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Plug-In Hybrid System Failure Engine Running in Emergency Mode
I have 2019 Plug-In Hybrid Kia Niro EX with 4,500 miles and is 3 months old. The first symptoms were 4 warning lights including the check engine light flashing, the hybrid system failure, a flashing EV light and a flashing small car light near the EV light.
Starting April 17 now in it's 2 week mark still at the dealer with one brief return to me there originally was a loose wiring harness connection that hadn't been clicked in properly. I had the car for less than 20 minutes and had to return it to the dealer. But now, they think the electric fuel pump needs to be replaced. The same lights re-appeared. The worse of it the dealer is being told the part won't be shipped until May 20. And frankly I don't know if they'll have actually fixed the vehicle.
I've contacted the Kia Consumer Assistance to ask for expediting help as this is not acceptable in my opinion. I'm awaiting a response.
It sounds like the car was still drivable? If so, this would be an improvement over the experience some others have reported when there was a hybrid system failure. Was there a message that actually said "Emergency Mode"? I don't recall hearing about anyone else needing to replace a fuel pump (yet).
Did they give you a loaner while your car is in the shop?
Yes the car is still drivable but at best it runs in emergency mode, the small car light next to the EV light starts flashing that indicates emergency mode. It was the electric water pump. There was none to be found and finally they had to tear apart a new car in inventory in stock to get the part needed, as the part was not available in the U.S. It was in a container on the way from Korea, and no other parts seemed to be available. This was a very frustrating experience from Kia Consumer Assistance, they were no help at all. It was only my dealer when I went to see the owner, that suggested the idea of getting the part out of a new car they had in stock. Bravo to the dealer. In face I think the Kia Consumer Assistance only did one thing, and that was send me information to file a complaint regarding the possibility of using the lemon law in California as it would have taken effect if we had waited for the part to come from Korea.
The car now has about 10 days of driving with the replaced electric water pump without incident.
I have the same issues as Lake Sonoma Guy. Our 3 month old 2019 Niro PHEV also needs an electric water pump. It is also backordered and they have no idea when it will be available. I spoke to KIA customer service and they said it could take anywhere from 3 days to 6 months. Yes, MONTHS.
I have some serious buyer's remorse right now.
I really loved this car but if a critical part is going to fail at 3 months (under 2000 miles) and the manufacturer doesn't have parts available, there's no point to buying this car. So disappointing.
The service department said that the car was not safe to drive and gave us a loaner.
I think your thinking that they have an assembly line running all the time to make these cars. Likely they have a modular line and they make them in batches, so 2-3 times in a year there will be a run of 10,000 vehicles then the line is changed over to run a different model that might be made on a simular fame setup. So parts might not be availible for a vehicle until the next production run.
Regarding the lack of parts....
CAREFULLY peel off the KIA emblem (trunk or hood). Does it have the T(esla) logo under it?
I bought the Niro PHEV to use for the long stretches the Tesla is in the shop. Stupid me.
Don't know where you live but look into your lemon law in your state. It helped me get the part here faster, they indeed took the water pump out of another new stock car since the car time in the shop would have exceeded 30 days, which in California, is the legal limit.
I'm in the same boat with my 2019 HEV with 3000 miles on it. Been in the shop for 2 and a half weeks. I spent 6 hours at the dealer while they diagnosed it before they gave me a Forte loaner (I want my Niro back...). They're also saying it's a failure in the electric water pump, and that it is backordered. Last I heard it has a ship date of next week, giving them a few days to receive it and replace it before it's a legally a lemon.
I hadn't considered telling them to just grab one from another car. Maybe I'll suggest that next time I hear from them. It would seem that their choices are:
1. Take over 30 days and then have a lemon law case where they trade my car for one of the new ones, and have to sell it used for significantly less
2. Put one of the new cars on hold for a couple weeks, put the part in my car, and then when they get the new one they can still sell the other car at full price.
Seems like #2 is a no brainer...though my guess is they're hoping for an option 3 where they get my car back to me after 29 days and hope nothing else happens to it for the next 9 months.
Lake Sonoma Guy, Lucy & Mallio: Thanks for sharing your experiences. Have your Niros been fine since replacing the water pump?
My 2019 PHEV Niro has given me a similar message after only 2 wks and 500 miles. Just dropped it off at dealer this afternoon. I suspect I may have a water pump failure too. Given that there are at least three 2019 PHEVs with similar problems and no similar posts here are prior to 9/2019 I'm wondering if they had a run of bad water pumps.
Mine was build in Feb 2019 Could you share with me when your car was built (on info plaque inside drivers door, lower right hand corner.
Hey Dovidan,
My PHEV was manufactured 12/18. It's fine since replacing the water pump UNTIL TODAY.
Today's issue seems to be unrelated to the water pump but who knows. It's an issue with the Engine Control System according to the alert that came on my car's screen. Calling to make a service appointment right now.
I hope they can get a replacement part for you within a reasonable time!
My 2019 PHEV was manufactured 11/18 (purchased 6/15/19). I have over 8000 miles on it and no issues whatsoever. Seems like I managed to skirt that bad run of water pumps since it seems like they fail pretty soon after being put into service.
I will note that mine is the HEV, not the PHEV, if it matters, I'm sure they share most parts though.
Built 01/19, purchased 04/19.
It does seem like there might have been a bad run, but luckily they seem to fail quickly. Just sucks that they seem to be constantly back ordered, so it can take forever to get it fixed. And it's a very important part and ignoring it could cause a lot of damage.
Yes it seem quite logical that the water pump part is the same on all Niros with the 1.6L ICE.
