Hyundai Motor Recalls 77,000 Kona EV Units Overseas Amid Fire Controversy...

Over 51,000 Units Recalled Overseas, Including 11,137 in North America and 37,366 in Europe

Kona EV (Photo by Hyundai Motor Company)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Hyundai Motor Company is launching a large-scale recall overseas following the domestic recall of the Kona Electric Vehicle (Kona EV), which has recently been embroiled in controversy due to a series of fires. Including about 25,000 units in South Korea, the total number of recalled vehicles amounts to approximately 77,000. As Hyundai Motor Group has designated next year as the inaugural year for its electric vehicle leap, this move is interpreted as a determination to swiftly resolve safety concerns surrounding electric vehicles.

According to industry sources on the 12th, Hyundai will recall about 77,000 Kona EVs produced from September 2017 to March of this year. First, on the 8th, it decided on a recall of 25,564 units domestically. At the same day’s National Assembly National Policy Audit held by the National Assembly’s Political Affairs Committee, Seo Bo-shin, Hyundai’s Head of Production Quality, who appeared as a witness, acknowledged the technical production responsibility related to this issue, stating, "We recognize (the technical production responsibility). Although it is not perfect, we have found some solutions and plan to proceed with the recall."

Following the domestic recall, about 51,000 units will be recalled overseas. Hyundai’s North American branch recently submitted a voluntary recall plan for the Kona EV to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The global recall will be conducted regionally. Considering that 77,748 units of the Kona EV were sold overseas up to the first half of this year since its launch, about 70% of the total overseas sales will be recalled. This includes 11,137 units in North America, 37,366 units in Europe, and about 3,000 units in other regions such as China and India.

Hyundai plans to update the Battery Management System (BMS) of the recalled vehicles overseas and replace the battery if any abnormal signs are detected. It has been confirmed that a total of four fires have occurred overseas involving the Kona EV. The number of fires reported domestically is nine.

The cause of the Kona EV fires identified so far is a manufacturing defect in the high-voltage battery cells. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport stated that, according to the defect investigation results by the Automotive Safety Research Institute, a quality defect in the manufacturing process caused damage to the separator between the positive (+) and negative (-) plates, which could lead to internal short circuits and fires. However, LG Chem, the battery manufacturer, immediately refuted this by saying, "The exact cause has not yet been identified, and it cannot be concluded that the battery is defective," indicating that disputes over the cause of the fires are expected to continue for the time being.

Within the industry, amid ongoing controversy over the cause of the fires, Hyundai’s prompt voluntary recall is seen as an effort to quickly quell the growing safety concerns surrounding electric vehicles triggered by the successive fires. In particular, there are considerable concerns about whether the group’s future eco-friendly vehicle business strategy might be disrupted, especially as Chung Eui-sun, Hyundai Motor Group’s Executive Vice Chairman, personally declared next year as the inaugural year for the electric vehicle leap.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.