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2022 Niro EV EX Premium Rear Brakes

938 Views 21 Replies 8 Participants Last post by Techy, 8 d ago

roybil

Discussion Starter · 30 d ago

Hello,

Just over 5000mi and the rear drums are corroded to the point that they will not pass inspection. Rear breaks are rarely used, so maybe that is why?

Question is: Shouldn't the brakes be covered under warranty for a few years after purchase. Service department doesn't know the answer. And the one person with that knowledge at the dealership is incommunicado.

Thanks,
Bill

1 - 20 of 22 Posts

Johnxyz

· #2 · 30 d ago

How can this be. Could you provide some pictures?

Even though not routinely used - the drums/rotors contacting surface will be polished rust free by the brake pads/shoes. The shoe or pad surface cannot rust. Mild rust on brake non contacting parts is expected and not an issue.

Would very much like to see a picture of what you are speaking of.
Who told you your brakes are too rusty - a dealer or another type of service place?
How many years has the vehicle been in service - if it is a Dealer saying this have you discussed your warrant concern with them?

roybil

Discussion Starter · #3 · 30 d ago

Johnxyz said:
How can this be. Could you provide some pictures?

Even though not routinely used - the drums/rotors contacting surface will be polished rust free by the brake pads/shoes. The shoe or pad surface cannot rust. Mild rust on brake non contacting parts is expected and not an issue.

Would very much like to see a picture of what you are speaking of.
Who told you your brakes are too rusty - a dealer or another type of service place?
How many years has the vehicle been in service - if it is a Dealer saying this have you discussed your warrant concern with them?

Hi John,

We bought the new 2022 Niro EV EX Premium in March of 2022. It has just over 5000 mi. I took it today to a local shop to have the winter tires switched over to summer tires (we live in Vt). I have been going to this local shop for 30 years and trust them explicitly. The shop noticed that I had an expired inspection sticker and during inspection noticed the corroded drums. He suggested that I take it to the dealer where the work and parts should be covered under warranty.

As I mentioned, the dealers service department pleaded ignorance and the finance guy is nowhere to be found (today at least). Before I made an appointment to have the rear brakes worked on, I was wondering if anyone knew if the brakes are covered under the warranty or had a similar experience.

Wouldn't I have to take the wheels off to see the corrosion on the drums?

Thanks,
Bill

Reactions: 1

Johnxyz

· #4 · 30 d ago

I understand your question now and why you are asking it. Thank you.

Brakes are a tricky item when it comes to warranty - they are considered a normal wear item. Certainly worth a discussion with the shop but you may end up having to pay for the work.

Our area also receives it share of winter weather and the road brine they spray on the roads these days just decimates cars and their components with rust.

Here is a couple of articles you may find interesting and maybe informative.

Are Brakes Covered Under Warranty? (180automotive.com)

Why you really should wash that salt and brine off your car - nj.com

Techy

· #5 · 30 d ago

Because of regenerative braking the friction material seldom is used and that will allow rust to build up on the rotors.
Yes, you can see the rotors through the rim openings and the rust will be very noticeable. Not sure why they will not pass inspection. Minimum thickness of the rotor will be fine and rust is not a safety concern. Try about 10 stops from high speed with the vehicle in neutral (try to find a road with little to no traffic) and you will see the rust disappear.
Brakes friction material is not covered under warranty.

vangone

· #6 · 30 d ago

Hard to believe that the drums would corrode so severely in just 1-2 winters. I would not bother trying to contact the finance/sales folks regarding clarification. As mentioned above, brake pads (either caliper or disc type) are not covered by warranty. One would think that the rotors are covered. I wonder if the shop was seeing corrosion on the circumference of the rotor (which does not come in contact with the regenerative braking material).

Would be good to make an appointment with the dealership for an evaluation of the rear brake rotors--just tell them that you need to pass the annual inspection. I wonder what the yield is with the annual inspections with vehicles less than 3 years old and no history of collisions--sounds like a great source of revenue for the state and certified inspection garages.

