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Last October I had the BMS + harness replacement recall completed on my 2016 Soul EV Luxury (Canadian model with the battery heater). Also, my battery had been replaced or refreshed with refurbished cells back in 2020. Yesterday I connected my ODBII reader and used SoulSpy to have a look at...

Yes, KIA's handling of this situation is extremely inept, with zero consideration for your experience as a customer of theirs.

You would never in a million years get a letter that specific and customer focussed from KIA here. They do say "This could increase the risk of a thermal incident". Thermal incidents sound like something you want to avoid. :)

I think your understanding of cause and effect in this circumstance is suspect. I'm pretty sure that the updated BMS/harnesses that were installed as part of the safety recall will do their best to prevent the conditions that cause the fire in the first place, whether that be by crippling the...

It's probably all of the above. Might be some negotiation happening between KIA and the battery supplier in this case as well, to see how they want to split the costs too. If I was KIA, I'd be looking at restoring customer goodwill and removing these ongoing problem cars from the road via...

I am learning that it is best to not give KIA any benefit of the doubt. I believe in my car they used a refurbished pack because it was close to being off-warranty due to mileage and thus it made no sense for them to invest in a new pack when battery degradation below 70% wouldn't be their...

Percentages are nice but what are the number of actuals responses for each category?

Yeah one of my favourite aspects of this car is the ability to "just go" at low speeds and get out in front of the pack. :) It does seem though that these cars eat gearboxes, unfortunately. It's a single gear-gear box, couldn't be more simple, but I've had to replace mine off warranty and when...

You realize that the reason their battery needs to be replaced after the recall is because it was detected to be at risk of a fire, right? Without the recall your car won't suddenly cripple itself when it detects a problem with the battery, but it may very well ignite. Here's an original...

There is a sound like that when your battery gets below 20%, I believe.

The recall installs an upgraded BMS system that over time, can detect "bad cells" in the battery that they've found can lead to serious fires. So after the recall there is a chance at some random point in the future that the new BMS will detect this problem in your battery, THUS SAVING YOU FROM...

You are correct, you do need to be careful about the model features on any used EV you consider importing, and also the warranty. BTW, my Soul EV is in fact an ex Teo Taxis from Quebec. :)

There is at least one small business car dealers up here in Calgary that make a living importing used EVs out of California, Oregon, and Washington state and selling the here. If you're up for the adventure importing your own would be a good way to get a great deal on a used EV.

Nice! How do you like the Volvo compared to the Soul?

When my 2016 Soul EV needed a battery replacement in June of 2020 @ 164,000 km (so only 6K from out of warranty), KIA had it from June 2nd, 2020 until I picked it up in mid September. And AFAIK they took the battery pack apart at the dealer and swapped out individual cells themselves, from what...

My A/C was working poorly/barely when my car went into the shop for a battery refurbishment back in 2020, under warranty. They claimed that no leaks could be found in the A/C system and recharged it. It worked well for about 6 months and then lost enough coolant to prevent the compressor from...

Hmm, tempting fate are you?! :)

Perhaps it cuts out when it considers the 12v battery "charged"? Turning on the headlights adds some significant load to the 12v circuit, causes the voltage to drop, and triggers the charger to re-engage?

Mine went out earlier this year. Dealers all quoted me $15K+ to do the job. I searched online and on the phone throughout Canada and US for a gearbox at a wrecker, but they had all been sold already, so I guess this is a common problem with these 1st gen Soul EVs. I ended up buying one online...

Yes, we are paying the price, at least in terms of time and inconvenience, for being early adopters. I'm fine with that, I guess I expected as much going in.