Yucheon-dong, Dalseo-gu, Daegu at 4:11 p.m. on Jan. 23. The battery underneath the vehicle was identified as the ignition point

 

I actually have no issue with how they are handling the situation that really is mostly an issue with LG. Based on US laws, they have no choice but to limit charging due to liability. They are already willing to replace the battery packs and it really depends on LG how fast they can produce replacement packs.
The only thing that I think that they should have changed is to set the charging limit to 90%, not 80%. I believe that 90% should be fine in combination with the software update that does checks while charging.. Of course, offering buybacks would be great but is wishful thinking. The recall already costs them a lot and buying back cars at prices that they can't sell them for would increase that already high cost.

 

This article states Hyundai cells are made by LG but replacements will be SKI.
https://cleantechnica.com/2021/02/25/hyundai-to-replace-kona-batteries-will-use-ski-batteries-for-ioniq-5/

This article states LG will pay 70%.
https://www.autoblog.com/2021/03/04/hyundai-profit-electric-car-recall-lg-chem/

 

Nope, it does not say that required replacements will come from SKI, it doesn't say where they will come from.
The SKI reference is only in relation to the ioniq 5...

 

You are correct. Thanks for the correction. I confused those points. Since LG will pay 70% of the battery recall, they are likely going to produce the replacement batteries.

 

We just received our recall letter today (BC, Canada):
“Dear Hyundai Owner:
This email is in regards to the Interim Recall notification R0183 that was recently mailed to you addressing the Lithium-ion battery of your vehicle. As noted in the recall letter, your battery will be inspected and replaced, if necessary. In the meantime, you are recommended to set the maximum charge level of your battery to 80%. For instructions to complete the adjustment, please visit https://R0183info.ca

If your vehicle is currently subscribed to Bluelink, an update may be performed remotely within the next few days. If you do not have a Bluelink account, please register via https://mybluelink.ca

Until the maximum charge level has been set to 80%, park and charge your vehicle outside and away from structures.

We also encourage you visit your dealership once the adjustment is completed. They will verify the adjustment and request the issuance of a $250 gift card on your behalf as mentioned in the Interim recall letter.

If you require further assistance, we recommend that you contact the Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. Customer Relations Department online at https://www.hyundaicanada.com/en/about/helpcentre or at the following toll-free telephone number: 1-888-216-2626 (French or English)

Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.

Hyundai Auto Canada Corp.
75 Frontenac Drive, Markham, Ontario
L3R 6H2”

Will be glad to get this dealt with. I saw a recent poll of prospective EV owners on what manufacturers are you considering EVs from.... Hyundai didn’t even place (#1-#5)! You gotta figure this a HUGE reason why...


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