Got new E4000 battery and BMS for Soul 2015 under warranty

[nileriver]

Mine has been in the shop at the local Kia dealership for over three weeks now. They said it needs a new battery. I didn’t inquire about the SOH reading. They initially said it was not under warranty. I told them they were wrong but they wouldn’t budge. I had to call national Kia customer service. They clarified with the locals that it is covered. Once that happened, the locals said they had started a tech line case, and were waiting on Kia to tell them how to proceed. A couple days ago, I called to check on it. They said the same thing they had said at first, that they were waiting on Kia. I called the national Kia number again. There was no tech line case in existence on my car. So it has just been sitting there. They tried to call the dealership, but said they couldn’t get through to anyone, were on perpetual hold. He said he sent the service manager an email, and that they would escalate the case. I went to the dealership the next day to express my displeasure, hoping to light a fire under them. They tried to placate me and tell me it is proceeding as per SOP. I think they were lying to me. The Kia customer service guy that escalated the case suggested I take it to a different dealership, but the nearest other one is about 60-70 miles away. I’ve been on the dealership’s waiting list for a loaner since day one. Still no loaner. Kia said they would pay up to $43/day for a rental, but I have to pay for it and then turn in a claim to the dealership. Car rental places said that my cost would be double that amount for the cheapest rental, unless I get a negotiated rate, which has to be done through the dealership. And they basically refused and said that I just need to wait on a loaner to free up.

 

[edzee3]

More progress. A good KIA Service Adviser did get my '15 Soul-EV battery with the low-SOH data confirmed by KIA-Corp., and now a replacement battery is "on order". I can't get the availability date from anyone.
I wonder if anyone here is now in the same process and has current info on replacement battery availabilties ( in SoCal if that's relevant) ?
Finally, how difficult and how many of days required to install the new batteriy , once the new battery arrives ?

 

[JejuSoul]

...
Finally, how difficult and how many of days required to install the new batteriy , once the new battery arrives ?

As always my reality is probably the best case scenario.

Replacement 1.
I drove my white car to the main service center in an industrial park in the city an hour away.
It took 3 hours to complete.
I stayed and watched the whole thing.
I drove home.

Replacement 2.
I drove my blue car to the local service center near my house.
I took the bus to work.
The repair was finished when I returned after work.
I drove home.

 

[nukar]

Where can I find the vin recall site need to know if my car has been recalled

https://owners.kia.com/us/en/recalls.html

 

[nukar]

How is the range on your 'new' car.
Does the real range match the expected range on the GOM.
Is it more or less than you expected?

It's back to new. The range is back to 109 miles like when I bought it.

 

[nukar]

Thank you, nukar, for sharing your experience! I'm in a similar situation: Original owner (Black/Red EV+) bought in November, 2015 in So. California; now with only 23,000 miles. I've been waiting for the SOH to drop and I'm now down to the low 40 miles when 100% charged. It's been going on and off into turtle mode when under mild stress like a freeway on-ramp. And yes, I've had several THUNK shut-downs after braking; not fun! I've started driving slower, with more moderate use of brakes. In the next few weeks I'll be taking it in to the dealer for the SOH check.

Which leads to my only question; I'd really appreciate you letting us know which dealership did the fast diagnosis and speedy work.
If it's within a 40 mile range from me, I'll definitely take it there.

Hopefully, with the new battery your range is exceeding even more than the original and be good for many years.
Enjoy!

Thunk shut-down is very dangerous. At 40 miles range you should have reached the 70% threshold. I went to the Stockton KIA. Good luck!

 

[buddhaauthor]

As always my reality is probably the best case scenario.

Replacement 1.
I drove my white car to the main service center in an industrial park in the city an hour away.
It took 3 hours to complete.
I stayed and watched the whole thing.
I drove home.

Replacement 2.
I drove my blue car to the local service center near my house.
I took the bus to work.
The repair was finished when I returned after work.
I drove home.

That is just astounding! It must be a result of all the good karma you have accumulated in running this forum. (And, you know, perhaps in the rest of your life.)

 

[IanL]

That is just astounding! It must be a result of all the good karma you have accumulated in running this forum. (And, you know, perhaps in the rest of your life.)

Maybe also living in Korea helps?

 

[buddhaauthor]

Maybe also living in Korea helps?

Yes, definitely. That's no doubt also part of his good karma. Especially this week.

 

[barrnet]

Thunk shut-down is very dangerous. At 40 miles range you should have reached the 70% threshold. I went to the Stockton KIA. Good luck!

Thanks, nukar, I appreciate you sharing your experience! I'm in SoCal so I'll take in to my closest dealer after the New Year. Enjoy!

 

[buddhaauthor]

Thanks, nukar, I appreciate you sharing your experience! I'm in SoCal so I'll take in to my closest dealer after the New Year. Enjoy!

Barnet, I'm in SoCal too and I'd appreciate hearing your experience, whichever dealership you take your Soul to. We have choices here if we're willing to drive a little distance. If you're up for driving east, I had a good experience at Kia of Alhambra a few years ago. They did a battery test for free and let me watch it happen. I trusted them, but again that was a while ago and other dealerships ought by now to have caught up.

 

[barrnet]

Barnet, I'm in SoCal too and I'd appreciate hearing your experience, whichever dealership you take your Soul to. We have choices here if we're willing to drive a little distance. If you're up for driving east, I had a good experience at Kia of Alhambra a few years ago. They did a battery test for free and let me watch it happen. I trusted them, but again that was a while ago and other dealerships ought by now to have caught up.

buddhaauthor, thanks for the recommendation and I will keep posting my experience. I'll start with Kia of Van Nuys, who I've used for service in the past and is closer.

 

[nileriver]

I got my car back on Friday. Dealership said replacement battery arrived Wednesday of the week before. I had called them the next day. Since the battery was in, I asked if my car would be ready that day. Advisor started a long rigmarole about the mechanic has to clear his calendar, very complex case, will have to “work it in”, blah blah blah, on and on with excuses. She even said that it was “dangerous”. At this point, my car had been there almost 4 weeks, with two of those weeks nothing done because they never opened up a tech line case on it, although they said that they had. I had to call corporate to get them to do it. (I had already had to get corporate involved initially because dealership said my car was not under warranty. They said they would put in a new battery for $33,000). I didn’t address the “woe is me” advisor was going on about the difficulty of the job. I pointed out that my car has been there 4 weeks, with two of those weeks wasted due to inaction by them. I said that my car had probably been in their shop way longer than any other vehicle they were working on, so their plan to “work it in” was poor service. Not to mention no loaner provided, and refusing to cooperate with my trying to get a rental. I don’t think they cared, because it was 8 days from arrival of replacement battery until my car was ready…I haven’t had a chance to check out range, etc., but the GOM shows 115 miles at 100% charge. This is with temperatures around freezing (32*F). I’m optimistic about it going forward, and very happy to have my car back.