Strange here in the bedrock of bureaucratic overreach, safety inspections were purely voluntary from 1963 to 1977, then were discontinued. The only inspections now are the bi-annual smog testing.

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Reactions: 1

roybil

Discussion Starter · #7 · 25 d ago

Thanks for all your replies. I couldn't get an appt. with the dealer until the 23rd. In the meantime, I will try to polish the drums by doing the high speed stops as suggested. BTW: In the past, I did notice a grinding noise while braking in reverse such as backing out of our garage. I will get with the shop that said the breaks wouldn't pass inspection to take another look. I agree the dealer may want me to pay for their inspection and then also for the repair if necessary. We had such a bad purchase experience, that I vowed I would never go back there. There are other Kia dealers within a reasonable distance.

FlNiro

· #8 · 24 d ago

Since you mention the noise occurs while backing out of the garage I'd put my money on surface rust overnight. Here in Fl. with high humidity it happens almost daily once it's cleaned off never hear it. A normal occurrence. Just brake hard when backing or a few stops. Might give your neighbors something to talk about lol.

Reactions: 1

Peter Jay

· #9 · 24 d ago

As noted, surface rust on rotors is not a safety concern. It can definitely cause vibration/noise, but the car will stop properly. I hope your car passes inspection nonetheless. Here in NJ they don't even look at the tires or brakes any more during inspection.

We have a 2021 Outback in the family that doesn't get enough highway miles. Brakes have pulsated and made noise when stopping. The fix has been to take it on a road trip. Works great. My '22 Niro gets driven about twice what the Outback does in a month, and it get lots more highway mileage. So far the brakes are great. 30k miles so far, at about 2k miles/month.

KIA Forever

· #10 · 23 d ago

roybil said:
Thanks for all your replies. I couldn't get an appt. with the dealer until the 23rd. In the meantime, I will try to polish the drums by doing the high speed stops as suggested. BTW: In the past, I did notice a grinding noise while braking in reverse such as backing out of our garage. I will get with the shop that said the breaks wouldn't pass inspection to take another look. I agree the dealer may want me to pay for their inspection and then also for the repair if necessary. We had such a bad purchase experience, that I vowed I would never go back there. There are other Kia dealers within a reasonable distance.

I have a 2022 Niro EV EX with 6000 miles on it. I almost never use the brakes and prefer pseudo-one pedal driving, using the left paddle to complete the stop. Checked the appearance of my rear brake discs today; not a spec of rust. Perhaps the difference is environment. I live in west-central Virginia, far from the coast. Humid in the summer, but very seldom any salt on the roads. Hope this helps.

roybil

Discussion Starter · #11 · 11 d ago

roybil said:
Hello,

Just over 5000mi and the rear drums are corroded to the point that they will not pass inspection. Rear breaks are rarely used, so maybe that is why?

Question is: Shouldn't the brakes be covered under warranty for a few years after purchase. Service department doesn't know the answer. And the one person with that knowledge at the dealership is incommunicado.

Thanks,
Bill

OK. Finally got an appointment with the dealer. They confirmed that the rear drum brakes would not pass Vermont inspection and that they needed to be replaced. I gave them the go-ahead to replace them and inspect the vehicle. Several minutes after I got home (rode home with my wife) they called and said the front brakes would not pass inspection either. Total cost approx. $1300! Question is will this be a recurring 14 month occurance? They blame regenerative braking, Vermont use of road salt, and Vermont's stringent inspection requirements. Guess I will turn regenerative braking off to avoid this nonsense or at least forestall it. Anyone else encounter this?

Techy

· #12 · 11 d ago

roybil said:
OK. Finally got an appointment with the dealer. They confirmed that the rear drum brakes would not pass Vermont inspection and that they needed to be replaced. I gave them the go-ahead to replace them and inspect the vehicle. Several minutes after I got home (rode home with my wife) they called and said the front brakes would not pass inspection either. Total cost approx. $1300! Question is will this be a recurring 14 month occurance? They blame regenerative braking, Vermont use of road salt, and Vermont's stringent inspection requirements. Guess I will turn regenerative braking off to avoid this nonsense or at least forestall it. Anyone else encounter this?