Did your dealer wait for a new part to arrive or did they "borrow" one from a car already on the lot?
Perhaps I'm now paranoid but I'd wonder if borrowing from a car of the lot with a similar build date would potentially set one up for the same problem. Any issues since?
Thanks!
Well, my shade tree mechanical diagnosis appears to have been erroneous!
Instead it appears to have been a relatively simple grounding fault. After my new Niro threw "Hybrid System Failure" / "do not Drive" alert. I cautiously drove it home w/o any problem -- about 5 miles. Called Kia road side service ; they sent tow truck & hauled it off to the dealer. Dealer's service dept checks things out, determined that there were no serious problems & reset system. They drive it a short ways with no problems. They recharged it. As they drove away from charger, same warning code came up again. Recheck things, again no serious errors but Kia tells em to "improve ground points". Dealer says that means there was something interfering with grounding & blamed it on paint. They "improved" the grounding points. Seems fine but have only driven about 15 miles since I got it back.
Hopefully the electric water pump issue is a outlier and most of us never have to contend with it.
Thankful kudos to my dealer's service department who got right on it even though they said they were to busy to attend to it the 1st day. :x (They darn well should have, dead car with 500 miles on it now has my wife paranoid )
Moral of story: Our Niros are electronically very complex and potentially subject to all manner of electrical gremlins. Hopefully my situation is correctly diagnosed and a rare one.
Mine was replaced at 3600 miles, currently at 7400.
Took mine in for the first oil change today. They have a service item to take my water pump apart to replace some internal part. They are aware that they already replaced it with a new one, so maybe there is still a problem but they've narrowed it down to the root cause. It takes 3 hours so they said I can schedule it for a more convenient time, so I guess it isn't urgent. Though if the first one failed at 3600, it seems like this one would be about to fail too. Not sure why this doesn't show up as a recall though...
My Niro PHEV has about 4700miles on it. I took it to the dealer yesterday because the check engine light came on because there was something wrong with the "Engine Control System". The code for that was P030400 (I think) and that means that the 4th cylinder misfired. While it was in there the service advisor said that there was a recall on the electric water pump for my car. I told him that mine was already changed but he thinks he still has to do it. So there is an official recall on those electric water pumps.
My car will be in the shop for a couple more days at least. FML. That would make it 24 days that the car was in the shop since I bought it earlier this year. A brand new car shouldn't be in the shop for warranty repair for 24 days when the car doesn't even have 5000 miles on it.
Dang Lucy, I so agree -- that sucks! I feel your pain as mine is in the shop for the 2nd time in the 1st 600 miles, 8 days out of the 26 I have owned it.
Another 6 days at the dealer & you may qualify for a full refund or replacement accord to CA Lemon law: "...The vehicle has been out of service for more than 30 days (not necessarily all at the same time) while being repaired for any number of warranty problems...
So far they haven't mentioned the water pump & I can't find a recall on line. If you can get a recall number I'd appreciate it. I'd prefer to have mine replace rather than waiting to see if it is gonna give up the ghost on me! If you prefer, feel free to PM me. DDan
I have a 2019 EX Premium bought in May of this year. Last week I had the first oil change done and dealer ordered the part needed for water pump recall.
Today I took my NIRO in for the water pump recall. The printout from the dealer said "Performed SA394. No DTC's Replaced Hybrid Motor EWP Can Case Kit and refilled coolant.
Someone mentioned it takes 3 hours, but I was at dealership for a total of 2 and a half hours and my Niro didn't actually get back to a service bay until about 45 minutes after I arrived because they were very busy.
You have to watch out for those time quotes it generally calls for billable person hours. So some jobs you can have two people working on it and get the job done in 1.5h but it is still a 3 hour job.
Thank you for posting the recall/campaign number SA394. We have a Niro PHEV made in 11/18 and bought 5/19. I searched for recall /campaigns for this vehicle but my searches don't return any. On the KIA Owners Website for our vehicle it also displays a 0 for Recalls or Campaigns. I have called one Dealership out of curiosity about this Recall/Campaign and they were clueless.
If there is a problem with these water pumps on Niros I hope KIA gets on the ball and starts notifying owners.
On our Toyota's we got letters notifying us of any recalls almost immediately when the recalls were announced.
My build was also 01/19, and I declined the service at the time due to the wait, but the receipt lists it as "SA394" as well. Nothing shows up on the owners portal though, and they didn't make it seem urgent...It doesn't really make sense though since I already got a new one installed.
Hey Gang! not sure, but I could be experiencing something similar (may be a little too early to tell). At about 950 miles I started to get the "Check Hybrid System" warning light (HEV!) on my 2019 PHEV (EX Premium trim). I plugged my VIN into the above referenced websites and nothing was returned. The dealer has had the car for two full days and I still have not status. About the same time the HEV warning light started coming on I also noticed a clicking (almost sounds like a loud clock) noise. It "ticks" about 5 times both when starting/stopping the vehicle. Here too, I'm not sure if this is somehow related??? Not sure of the mfg of my vehicle either. So far the service dept at the dealership where I purchased the car has been very disappointing. Just frustrated all-around at this point...
Got a call from the service manager at the dealership today stating that a service bulletin (I may have the words wrong) was created. Upon further troubleshooting it was discovered that the 12-volt battery (apparently there is just one) only had a 38% charge and therefore might be defective. Kia HQ recommended replacing said battery but it's on a 2-3 week backorder so I will need to leave the car and will pickup a loaner vehicle (a Kia Forte) tomorrow.
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