Battery Recall for cars with E400 high-voltage battery.

JejuSoul · Apr 24, 2023

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I got a recall notice today for my white Soul EV today.
This is a Model Year 2015 27kWh car with a replacement E400 high-voltage battery.
see :- Analysis of a replacement battery.

My blue car, a 2015 Soul EV still has the original E375 high-voltage battery. It is not recalled.

Details of the reason for the recall here :- 2015-2019MY Soul EV - High Voltage Battery - Basis of Safety Defect Determination 573.6(c)(6)

Kia NA decides to recall all 2018-2019MY Soul EV vehicles equipped
with an E400 battery and certain 2015-2017MY Soul EV vehicles
that had the high voltage battery replaced under warranty with
E400 battery. Three (3) thermal incidents limited to battery case
assembly (two (2) from U.S.; one (1) from Canada), no injuries, no
crashes and no fatalities.

According to InsideEVs the recall will be a software update to the BMS.
see :- ( U.S ) Kia Recalls 2,700 First-Generation Soul EVs Over Battery Fire Risk

Kia dealers will diagnose the issue using a software update that can detect abnormal cell voltage before a short circuit occurs.
Following installation of the new software, if the abnormal battery cell voltage is detected, the EV warning light will illuminate, charging will be limited to 80 percent, and the vehicle will enter limp home mode. If this occurs, dealers will replace the battery free of charge.

In South Korea Kia recalled 4,600 cars.
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A newer version of the NHTSA recall notice is here - NHTSA Part 573 Safety Recall Report

ksoul2084 · Apr 26, 2023

Well better safe than sorry I guess.

Thanks for posting this.

JejuSoul · Apr 26, 2023

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The recall for my car will update the BMS software with some new error codes.
This is similar to the OBC recall 5 years ago.
Back then the recall added some error codes ( and reduced the charging speed from 32A to 28.8A.)
This was not a 'fix'. It just let you know what happened when something did go wrong.
When my OBC died it was still covered by the 'Power-train Warranty', so this replacement was free of charge.
After the warranty expired you have to pay to fix an OBC failure.

This recall is for fire safety.
I assume they will have to do a replacement irrespective of the warranty if the battery becomes dangerous.
My car will soon go out of warranty based on the 160,000km limit.
Maybe it will get another free battery after the warranty expires

Kish · May 4, 2023

Hey Jeju! I'm still around

When I got my replacement pack in 2018: https://www.mykiasoulev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=7962#p7962

I got the "37510-E4000" PACK ASSY-BATTERY.
Is this a "E400"?

The car's battery has been holding up well so far since the replacement 5 years ago. But it may be time to say goodbye if my car is affected by the battery fire recall. I no longer have the patience to fight with the dealer to get the battery pack replaced once again. One time was enough.

JejuSoul · May 5, 2023

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Hi Kish,
Am glad your car is still running well 5 years after getting a new battery.
I don't think you need to worry about the fire-safety issue.

Here are the 3 reasons I think you do not have a E400 high-voltage battery.

1. You didn't get a recall letter.

2. The original invoice you got shows the part number 37510-E4000. This is the code for an original new pack with 96 E375 cells.
Some other owners in the US got re-manufactured packs. These have the code 37510-E4000-Reman. These packs were based on old E375 packs. A brand new pack based on the newer E400 cells with 96 cells has the part number 37510-E4250

3. The E400 battery packs use a similar BMS to the 30kWh cars. There is no value for minimum and maximum deterioration. Hence you cannot know how fast the pack deteriorates in the first 3 ( 4?) years. You can do this because your car has the old BMS.

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Kish · May 6, 2023

Oh interesting. These battery pack SKUs are confusing! I thought E4000 meant "E400" cells. But now I know that E4200 and E4250 is "E400" cells. And yet both are prefixed with "37510"!

It's also interesting that the E4250 battery packs are the ones with the updated BMS programming. If you recall, my car also got a new BMS after the battery pack replacement, which stopped the DCFC at 94%. On the original battery, it stopped at 84%. On 2016+ Soul EVs the limit was raised to stop at 94%. I meantioned this back in 2018: https://www.mykiasoulev.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=8017#p8017

And finally, yes I did not receive any recall info for my car. However, Kia has until May 26th, 2023 in the US to notify dealers and affected customers. So there is still time to get something in the mail.