You got royally screwed!!!
Will be a recurring issue if you go back to the same location.

vangone

· #13 · 11 d ago (Edited)

Have you tried reaching out to corporate KIA? I am not entirely convinced that the brake rotors are considered consumable items. I would think that the brake pads are consumable, but the metal rotors should last more than 14 months and definitely more than 5,000 miles. If the items cannot tolerate your winters/road salting, then the company really should not be selling the vehicles in your area. Hopefully you'll get a sympathetic ear from corporate KIA and get reimbursed for the rotors and drums.

I don't think turning off regenerative braking will help. Also don't understand why other states' road salt lead to this kind of damage.

Techy

· #14 · 11 d ago

I'm quite sure US regulations are very similar to Canada.
First off, both the front and rear have rotors.
The only specification that matters is minimum thickness and I can guarantee without even seeing the rotors, that they are well within the min spec.
No doubt, there was rust on the rotors but that is not grounds for failure of said rotors. The rust is caused by regen, meaning the friction brakes are seldom used. A little sandpaper would have brought those rotors back to respectable surface.
You can't turn off regen. What you can and must do, is make the friction brakes work occasionally. In the winter time, I will at least once per week drive the car at speed (50mph) and then put the shifter in neutral and stop the car fairly quickly. Do not do this with traffic around you. In the summer I will tend to do it after a rain or washing of the car.
The 2023 mentions this procedure in the manual, but says to do it by using the EPB. Not sure that procedure is possible pre 2023.

Reactions: 1

roybil

Discussion Starter · #15 · 11 d ago

Techy said:
I'm quite sure US regulations are very similar to Canada.
First off, both the front and rear have rotors.
The only specification that matters is minimum thickness and I can guarantee without even seeing the rotors, that they are well within the min spec.
No doubt, there was rust on the rotors but that is not grounds for failure of said rotors. The rust is caused by regen, meaning the friction brakes are seldom used. A little sandpaper would have brought those rotors back to respectable surface.
You can't turn off regen. What you can and must do, is make the friction brakes work occasionally. In the winter time, I will at least once per week drive the car at speed (50mph) and then put the shifter in neutral and stop the car fairly quickly. Do not do this with traffic around you. In the summer I will tend to do it after a rain or washing of the car.
The 2023 mentions this procedure in the manual, but says to do it by using the EPB. Not sure that procedure is possible pre 2023.

Thank You for your replies.
I have emailed Kia Corporate. Should have a response within 48 hours. Will post their reply when I receive it.
Bill

Reactions: 1

roybil

Discussion Starter · #16 · 9 d ago

roybil said:
Thank You for your replies.
I have emailed Kia Corporate. Should have a response within 48 hours. Will post their reply when I receive it.
Bill

I got a call from Corporate in California. Got a lot of hmmms and uhhahs. They did promise to call the dealer. That was yesterday. Silence ever since. I don't expect anything beyond the corporate call. I know I can't turn off regen, but I can turn off regen braking which I had been using. I'm not someone who accelerates then brakes or brakes all the way down a hill (gravity is mileages friend), so little use of brakes = lots of rust. Could have been low quality steel as well. I dunno. If it happens again, I will have a Niro EV EX Premium for sale.

Techy

· #17 · 9 d ago

roybil said:
I got a call from Corporate in California. Got a lot of hmmms and uhhahs. They did promise to call the dealer. That was yesterday. Silence ever since. I don't expect anything beyond the corporate call. I know I can't turn off regen, but I can turn off regen braking which I had been using. I'm not someone who accelerates then brakes or brakes all the way down a hill (gravity is mileages friend), so little use of brakes = lots of rust. Could have been low quality steel as well. I dunno. If it happens again, I will have a Niro EV EX Premium for sale.

