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Hyundai Ioniq ICCU recall issue & Polestar followup ?3

12:04 02-Apr-24


Over the weekend, we were hit by the latest recall issue on our Hyundai Ioniq 5.  Despite an NHTSA investigation being opened over 9 months ago, my wife did not learn of this from the dealer or in any other proactive way.  Rather, we researched the issue after the car became undrivable with our two kids in it on Saturday.  Hyundai was unable to immediately do anything other than tell us to schedule to have the car towed to the nearest dealership, at our own expense, on Monday.  The company has been aware of the issue for longer, and tried to mitigate it with software updates; my reaction is similar to other commentators:

"Hyundai said the improved ICCU software decreases thermal loading and lowers peak voltage during operation to mitigate ICCU damage."

The software just MITIGATES the damage? It doesn't prevent it? This means it will just be a bit longer until the ICCU fails, likely just outside of warranty.

The latest word from Hyundai is that they don't have the recalled part in stock, and it will be about a week before we get the car back.  They confirm that repairs will be done at no charge, but it remains to be seen if we'll get reimbursement for the towing, let alone for the temporary loss of the vehicle.

I contrast this with the service I received from Polestar on a far more minor issue caused by Google.  For the record, I still have no evidence of those issues being really fixed.  What has been done is that the car clearly resets anytime it is left for an extended period with the key out of range.  This causes a software reload the delays start up but prevents the runtime issues.

Again though, the software issues are minor compared to the physical car.  We've had zero issues with the actual Polestar car, despite owning it for about a year and a half longer than the Ioniq.  Furthermore, the Polestar designers are now looking foresighted by providing more physical controls than most other EVs.  The private, investment side of this blog was way out ahead of the devaluation of PSNY stock but recently noted:
As a car owner, I worry about support for the car from Volvo going forward, but also note that the Chinese are far ahead of American companies on EV technology in many ways.
I'll update on how that evolves, but even if it were to go south, having a car that continues to function well without service is much more important to me to than the amenities connected with that service.