Kish · Jun 2, 2023

So far so good! No recall notices for my VIN on Kia US recall website as of 6/2/23: https://owners.kia.com/us/en/recalls.html

ksoul2084 · Jun 3, 2023

I just received this recall information in the mail for my out-of-warranty 2016 Soul EV+ (Canada):

Dear Kia Soul EV Vehicle Owner:

This notice is sent to you in accordance with the requirements of the Motor Vehicle Safety Act. Kia Canada Inc. has determined that a defect which relates to motor vehicie safety exists in certäin 2015-2017 model year and all 2018-2019 model year Kla Soul EV vehicles. This is to inform you that your vehicle may contal a defect that could affect the safety of a person. The defect can result in a fire while driving. A fire increases the risk of injury. Our records indicate that you may own or lease one of the potentially affected
vehicles.

This is only an interim notice as we work on a remedy. The purpose of this notice is to keep you informed of Kia's recall implementation plan. We will send you another letter when the remedy is available so that you can schedule a dealer appointment to have the recall repair performed free of charge at no cost to you. IN THE MEANTIME, PLEASE SEE THE "WHAT SHOULD YOU DO IN THE INTERIM" SECTION BELOW.

Details about this safety recall campaign

An electrical short circuit between the anode and cathode of the battery cell scan occur within the high-voltage battery pack assembly case located underneath the vehicle. If an electrical short circuit occurs, a fire may result while driving, thereby increasing the risk of injury.
Kia will update the software and, if necessary, replace the high voltage battery free of charge at no cost to you.

When the remedy is available, your authorized Kia dealer will update the vehicle's battery management system with new software that will detect an abnormal battery cell voltage condition before an electrical short circuit occurs. Following installation of the new software, if the abnormal battery cell voltage is detected by the vehicle's battery management system, the EV warning light will illuminate, charging capacity will be limited to 80% and the vehicle will be placed into a reduced-power limp home mode. If this occurs, the dealer will replace the high voltage battery. This recall will be performed free of charge at no cost to you.

What should you do in the interim?

• WARNING: If your vehicle has an abnormal battery cell voltage condition, you may experience incomplete high voltage battery charging, loss/fluctuating vehicles range, and/or illumination of the EV warning light. If this occurs, please contact Kia Roadside Assistance at 1-866-444-KIA1 (5421) to request to have your vehicle towed to the nearest authorized Kia dealership as soon as possible.

So they will update the SW and if it detects a voltage problem replace the entire battery pack. It doesn't provide any timelines in terms of how much time can elapse between the SW update and the detection of a problem, though.

Now I have to take my car to the awful KIA dealer in town (only one that is EV certified).

Kish · Jun 5, 2023

Kish said:
So far so good! No recall notices for my VIN on Kia US recall website as of 6/2/23: https://owners.kia.com/us/en/recalls.html

Yep, just got that same letter today (click for higher resolution):

Allegedly, it was mailed out on 5/26/23. But considering I just got it today, it was likely mailed out sometime last week. Also not looking forward to going to the local KIA dealer for the interim software update, but it should be done for safety.

Interestingly, Kia USA's recall website still says no recalls for my VIN. So it's unclear whether my 37510-E4000 (E375) battery pack is affected.

edzee3 · Jun 6, 2023

Nice to see all the Soul-EV current info here.
I too got a "Prelim Recall" letter on 5-June for my 2015 EV.
Will wait and see what's next.

iblem · Jun 9, 2023

I’ve also received a recall notice for my 2016 Soul EV+.

I received a battery replacement in 2020 with the part number 37510-E4250R.

I have communication out to the dealership to inquire if that battery pack is subject to the recall.

Has anyone else had this experience and have information they’d be willing to share? This is my only vehicle and it’s put me in a tight spot… any help is greatly appreciated!

CanadianLurker · Jun 9, 2023

Got the preliminary recall letter for our 2018 this week. Waiting anxiously for the software update to be ready.

andrew1joe · Jun 19, 2023

Canada - Kia Soul EV 2018. I got the letter as well. I also went through battery recall with my Chevy Bolt. I'm really hoping that this doesn't go through the similar rounds of software fixes before the battery finally getting replaced.

mariano3113 · Aug 19, 2023

My insurance company sent me a notice about the open recall for my Soul EV.

Recall Notice states Remedy Not Yet Available

But the PDF of NHTSA #23V218
Just states dealer notification on BMS Software update May 26, 2023.

Has anyone received a BMS update or newer information regarding the recall notice?

Only issue I have had is battery bar started blinking at 50% and then at 30% vehicle went into turtle mode and then shut-off 45 seconds later.

Turned back-on and battery was now 0% when 23 miles were remaining before forementioned behavior.
Video: https://youtu.be/Fw3Kf3L6xnk?si=PIZLebuKJdjgFT5X

(Was January 6th 2023 before recall announcement.)*

Dealer just charged battery and reflashed existing BMS at the time.