How are you going to turn off regen braking?
All you have to do is use the friction brakes (fairly aggressive) on a once weekly basis and you will be good for many, many miles - don't return to that dealer for your brake work.

roybil

Discussion Starter · #18 · 9 d ago

Techy said:
How are you going to turn off regen braking?
All you have to do is use the friction brakes (fairly aggressive) on a once weekly basis and you will be good for many, many miles - don't return to that dealer for your brake work.

Hi Techy,
I will certainly be using my brakes more. Maybe I'm imagining this, but I noticed that there are two modes of regen. There is the one that sends electrons back to the battery when going down a hill and another when one brakes the car. You can make the Niro brake like a regular car by holding the right paddle in for a few seconds which stops the car from using regenerative braking. I had been using it in "Auto" mode which causes the car to slow when approaching another car which is either stopped or slowing down. I only had to brake when a few yards from the car causing auto braking.

Also, I may not have mentioned that I initially took the car in to a local garage to have them do the winter/summer tire switch and inspection. They noticed the rear drum rust and said they couldn't finish the inspection and that I should take it to the dealer because they might give me a break on replacing the rear brakes. The dealer decided the front brakes needed replacing as well. Original estimate was $1300, but the charge was reduced to $1192. I had to get the Niro back on the road because my wife's car is having the rear hatch door replaced due to an accident (I backed it into a milk tanker that had a pole sticking out of it (didn't see the pole) :-/. Hasn't been a good few weeks.

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Techy

· #19 · 8 d ago

roybil said:
Hi Techy,
I will certainly be using my brakes more. Maybe I'm imagining this, but I noticed that there are two modes of regen. There is the one that sends electrons back to the battery when going down a hill and another when one brakes the car. You can make the Niro brake like a regular car by holding the right paddle in for a few seconds which stops the car from using regenerative braking. I had been using it in "Auto" mode which causes the car to slow when approaching another car which is either stopped or slowing down. I only had to brake when a few yards from the car causing auto braking.

Also, I may not have mentioned that I initially took the car in to a local garage to have them do the winter/summer tire switch and inspection. They noticed the rear drum rust and said they couldn't finish the inspection and that I should take it to the dealer because they might give me a break on replacing the rear brakes. The dealer decided the front brakes needed replacing as well. Original estimate was $1300, but the charge was reduced to $1192. I had to get the Niro back on the road because my wife's car is having the rear hatch door replaced due to an accident (I backed it into a milk tanker that had a pole sticking out of it (didn't see the pole) :-/. Hasn't been a good few weeks.

My Niro does not have paddles so I am not experienced with using them but I believe the paddles only change the amount of regeneration. The computer is going to decide when the friction brakes are used and it will not be very often. The only way you can guarantee friction brake use, is to put the shifter into neutral when you want to brake and I would not recommend doing that, at least not on a regular basis. Do it occasionally when there is not traffic around you and your rusty rotor problem will be solved.
As for the inspection denial that is just downright sad and it is people like them that give the trade a bad name. That was outright fraud and the dealer could have went a long way to counteract that but sounds like they are no better.
Sorry to hear about your bad week and hope you do not get hosed like that again.

atc98092

· #20 · 8 d ago

roybil said:
Maybe I'm imagining this, but I noticed that there are two modes of regen. There is the one that sends electrons back to the battery when going down a hill and another when one brakes the car.

You're not imagining it, but it's not what you think. It's all the same regen, just being activated in different ways. When a car has paddles (such as yours) you can adjust the level of regen you get on throttle lift, meaning when you release the throttle and just "coast". But when you apply the brake pedal, you get the same level of regen, regardless of the paddle setting. There is no way to completely disable your regen. You can adjust it for almost no regen when coasting, but it will always regen when you press the brake pedal, and it will regen to the maximum level available based on car speed and pedal pressure. Apply enough brake pedal and the friction brakes will be applied. As @Techy said, the only want to absolutely use the friction brakes is shifting into neutral, which is actually illegal almost anywhere in the US.

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