[mkostiw]

New to Kia and new to this form. Just found out my new 2018 Niro needs a new lithium battery. The car has just over 1000 km. It’s currently in the shop waiting for this part. I was also informed there are no lithium batteries available in Canada. There are currently no batteries available at the manufacturing site in Korea. Have to wait for one to be made then shipped overseas to Canada. Not impressed

 

[Jason Carmichael]

I didn't even get mine from the dealer until it had 622 miles on it! 1001km. Other than my resume on my cruise control being psychotic, zero issues.

 

[deltasmith]

One way to look at that (and the way I'm looking at it) is that it's pretty pathetic: how can the battery possibly be dead in 1000 km?


Another way to look at is this:did you buy the car used (rather than new) and at a steep discount? If so, and if you're getting the battery replaced under warranty, then this experience might be a blessing in disguise.


Sorry to hear of your trouble, regardless.

 

[cockedandglocked]

1000km dead battery tells me the battery was just defective. It happens. They put it through quality control, and it passed because, well, it worked fine at the time, and just had a hidden defect. Sucks they can't get a new one quickly though, hopefully you at least got a loaner car for the meantime.

 

[Griswald]

I didn't even get mine from the dealer until it had 622 miles on it! 1001km. Other than my resume on my cruise control being psychotic, zero issues.

Every single aspect of the cruise control is a mess.


Worst I have ever had, and I installed an aftermarket cruise on a 1975 Mercury Montaray station wagon...it worked better than this one.

 

[mkostiw]

I bought the car new, it had 365 km on it.

Kia canada says it will take upwards of a month to get the battery here.

 

[Roadkill401]

You need to look at it through a QC eye. The battery will be given a rudimentary test. Does it charge, and hold a charge? YES, then it passes. what the Mokotiw doesn't mention is where in Canada he/she is located. Here in Canada, we have this thing called WINTER, and it can get cold. Today on the weather channel they are talking about how in Saskatchewan they are having temperatures feeling down around the -50c. That is REALLY COLD!!!. To expect that the battery is going to work flawlessly in these kind of temperatures is ludicrous. Had that Lithium battery headed down to the middle of the USA, it would have worked flawlessly and without any problem, as the temps down there are not anywhere near the temps we are getting here. Had that same car been shipped and sold in Victoria BC, it would be running just fine and the owner of the Niro would be happily posting here about how much they love that car. But assuming the poster is from some other part of Canada where we are getting hammered with beyond normal cold weather, then YES, Kia needs to make sure that the batteries that they are installing are select and made to the upper end of the spectrum so that they will work in these extreme cold conditions. THEY CAN. And to do this they need to get a battery that will work for you and they simply don't stock them here in Canada.



I shake my head at the SNOWFLAKE WHINERS who seem to want to bitch and moan about anything that they feel is not up to perfect standards. Have you ever bought a new home and found that it was made perfect without any defect list? Do you send a McDonald's burger back because it doesn't look as pristine as the ones in the photographs they have on the order screen or advertisements? Do you return a carton of blueberries because there are one or two berries inside at the bottom that are rotten or smushed? Do you scream at the TV weather person they tell you it is going to be sunny and you get a cloud in the sky? GET REAL!


The fact is that cars come with a warranty in case something does go wrong and they are fixing your car. I am going to guess that they will give you a different car to drive while yours is in the shop as with a defective battery it likely isn't going to be able to drive. So how are they not living up to the standards?

 

[picstart]

Kia has just dipped its toe into the battery EV market. KIA is very much an ICE manufacturer. You just have to look at the cars they have on any dealership lot. The Niro Hybrid PHEV's are compliance cars. The KIA Corporate goal is to meet the requirements of environmentally sensitive states like California.That's why California gets KIA's high mileage cars. We have a KIA Niro PHEV and it was like pulling teeth to get KIA to send any to Florida. I fully expected the dealerships would be challenged to service anything other than the ICE in our car and not carry any parts for the EV feature.
We also have a 2018 Tesla 100D which is produced in volume and actually has parts within Florida.
If you want a real EV and a company that doesn't sell ICE cars then Tesla is the perfected technology.

For our Niro PHEV if we want EV parts we either will fly to Korea or wait for them to come a few months later via boat.The batteries can't go by Air.