Yesterday battery got down to 17% and then dropped from 17% to 0% in about 100 feet. (Battery bars flashing again.) (I charged via street lamp outlet for 3 hours and then level 2 back at the house.)

JeroenE · Aug 20, 2023

mariano3113 said:
Only issue I have had is battery bar started blinking at 50% and then at 30% vehicle went into turtle mode and then shut-off 45 seconds later.

Those are two separate issues. I'm pretty sure I've had a blinking display in my dashboard too, but that was when the car was only a few (maybe even one?) years old. There were lots of other with the same issue, see here. I didn't post it here and can't find anything quickly about this on other forums where I might have posted about it.

Dealer just charged battery and reflashed existing BMS at the time.

When they reflash the BMS it's gets reset and thinks it has a brand new battery. It will need some time to relearn the actual state of the battery. They should have checked the SOH (State of Health) BEFORE reflashing the BMS. Now you need to drive it empty and recharge a few times before the BMS knows the actual SOH again. I think the consensus is you need at least 5 recharges.

Besides being annoying it might also push you over the guarantee limits when you are near those.

Edit: PS548 is the explanation how to check the SOH before any update.

JejuSoul · Aug 20, 2023

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Hi Mariano, I remember chatting to you on this forum 5 years ago.

2015 Soul EV: My Battery Replacement Story

At that time you got a replacement battery - 37510 - E4200R
This is a re-manafactured pack using the newer E400 cells. Hence why you got the recall notice.
I had assumed all those re-manafactured packs were reusing old E375 cells.
I wonder where they got second-hand new cells from.

This replacement battery you now have is the very first instance I have seen or heard of an E400 failing
From your video your car has over 99,000 miles.
Be careful not to go over the warranty limit in the next few days.

Puzzling though is the temperature reading in the video. How can it be 53F in Arizona. Surely it is 53C
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I have heard nothing more about the BMS software upgrade since my original letter.
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witheflo · Sep 12, 2023

Hi all,

Couple of questions.

If a car is eligible for the recall and it's a 2017 does that mean it had the battery replaced?

Has anyone else gotten a replacement pack because of this recall? Was it easy or difficult? Is it rare for this to result in a replacement?

Thanks in advance,

CanadianLurker · Sep 19, 2023

Has anybody heard any news on how this recall is progressing? Local Dealer has no clue.

I understand these things sometimes progress fairly slowly, but we’re now into 5 months since the first notices were sent out!

kimdavi · Sep 20, 2023

Today I picked up my Kia Soul Ev from the dealer. Took over one week to complete the Battery Recall Service. This was because they had to order the battery harness, which took 5 days, while the work took less than 2 days. The team informed me that they replaced the Battery Management System (BMS) and harnesses.

According to the invoice, they performed the following tasks:
'Performed SC267 HV Battery PACK & BMS S/W - no fault codes are present.'

My understanding is that the BMS software was updated with new logic to enhance safety. Now, if a battery cell voltage fault occurs, the new BMS software will trigger the following actions:
1) Illuminate the EV warning light.
2) Limit the charge to 80%.
3) Reduce power to 'limp home' mode.

Kia will replace the EV battery if this trigger event occurs.

Following day, I noticed a positive change in the GOM (Guess-O-Meter) reading. With the battery at 100%, the range displays 119 miles, whereas prior to the BMS swap, my GOM displayed 90 miles at 100% charge.
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I own a 2015 Kia Soul EV base currently with 116,800 miles.
EV Battery pack was replaced Oct 2019 under Kia Warranty at 58,900 miles. Battery SOH at the time was 55%.
Battery SOH after nearly 4 years before BMS update was 88.4%
Battery SOH after BMS update now indicates 111.5%

Personal SOH readings were taken using Soul Spy

JejuSoul · Sep 21, 2023

kimdavi said:
... they replaced the Battery Management System (BMS) and harnesses.

Thanks for reporting this. Yours is the first we've heard about.
For the older cars with a replacement battery this is more than just a software upgrade.
We get a new BMS and a new wiring harness.

The image above is from a PDF :- SAFETY RECALL CAMPAIGN : SC267

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After a BMS upgrade the internal values for degradation are all reset. The values for the GOM and SOH will be relearnt over the next few charging cycles.
The BMS software has been updated. It is unlikely that SoulSpy will be accurate in future, because this was built to mimic the original software version. It would be useful to see an actual Kia reading of SOH together with whatever SoulSpy states.

Battery Recall for cars with E400 high-voltage battery.

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