Hyundai Motor "Recall Cost Related to Kona EV Fire Estimated at Around 1 Trillion Won"

Discussing Share Ratio with LG Energy Solution

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Hyundai Motor Company announced that the recall of vehicles that caught fire, including the Kona electric vehicle (EV), will cost approximately 1 trillion KRW.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 24th that a manufacturing defect was found in 26,699 units of three models, including the Kona EV, produced and sold by Hyundai Motor, and a voluntary recall will be conducted.

The recall targets include 25,083 units of the Kona EV, 1,314 units of the Ioniq EV, and 302 units of the Elec City electric bus.

According to the Ministry, among the batteries used in these three models, some high-voltage batteries produced in the early period (September 2017 to July 2019) at LG Energy Solution's Nanjing plant in China were found to have a possibility of fire caused by internal short circuits due to cell manufacturing defects.

The Korea Automobile Testing & Research Institute (KATRI) under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has been conducting detailed inspections of the high-voltage batteries collected through the recall and fire reproduction experiments since October last year until recently.

The Ministry explained that the detailed battery disassembly investigation confirmed the possibility of fire due to cell internal misalignment. However, it added that the fire reproduction experiment has not directly confirmed this yet and that the experiments are ongoing.

Hyundai Motor stated that the total expected cost related to the recall is about 1 trillion KRW. The cost will be reflected in the fourth-quarter results of last year.

In the future, based on the results of the Ministry's investigation, the cost-sharing ratio with the battery manufacturer LG Energy Solution will be determined.

Regarding this, Hyundai Motor said, "We have actively cooperated with the Ministry's related investigation and reported a full battery replacement to the Ministry," adding, "We plan to take swift market action to avoid customer inconvenience and will continue to prioritize customer safety and fulfill our responsibilities."

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