[Douglas Bame]

any clue what this means and what might cause it...

car started with doors open?

i can not find anything on it.

 

[Nouseformonkeys]

My salesman told us that if you stop the car and leave the radio playing or the lights on for an extended period of time, it will run down the main battery and you have to hit that button on the lower left hand side of the dash for the 12v reset. Perhaps you left a door ajar and the interior lights were on all night?

 

[Douglas Bame]

thank you for you response, that will help

 

[Nouseformonkeys]

thank you for you response, that will help

Sure. It’s just a guess. Let us know what you figured out. Also, when did that message show up? Did you get in the car in the morning and it was just there’s. Or did you try to start the car and it came up? Or is this a video you were watching since there’s a play icon in the middle of the picture?z

 

[TK6]

Some people have reported that the rear hatch can be tricky to close and if not fully closed, can cause the battery to drain.

 

[yticolev]

Is this a PHEV? Strange language, but if you do have the PHEV, it will recharge the 12 V battery from the traction battery automatically and alert you this happened next time you drive it.

 

[perk1329]

rear hatch

Some people have reported that the rear hatch can be tricky to close and if not fully closed, can cause the battery to drain.

i find that you have to firmly shut (slam?) the rear hatch. this was a problem for me during daylight hours because it’s not obvious that the cargo light is lit. i tried lubing the latch but this didn’t seem to help much so i pulled the bulb rather than worrying about discharging the battery. imho the fixture should have a switch on it like the rest of them. lastly, removing the fixture was more difficult than expected. it appears that it was tacked with a glob of an adhesive that looks liked silicone sealant. after scraping it off it was easy to remove.

 

[NorCalNiro]

My PHEV has this notice on the dash from time to time as well, ive just ignored it. I figure its a hibernation mode, but I drive the car daily, so I don't know really. Until the car gives me any signs of an issue, ill continue to ignore it. the car has quirks, but I like it.

 

[CoffeeNiro]

Hmmm...when I have run down the battery enough (car sat idle for weeks at a time) that I have to use the "backup" battery to start, I've never had that screen show up, it is totally dead, blank screen, nothing. Do you have the PHEV like NorCalNiro? Mine is HEV. This also brings to mind a question I've had about leaving the radio going without running the engine. I avoid doing it just because of the warning screen is annoying. What happens if you don't run the engine in that circumstance? Is your warning related to something like that?

 

[yticolev]

Hmmm...when I have run down the battery enough (car sat idle for weeks at a time) that I have to use the "backup" battery to start, I've never had that screen show up, it is totally dead, blank screen, nothing. Do you have the PHEV like NorCalNiro? Mine is HEV. This also brings to mind a question I've had about leaving the radio going without running the engine. I avoid doing it just because of the warning screen is annoying. What happens if you don't run the engine in that circumstance? Is your warning related to something like that?

PHEV is in his signature.

Nothing happens if you ignore the message except power to AV (and USB) times out after 10 minutes after you've turned the car off. If you leave your car on to listen to the radio, you will get no messages, but the one time I tried it (with HVAC off in temperate conditions), the engine cycled 3 minutes every 15 minutes.

 

[Rdub]

Dead Niro PHEV this AM- due to a really poor design

I know this thread has been dormant for several months but thought I'd add my 2 cents. I awoke to a totally dead Niro PHEV this AM after it was on a home charger all night. Well not totally dead- it did have an indication that the key fob wasn't found when I got in, and the subwoofer was making strange noises. But otherwise nothing. I tried popping the hatch to get to the auxiliary battery, but of course the hatch didn't work either. I crawled through the back seat and was able to remove the battery cover and check the voltage with a meter. 7.2V. So I contorted myself some more and manually popped the hatch from the inside. It's not easy and it requires a skinny tool you might not have with you (although I suppose a key would work- just thought of that) Anyway, I suggest all PHEV owners practice doing this because you're going to have to sooner or later.


The PHEV does NOT have a 'get out of jail' button that recharges a discharging aux battery once the logic of the car decides the traction battery has charged it enough times. I'm not really sure the traction battery charges it at all- I think the alternator has to be spinning to charge it, because there's no way the aux battery would be dead flat in 12 hours if it was recharged 6 times (which the manual sort of claims it does. The Niro manual covers both the Hybrid and the PHEV and it's not at all clear about which parts apply to which vehicle). Anyway, I hooked the aux battery to a charger and it is recharging as I type this.



I'm not sure what caused this since the car was dead when I got in and I had to manually open the hatch to recharge it. I did go shopping yesterday and closed the hatch right before driving a short distance home, so it might not have been fully latched. I'm removing the hatch light bulb just in case and will order an LED replacement- there is NO excuse for Kia to not use an LED for any bulbs that can be left on- meaning the hatch and also the vanity mirror lights, given all the other fancy LED's they use all over the place elsewhere.


The entire Aux battery in the PHEV seems poorly thought out. I can see why Kia would be leery of a button to recharge the Aux battery from the traction battery, given that the aux battery is readily accessible and someone might put the battery on an external charger and press the button too. Can only imagine the carnage that could occur in that scenario. With the hybrid, the two batteries are inside the same case under the seat, so no worries about somehow double charging the aux section.


