Battery Recall for cars with E400 high-voltage battery.

[BEC]

I too have been to the dealer and then been told they had to order the BMS hardware and such as my car (2016) still has the original. I was hoping that since it got a new battery in November of 2022 that would not be an issue, but apparently it is. Still waiting to hear from them on the next step (that is, when they get the necessary parts). *sigh*

We really love this car, and would like to keep it for many more years, but this is getting a little tiring. I really like the performance of the new battery, too....

 

[ksoul2084]

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.

 

[Lithium]

My 2016 is in for Harness and BMS swap right now. Will see what happens.

 

[Nigel]

My 2016 is in for Harness and BMS swap right now. Will see what happens.

I had the harness and BMS swap done under the smoking battery recall about four months ago on my 2016. I immediately noticed a BMS reported 100% charge range of over 200km. Thought this was ridiculous and put it down to the BMS update. To my surprise, even though temperatures are hovering around zero centigrade here in Toronto, I'm getting a real range of around 180km. Don't know if Kia had some reserve capacity somewhere and the harness change tapped into that - either way it's a welcome improvement. The other observation is that the charge times have taken a major hit 20% to 80% on a Class 1 charger is now about 20 hours and five on a class 2 so about 20% more time.

 

[JejuSoul]

I immediately noticed a BMS reported 100% charge range of over 200km.

Here's my guess on what happened.
To get the battery recall on a 2016 you must have had the original battery replaced. The recall is only for the later E400 cells.
Battery replacement can change the range. Updating the BMS normally does not.
My guess is that they forgot to update the BMS when they did the battery replacement
It needed to be done!. Your car didn't know it had a new battery.
The extended range is due to the new battery now knowing the real battery size because it has an updated BMS.

The range data you provide is normal for a battery replacement with new E400 cells. ( But not a remanafactured pack.)

 

[Nigel]

Here's my guess on what happened.
To get the battery recall on a 2016 you must have had the original battery replaced. The recall is only for the later E400 cells.
Battery replacement can change the range. Updating the BMS normally does not.
My guess is that they forgot to update the BMS when they did the battery replacement
It needed to be done!. Your car didn't know it had a new battery.
The extended range is due to the new battery now knowing the real battery size because it has an updated BMS.

The range data you provide is normal for a battery replacement with new E400 cells. ( But not a remanafactured pack.)

Yep, you are probably right - checked the replacement battery invoice and its an E400; Didn't know about the additional cell capacity or the need for a new BMS. At least the dealer finally caught up on all the necessary upgrades under warranty / recall notices and I can begin to believe that I do actually have some additional range. Especially helpful during the winder months.

 

[faf625]

2015 soul, had the e400 pack installed a few years ago. The car was running great. I took it in for the recall, they already had a cable, and it’s been there over a month. i’m told that the battery did not give the proper responses after the new cable was installed. They are waiting for Kia to tell them what to do and it was mentioned that I may have to get a new pack. Kia has been paying for my rental car.

This is going to turn into a huge mess if I need a new pack because I’m in the process of moving next month to another state over 2000 miles away. sometimes I wish they would buy this car back but I love it so much that I wish it would just be fixed.

 

[ale]

How do i find out if my 2016 received the E400 battery replacement or not before i bought it?
I got the letter from KIA about the recall some time ago but nothing since.
Not experiencing any problems. Still getting 93 mile range in summer.
Thanks.

 

[JejuSoul]

How do i find out if my 2016 received the E400 battery replacement or not before i bought it?
I got the letter from KIA about the recall some time ago but nothing since.
Not experiencing any problems. Still getting 93 mile range in summer.
Thanks.

If you got a recall letter for a 2016 then it means KIA thinks you have a replacement battery with E400 cells. Presumably you got a re-manafactured pack, so there is no way of knowing what is actually in your pack without opening it and having a look.

