Hyundai, Kia & Genesis EV Battery Charge Defect

WHAT’S THE ISSUE?

Nationwide owners and lessors of Hyundai Ioniq 5, Genesis GV60 and Kia EV6 electric vehicles report repeated charging failure at charging rates as low as 28 amps. According to the firm’s class-action lawsuit, thousands of affected vehicles are equipped with a defective charging port, which is prone to overheating and allegedly does not restart charging sessions upon return to a suitable temperature. The lawsuit says the defect renders affected vehicles unreliable, with unexpectedly low charge at crucial moments, leaving owners and lessors stranded, without transportation. Hyundai offers a software update that “fixes” the problem, but the lawsuit claims that the update slows down the charging even further, making it impossible for car owners to use their 48-amp chargers.

AFFECTED VEHICLES

• Hyundai Ioniq 5
• Hyundai Ioniq 6
• Genesis GV60
• Kia EV6

HOW DO I KNOW IF I’M AFFECTED?

According to the lawsuit, owners and lessors of affected electric vehicles report vehicle charging sessions repeatedly fail at 48 amps (the maximum rate at which the vehicles are advertised to charge) and as low as 28 amps, the minimum rate. Reports state that charging failure occurs more frequently when outside temperatures are higher, and the alleged charging issues can occur within as little as thirty minutes of initiating a charging session. If your electric vehicle has unexpectedly failed to charge, you may be affected.

CHARGING PORT DEFECT ALLEGATIONS EXPLAINED

The charging failures reported by Hyundai, Kia and Genesis owners are believed to be due to a defect in the charging port design which causes overheating. According to the lawsuit, when the port reaches a certain temperature, the vehicle terminates the charging session but does not restart the session once the port has reached an acceptable temperature. Attorneys say this leaves vehicle owners to either constantly monitor charging sessions and manually ensure they complete, or else contend with unexpectedly empty batteries when they return to their vehicles, expecting them to be fully charged.

According to the lawsuit, Hyundai and Kia advertise the affected electric vehicles as charging at rates of up to 48 amps, but owners report charging failure even at vehicles’ absolute minimum charging rate of 28 amps. Some owners report that charging sessions fail daily after a mere 45 minutes, requiring six to eight charging sessions for the vehicle to fully charge.

LAWSUIT CLIAMS HYUNDAI & KIA’S “FIX” IS INSUFFICIENT

The complaint states owners and lessors of affected electric cars have reported the defect for over a year, and in spring 2023 Hyundai and Kia released a technical service bulletin and software update to supposedly address the charging port defect. Attorneys say the “fix” causes affected vehicles to lower the charging rate to 23 amps if overheating occurs, rather than halting the charging session.

Hagens Berman believes this is not a sufficient solution to this serious alleged defect in vehicle design. According to the lawsuit, Hyundai and Kia advertised these vehicles as charging at a rate of 48 amps, a far cry from the 23-amp rate triggered by the pervasive overheating defect. Purchasers and lessors paid for this capability, and these vehicles allegedly do not perform at a level even close to what was advertised, according to attorneys.

WHAT HYUNDAI, KIA & GENESIS EV OWNERS SAY ABOUT THE CHARGING DEFECT

• “Hyundai, you need to figure this one out. This is clearly a design problem with the car. You can’t advertise this car as charging at 48 amps anymore because it doesn’t.”
• “The Kia EV6 owners already are finding out that it [the software fix] is only a bandaid. Charging is automatically decreased when it heats up and stays that way for the duration of the charge.”
• “To me that's not a fix but more a lame work around that still doesn't let you get the full charging rates that you would expect.”
• “…first charge after TSB [technical service bulletin] went fine. Not today! Charged from around 25% to 80% and it charged at ~11kw for 2 hours then bumped down to ~7kw for the rest of the way to 80%. Bummer.”
• “So annoying. Had my car in yesterday for scheduled service. Seems insane that they don’t check for stuff like this when you bring the car in.”
• “I charge at 40 Amps, and not 48 Amps, still have an issue. I found the port to become very HOT during charging and most likely the cause of interruption of the charge cycle. I have A/C in my home garage and that did not really help as well…Really hoping that Hyundai will get on this as this also could be a hazard condition with other impacts.”

YOUR RIGHTS AS A VEHICLE OWNER

Attorneys believe Hyundai, Kia and Genesis violated consumer law by failing to address this serious alleged design flaw in the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Genesis GV60 and Kia EV6. We believe it is unacceptable for automakers to continue selling vehicles that do not perform as advertised, and to neglect to issue a real fix for owners who are left with unreliable vehicles.

HOW CAN A CLASS-ACTION LAWSUIT HELP?

Through a class-action lawsuit, individual consumers can collectively bring claims against large corporations that would otherwise have the upper hand, like Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. A class-action lawsuit seeks to level the playing field, bringing strength to collective action to change corrupt practices and negligent responses to customers. Though these measures do not bring immediate relief, they are a time-tested method of holding companies accountable for wrongdoing, including automakers’ failure to sell reliable vehicles to their customers.

TOP AUTO LITIGATION FIRM

Hagens Berman is one of the nation’s leading automotive law firms and has played a leading role in achieving the two largest automotive settlements in U.S. history. The firm reached a proposed settlement with Hyundai and Kia regarding the notorious security defect which led to the viral “Kia Boys” challenge and rampant vehicle thefts nationwide. Hagens Berman also reached a settlement valued at $300 million with Hyundai and Kia in a class-action lawsuit over defective hydraulic electronic control units that were prone to causing spontaneous fires. Your claim will be handled by attorneys with a track record of holding Hyundai, Kia and other automakers accountable for allegedly misleading consumers.

NO COST TO YOU

In no case will any class member ever be asked to pay any out-of-pocket sum. In the event Hagens Berman or any other firm obtains a settlement that provides benefits to class members, the court will decide a reasonable fee to be awarded to the legal team for the class.