Anyway, as much as I love this car, I'm starting to regret buying it in the first model year. I convinced myself that wasn't really the case since the Hybrid had been sold for two years in Korea and the PHEV for a year before it came here, but it appears there are issues they still need to work out.

 

[deltasmith]

No fun I'm sure. On the PHEV, the Aux Battery Saver comes on automatically while the car is shut off, but only if you haven't changed the program and disabled it.



On my car, I see a message that pops up shortly after I hit the on button, maybe two or three times a week, saying that the Aux Battery Save ran while the car was off. If you haven't seen that, you might want to double check the programming.


I just re-read page H35-H36 at the beginning of the USA PHEV owner's manual. I didn't pick up on this before, but it sounds like you can use the traction battery charging system to recover from a (nearly) flat 12 V (Aux) battery, assuming that you still have enough charge to run the computer. It indicates that with the charger plugged in and the start/stop button in the ON position, it will charge the 12V battery if necessary. I assume this is the technique to use if the system previously gave up on trying to boost the 12V battery after more than 10 times or 20 minutes. According to the manual, the charge lamp on the dashboard flashes rapidly when the Aux Battery Saver is charging the 12V system.


The manual also says that all doors, hood, and liftgate need to be closed for it to operate. So yeah, if you have the rear hatch not closed tight, my guess is that it won't come on at all, and the rear hatch interior light will wear down the battery over time. In that case, perhaps just opening the rear hatch and closing it all the way would be enough for the traction battery to begin recharging the 12V battery. (But as you pointed out, opening it might be tricky if there isn't enough battery to run the lock).

 

[Giro]

This happened to me about a week ago, but in my case, I had absolutely no power when I opened the door, which is already unlocked btw. It was plugged in all night and the traction battery was fully charged. And yes, a key will work to unlock the rear hatch from the inside.

With a voltage reader, the aux battery read about 7v. It's mysterious because everything was closed. I reconditioned the battery with a separate battery charger and it read 12.8v when fully charged. For a week, I've been monitoring the battery voltage, it seems to drop to around 12.3-12.4v later on in the day whenever I'm only driving in EV mode. When the traction battery is plugged in at night, I do notice the 12v does get charged at 13v and at the start of the day, it reads anywhere from 12.6-12.8v. My guess is it's a bum battery and I'm having it checked out at the dealership on Mon.

I know this thread has been dormant for several months but thought I'd add my 2 cents. I awoke to a totally dead Niro PHEV this AM after it was on a home charger all night. Well not totally dead- it did have an indication that the key fob wasn't found when I got in, and the subwoofer was making strange noises. But otherwise nothing. I tried popping the hatch to get to the auxiliary battery, but of course the hatch didn't work either. I crawled through the back seat and was able to remove the battery cover and check the voltage with a meter. 7.2V. So I contorted myself some more and manually popped the hatch from the inside. It's not easy and it requires a skinny tool you might not have with you (although I suppose a key would work- just thought of that) Anyway, I suggest all PHEV owners practice doing this because you're going to have to sooner or later.


The PHEV does NOT have a 'get out of jail' button that recharges a discharging aux battery once the logic of the car decides the traction battery has charged it enough times. I'm not really sure the traction battery charges it at all- I think the alternator has to be spinning to charge it, because there's no way the aux battery would be dead flat in 12 hours if it was recharged 6 times (which the manual sort of claims it does. The Niro manual covers both the Hybrid and the PHEV and it's not at all clear about which parts apply to which vehicle). Anyway, I hooked the aux battery to a charger and it is recharging as I type this.



I'm not sure what caused this since the car was dead when I got in and I had to manually open the hatch to recharge it. I did go shopping yesterday and closed the hatch right before driving a short distance home, so it might not have been fully latched. I'm removing the hatch light bulb just in case and will order an LED replacement- there is NO excuse for Kia to not use an LED for any bulbs that can be left on- meaning the hatch and also the vanity mirror lights, given all the other fancy LED's they use all over the place elsewhere.


The entire Aux battery in the PHEV seems poorly thought out. I can see why Kia would be leery of a button to recharge the Aux battery from the traction battery, given that the aux battery is readily accessible and someone might put the battery on an external charger and press the button too. Can only imagine the carnage that could occur in that scenario. With the hybrid, the two batteries are inside the same case under the seat, so no worries about somehow double charging the aux section.


Anyway, as much as I love this car, I'm starting to regret buying it in the first model year. I convinced myself that wasn't really the case since the Hybrid had been sold for two years in Korea and the PHEV for a year before it came here, but it appears there are issues they still need to work out.

 

[Mal]

My bet is that almost all these are a result of leaving the car on during charge. If that is the case, why the KIA design allows this to happen is a total mystery. Power is certainly available to prevent it.

 

[tinypocket]

.... My guess is it's a bum battery and I'm having it checked out at the dealership on Mon.

What did the dealership say?

Mine just did this once a week ago and then once yesterday - zero power. Car was definitely not left on and all doors and hatch were closed. Had to unlock the back though the rear hatch unlock slit with the key to access the battery and use a jumper battery like others here.

Before the first incident I would randomly see 'Aux Saver was used' messages when starting the car. Now it's no longer kicking in and the battery is just dying. I'm thinking it is a bad battery which degraded further and quickly dies before Aux saver can be used now?

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