If you car is working fine there is no need to worry about when to get the BMS update. There are more reports here about problems caused by the update than actual problems with the battery. And no one has yet mentioned that they got a new battery because of this. If you followed the battery recalls for the Bolt EV and Hyundai Kona Ev you will know that these things take quite a long time before a final fix is decided upon. Another example from our car was the OBC update fix in 2016. All it really did was lower the charging speed from 32A to 28.8A. They have never given us this back even though it turned out to be irrelevant to the problem. They ended up replacing all the OBC's by waiting until they broke later that year.

 

[Nedhastings]

If you got a recall letter for a 2016 then it means KIA thinks you have a replacement battery with E400 cells. Presumably you got a re-manafactured pack, so there is no way of knowing what is actually in your pack without opening it and having a look.

If you car is working fine there is no need to worry about when to get the BMS update. There are more reports here about problems caused by the update than actual problems with the battery. And no one has yet mentioned that they got a new battery because of this. If you followed the battery recalls for the Bolt EV and Hyundai Kona Ev you will know that these things take quite a long time before a final fix is decided upon. Another example from our car was the OBC update fix in 2016. All it really did was lower the charging speed from 32A to 28.8A. They have never given us this back even though it turned out to be irrelevant to the problem. They ended up replacing all the OBC's by waiting until they broke later that year.

I had the update and then the battery replaced shortly afterward.

 

[andrew1joe]

I had the update and then the battery replaced shortly afterward.

Nice! Do you know if you got a new pack or a reassembled one? Was it 30kwh?

 

[andrew1joe]

Got the update done today. The upgrade itself took about half an hour. The worksheet just says:

"BMS S/W UPGRADE RE performed BMS S/W update complete"

No noticeable change but haven't had a chance to look at Soul Spy or Torque yet. Will do that tonight.

Had a chance to hook it up to Torque after several charge cycles. No obvious changes I can spot. Range guess-o-meter seems lower but it has gotten colder so not putting too much weight on it. Still getting around 150km in winter (30kwh pack).

 

[faf625]

How do i find out if my 2016 received the E400 battery replacement or not before i bought it?
I got the letter from KIA about the recall some time ago but nothing since.
Not experiencing any problems. Still getting 93 mile range in summer.
Thanks.

In my experience, there is not a 2016 still running on the original pack that still has 93 miles of range. They also sent that notice to you because they have record of an e400 battery pack in your car. I have a replacement e400 as well and there is reason to bring it in even if it's working just fine. It's not just a new bms, they added a new battery cable in my 2015 that in my understanding monitors cell voltages. To my understanding, the new cable detects abnormal voltages in cells and they replace your battery if that happens. It may be working just fine but even if it's a small chance of a fire i'd still get the recall done. gl

 

[andrew1joe]

In my experience, there is not a 2016 still running on the original pack that still has 93 miles of range. They also sent that notice to you because they have record of an e400 battery pack in your car. I have a replacement e400 as well and there is reason to bring it in even if it's working just fine. It's not just a new bms, they added a new battery cable in my 2015 that in my understanding monitors cell voltages. To my understanding, the new cable detects abnormal voltages in cells and they replace your battery if that happens. It may be working just fine but even if it's a small chance of a fire i'd still get the recall done. gl

It’s also good idea to get it done from insurance perspective. If on the rare chance that your car catches fire and the insurance sees that you didn’t get the recall done, they may argue you didn’t maintain your vehicle according to your car manufacturer’s recommendation.

 

[kimdavi]

If you got a recall letter for a 2016 then it means KIA thinks you have a replacement battery with E400 cells. Presumably you got a re-manafactured pack, so there is no way of knowing what is actually in your pack without opening it and having a look.

If you car is working fine there is no need to worry about when to get the BMS update. There are more reports here about problems caused by the update than actual problems with the battery. And no one has yet mentioned that they got a new battery because of this. If you followed the battery recalls for the Bolt EV and Hyundai Kona Ev you will know that these things take quite a long time before a final fix is decided upon. Another example from our car was the OBC update fix in 2016. All it really did was lower the charging speed from 32A to 28.8A. They have never given us this back even though it turned out to be irrelevant to the problem. They ended up replacing all the OBC's by waiting until they broke later that year.