 

[Nouseformonkeys]

You need to look at it through a QC eye. The battery will be given a rudimentary test. Does it charge, and hold a charge? YES, then it passes. what the Mokotiw doesn't mention is where in Canada he/she is located. Here in Canada, we have this thing called WINTER, and it can get cold. Today on the weather channel they are talking about how in Saskatchewan they are having temperatures feeling down around the -50c. That is REALLY COLD!!!. To expect that the battery is going to work flawlessly in these kind of temperatures is ludicrous. Had that Lithium battery headed down to the middle of the USA, it would have worked flawlessly and without any problem, as the temps down there are not anywhere near the temps we are getting here. Had that same car been shipped and sold in Victoria BC, it would be running just fine and the owner of the Niro would be happily posting here about how much they love that car. But assuming the poster is from some other part of Canada where we are getting hammered with beyond normal cold weather, then YES, Kia needs to make sure that the batteries that they are installing are select and made to the upper end of the spectrum so that they will work in these extreme cold conditions. THEY CAN. And to do this they need to get a battery that will work for you and they simply don't stock them here in Canada.


I shake my head at the SNOWFLAKE WHINERS who seem to want to bitch and moan about anything that they feel is not up to perfect standards. Have you ever bought a new home and found that it was made perfect without any defect list? Do you send a McDonald's burger back because it doesn't look as pristine as the ones in the photographs they have on the order screen or advertisements? Do you return a carton of blueberries because there are one or two berries inside at the bottom that are rotten or smushed? Do you scream at the TV weather person they tell you it is going to be sunny and you get a cloud in the sky? GET REAL!


The fact is that cars come with a warranty in case something does go wrong and they are fixing your car. I am going to guess that they will give you a different car to drive while yours is in the shop as with a defective battery it likely isn't going to be able to drive. So how are they not living up to the standards?

Yes, some people complain too much about little things, but there is a big difference between a McDonald’s burger and a $30K+ car and new house. And a defective battery on a Hybrid vehicle is different than a piece of trim that is not stuck on perfectly. The OP is going to be inconvenienced having to make trips back and forth to the dealer for a major defect on a new car. When you buy a new house and there are things that are not perfect, the builder might willingly fix them or you might have to spend time fighting with them to get them to fix them. And when they do fix them, you are going to have to take time out of your day to make sure that they get fixed to your satisfaction.

When I bought my Niro, I noticed a small dent on the roof right after I brought it home. The dealer must have known about it because they offered no resistance or skepticism and agreed to fix it right away. But then the manager said to bring it in on a weekday because weekends are too busy. The dealer is not close to me, so I asked if I was going to get a loaner because i would have to leave it there for a couple of days and he said no. I stressed that because of something that was not my fault I would now have to take two hours out of my workday and find someone to follow me to the dealer to give me a ride home and then rpeat the process when the car was fixed. Finally, he called up the body shop and had the car picked up and dropped back off. BTW, the body shop was great.

The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter how great the follow up service is, you are still being inconvenienced by having to deal with issues that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.

 

[lafe005]

Niro PHEV if we want EV parts we either will fly to Korea or wait for them to come a few months later via boat.The batteries can't go by Air.

California is closer to Korea, so its normal that they have all the stuff faster than in Florida.! Same thing for us in Canada, Vancouver is getting all the new versions before Montreal and Toronto...


@Roadkill401 , what you do mean by: look at it through a QC eye ?

 

[lafe005]

I bought the car new, it had 365 km on it.

Kia canada says it will take upwards of a month to get the battery here.

@mkostiw, Hi and welcome to the forum, were are you from in our big maple leaf country ? .. you said that the car had 365km on it. So it must of been moved from somewere before leaving the boat in Vancouver.! My first HEV had 654km and was brought on a float from Toronto to my dealer in Montreal. So the 654km had to be made in the great Toronto region probably from a dealer to dealer (had the TOR sticker on the car). The white protective stickers on the panels were off, but the plastic were all there inside. I hope yours was not sold before and was brought back...

 

[Roadkill401]

@Roadkill401 , what you do mean by: look at it through a QC eye ?

QC - Quality Control.


