I have a 2019, 17,000 miles. No problems. Many who have posted here with the problem have had it diagnosed and fixed fairly quickly. The ones with the longest sagas post more updates about it so that outcome seems more present.
I have a 2019 Kia Niro EV EX Premium purchased in May, 2019 with less than 20K miles on it, and Kia is putting in a new motor under warranty for this problem, per a technical service bulletin. In the beginning the sound was so subtle that only I, the primary owner/operator, could hear it. Or, perhaps more correctly, would admit to hearing it. But it finally got so loud that the service manager at the local Kia dealer could not pretend he couldn't hear it, and did the right thing. My issue is that I think they let the warranty work sit around behind the retail/pay work, and things do not proceed as quickly as they could; they will have had my car in their shop for a month tomorrow, and it will be at least another two weeks before the replacement motor arrives. Meanwhile, I am without my primary, and very much loved, vehicle. Fortunately I have a backup. It is a conversion van that gets less than 18 miles per gallon, and I hate to drive it, but at least it gets me around...
Hi all, I’m pretty sure I’ve posted on this thread before but it has certainly grown since then! I noticed the sound shortly after we least how are near all, but my husband swore it was just a normal motor noise. 39k miles on our 2019 Niro now. Lately I’ve been hearing what sounds like a bolt or small rock rolling around in the driver side door or under the seat. So weird and I can’t figure it out. Recently replaced the tires/had an alignment and noticed it shortly after so I thought maybe it was related. Took the car in and of course whatever it is isn’t rolling around much today. However, the tech heard the rattling sound that I thought was just normal for the past 3 years when accelerating and at almost all speeds (loudest at low speeds). They couldn’t figure it out so I have to bring it back next week. Thankfully they have a new Niro we can borrow while they try and diagnose it (“several tests, test drives and recording will be made and sent to KIA”). I have taken screen shots of this thread and hope they’ll listen to me when I tell them what everyone else has said. Wish me luck! Open till recently we were planning to return our Niro when the lease is up in two months, however, we haven’t found a suitable electric car to replace it at this point. So we thought we would buy it and then sell it once we get the car we really want. Now I’m back to thinking we should just return it. Problem is we’ll owe on our mileage which might come out to $2000 or more. *sigh*
If you have a $2000 mileage hit, it’s probably gonna make a lot more sense to buy it. I guess you don’t have the car right now so you can’t record the sound and post it here, but from what you describe it doesn’t sound like the tapping people have reported. I also noticed that the rate of reports on this thread has slacked off considerably in the last year, and this is while the Kia Niro is selling in much larger volume: I suspect this problem has been solved for newer vehicles. Nevertheless folks like you and me with 2019 models need to remain vigilant. I’m at 21K. So far so good. Sent from my iPhone using Inside EVs
If you owned it I would encourage you to get the motor replaced on warranty, but since it is leased I would suggest you let it go. There is a lot more choice in this class now. I would suggest you look at the Polestar 2 for starters...
The reason we leased it was because we knew our family would grow out of it, that and we need something with more cargo space. I think we ruled out the polestar because of the lack of cargo but I’m forgetting what the specs are now.
Perhaps consider a Volvo XC40 Recharge. I'm suggesting Volvo/Polestar because around here they are the only dealer not charging a $10-15K "market adjustment" over MSRP...
Thanks, Just priced out a polestar 2 again and it’s close to a Tesla model Y when you include the things we need like a heat pump. I think the XC 40 had too small of a range which might be why we ruled it out at some point. Anyway to get back on the topic of this original thread, I will update with what the dealership discovers next week regarding the rattling noise that I thought was normal. Hopefully the other noise that sounds like a bolt rolling around in the driver side door will also be addressed.
I was at the Kia dealership today, and asked the service department if they'd ever heard of the tapping noise being a problem for other customers (I haven't experienced it). They said they'd only ever heard one person mention it, which tells me it's a pretty rare issue, because there are a ton of Niro EVs in the south bay nowadays.
Update: Little Niro is in the shop still (day 2), and I’m driving a hybrid Niro as a loaner. Let me just say these two vehicles are night and day. Can’t believe how sluggish the hybrid is. Missing my car already…will post when they figure out what’s wrong.
Hi, back again. It appears we need a new gear reduction unit, which is the transmission. Now just waiting for the part to come in……….
Update: they replaced the gear reduction unit but were still hearing the noise. Now they want to replace the motor. Funny because I mentioned this thread and other people’s issue with the motor and they didn’t believe me. And when we went to discuss our lease end with a salesperson she mentioned that she knows about this issue and even had someone return their car because of the noise and it turned out to need a new motor. So why wasn’t this communicated to the tech department? We’re still waiting on our car to be fixed (supply chain is a nightmare), and have been driving one of the dealership’s hybrid Niros for 5 weeks. So frustrated with KIA!
We’re dropping ours off at Kia tomorrow for this same “repair.” I’d already let them know that many others have said this does not fix the issue. The part was ordered in November and we’re just getting installed now. Can’t wait to see how long we’re waiting for a motor.
I've got an appointment to take mine in here in L.A. next week. They're unfamiliar with the problem and I'm already getting the sense they're going to ignore me when I point out the service bulletin. So who knows how long this will take. And they don't have any loaner cars.
FWIW - When I took ours in this past November, the service manager showed me the only TSBs for the Niro and neither applied to the noise I was hearing. There was a TSB regarding a tapping noise, but it was very different from what our car was experiencing. We're getting the repair (that won't fix it) done because he agreed that he heard the noise. YMMV
Interesting. Was it not TSB-ELE234? That bulletin has videos linked with the associated sounds. Neither sounds exactly like my rumble, but the "abnormal" motor one is fairly similar. More so than the abnormal reduction gear video. I think the bulletin might have been linked earlier in this thread, but I've attached here as well.
Interesting. This is not what he showed me, so maybe this is related to my situation. Like you, neither noise exactly fits. Mine is more of a heavy clicking, almost like there's something hitting a metal gear each time it spins by. Very hard to describe. I'll take this in with the car tomorrow and ask if it's what they're doing. Thanks for sharing it!
Hello everyone well I introduce myself I am micocheyyo and I write from Spain. We are currently about 40 people with the noise problem, they have changed our engines, etc. In my case I start with the noise and I'm waiting to take it to the workshop. I have a friend who if he had problems and they changed the engine to a 712, let's hope he doesn't have problems. I have a 710 and let's see. I also tell you that we both have NIRO MY21 according to VIN. I add that my friend had 45,000 km but had the noise from the beginning, now I have 30,000 km and I have started with the noise. Thank you