I own a 2015. Did recall (BMS & Harness), 3 weeks later, triggered abnormal cell condition, error code PA1AD1. 4 weeks later Kia installed battery pack replacement due to BMS error. Everything was fine with new battery, but recently the BMS again triggered abnormal cell condition warnings. Car is back at the dealer. Kia is currently investigating issue, resolution is unknown.

 

[Nedhastings]

Nice! Do you know if you got a new pack or a reassembled one? Was it 30kwh?

New pack. They said it was a warranty replacement for the 2nd battery, which I thought was weird because it was under recall. It has a little more total miles than the first and second ones.

 

[JejuSoul]

I own a 2015. Did recall (BMS & Harness), 3 weeks later, triggered abnormal cell condition, error code PA1AD1. 4 weeks later Kia installed battery pack replacement due to BMS error. Everything was fine with new battery, but recently the BMS again triggered abnormal cell condition warnings. Car is back at the dealer. Kia is currently investigating issue, resolution is unknown.

Wow. This is the first battery pack replacement due to BMS error we have. And may also be the second.
I agree with andrew1joe that if you do get a recall letter for the update you should do it.
My point is that if you haven't been called yet don't panic because Kia hasn't got its act together yet on how to fix it.

The best reason for doing this update is that the chances of getting a new battery have gone up now we know for certain that someone here has got one.
It's gone up from near zero to 10% after this one replacement. ( Based on the 10 users of this thread.)
Previously the odds were 3/40,000 = >0.01% ( Based on the number of known battery fires.)

 

[andrew1joe]

( Based on Previously the odds were 3/40,000 = >0.01% ( Based on the number of known battery fires.)

Is there a place where these fires are being tracked that I can look at? I remember when my Chevy Bolt was affected by the battery fire recall, someone created a spread sheet with link references for each fire incident on a Bolt forum.

 

[JejuSoul]

The list we have is maintained by NHTSA. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
It's a US agency but Canadian cars are also on the list
European and South Korean cars are not included - we have no reports from these countries.
I don't know if Europe is included in the recall, South Korea definitely is. My car was recalled.
2015-2019MY Soul EV - High Voltage Battery - Basis of Safety Defect Determination 573.6(c)(6)

The list includes 1 MY2017 with battery replacement and 2 MY2018. All E400 cells.

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There's also a new document for the service techs on how to do the recall and following battery replacements.
HIGH-VOLTAGE BATTERY PACK AND BATTERY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (SC267)

It includes the latest ROM IDs



For the 2015-2017 cars the Previous ROM ID will often not match that given here because the dealer forgot to upgrade the BMS during the earlier replacement. Also the ECU is now password protected to prevent hacking and unauthorized upgrades but the passwords are printed in the document for all to see. As always Kia software is a work-in-progress.

 

[edman98]

I own a 2015. Did recall (BMS & Harness), 3 weeks later, triggered abnormal cell condition, error code PA1AD1. 4 weeks later Kia installed battery pack replacement due to BMS error. Everything was fine with new battery, but recently the BMS again triggered abnormal cell condition warnings. Car is back at the dealer. Kia is currently investigating issue, resolution is unknown.

I too have a 2015, out of warranty, > 100k miles. Battery fully charged had degraded to ~75mi. Got recall of wiring harness. A day after fixed, went into turtle mode and BMS error (never seen either before). Then KIA stated issue was fixed with a BMS "software upgrade". A day after, again turtle mode and BMS error. Then Kia took a few weeks to replace the battery pack with a refurbished one, now getting ~90mi on a full charge. But again after a day same issue. KIA has had the car back for 4 weeks stated a NEW battery pack was coming from Korea. It finally got here, installed and car seems to be running great. But the next day Kia asked for the car back for further investigation.