The cost of inspecting everything to a high-level degree is costly. So, there are some cheat ways to test and save money. For example with these batteries. I would not expect them to do a load test at freezing temp to see if the battery works for every battery. But what KIA might do is out of a lot of 100 batteries, they pull two and give them a higher level test. If the two that they tested work to specification, then the whole 100 batteries are accepted as working to that spec. If both of the two fail the test, then the whole lot is rejected. If one fails and the other passes, then they might pull an additional 3-4 and test them and if all the rest of the new tested ones pass, then the whole lot is assumed to be good. If not, then they reject everything.



Now that method works on statistical failure. It doesn't mean that 100% of all the batteries in that lot are perfect as they might have pulled the two best batteries out of the lot, but the chance of that is small. Likewise the chance that the two they pulled are perfect and the rest are all defective is extremely small. There is still a possibility that there might be a bad battery in the lot that was accepted, and they will deal with that if it happens.



These are cars, and certain parts are QC'd this way, other parts that are considered mission critical are not. By contrast, you would expect that on an airplane that the level of testing and quality control is far more tighter than you would get for a car. And also the cost of an airplane is likewise far more expensive as the testing and level of parts used has to meet a much higher standard.

 

[lafe005]

QC - Quality Control.

GGeeeeeezzzzzzzz... i should of think more before asking!!

 

[brandent]

Lucky enough that we have 22,000 miles on our 2018 PHEV and only one weird electrical event which hasn't resurfaced. We've had it 6 months. I figure I'll keep it until it's getting close to end of warrantee and by then the newer models will have worked kinks out.

 

[cockedandglocked]

...we have 22,000 miles ... We've had it 6 months ... I'll keep it until it's getting close to end of warrantee...

Yikes, if you're replacing cars every 2 years (44k miles/yr, 100k mile warranty), I'm not sure I'd keep buying brand new vehicles every time, the never-ending onslaught of new-car depreciation would eat my wallet alive.

 

[eddarrah]

One way to look at that (and the way I'm looking at it) is that it's pretty pathetic: how can the battery possibly be dead in 1000 km?


Another way to look at is this:did you buy the car used (rather than new) and at a steep discount? If so, and if you're getting the battery replaced under warranty, then this experience might be a blessing in disguise.


Sorry to hear of your trouble, regardless.

Ah but even though the powertrain and ALL hybrid components are warranty of 10/100,000, they specifically state ORIGINAL owner only, and does not apply to vehicles purchased as USED. Kinda of stinks that the warranty does not transfer........... but I guess that is common.

 

[picstart]

Well,
Of course Korea is closer to California however that is not the reason California gets cars. Kia says it first supplies cars to the States ( this includes New Jersey) that have stricter efficiency rules ( aka compliance rules). Tesla makes cars in California and sells in every State. Where you are should only be about delivery surcharges not availability.
Anyway if there were more than a sprinkling of KIA cars with traction batteries there would be more parts locally available.

 

[yticolev]

Same delivery charge in California as NJ.

 

[cockedandglocked]

They send more cars to the places where they expect them to be more popular, it's as simple as that and just basic economics. Delivery charges aren't relevant, and are essentially paid by the buyer aanyway. California got tons of them because high mpg cars are extremely popular here, for a variety of reasons. Namely our higher gas prices (than the rest of the US), our social stigma against people who don't buy efficient cars, and our public policies that reward buying such cars. Also, Niros (and crossover SUVs in general) are a great car for Californians' lifestyles that typically involve a mix of lots of weekday driving on highways and in the city, and weekend trips to the outdoors. There aren't a lot of HEV/PHEV/EV crossover SUVs to pick from, and Niro happens to be the best value for one (I believe), so that's why it's so popular here. I usually see at least 3 or 4 every day on the road during my commutes, while people living in other areas typically report that Niro sightings are quite rare.

 

[Dovidan]

Ah but even though the powertrain and ALL hybrid components are warranty of 10/100,000, they specifically state ORIGINAL owner only, and does not apply to vehicles purchased as USED. Kinda of stinks that the warranty does not transfer........... but I guess that is common.

Full warranty applies to used Kia IF (that's a big if) it a CPO vehicle purchased from a Kia dealer. Actually I'm kinda hoping I can find a used CPO PHEV EX Premium when I'm ready to buy in a few months and maybe save $10K off price of new.