Kia dealer has my SoulEV for 3+ months

[mariano3113]

These cars set peoples homes on fire. We have lost our cars but some people lost everything

May I get a link to a Soul EV fire?


The only Home fires I have seen related to a Kia Soul were Gas variants.

As for the loaner vehicle : my extended warranty covers a loaner vehicle.

I didn't need a loaner when initial software recall was done in Nov, as I was taking delivery of a F150 Pro at the n3ighboring dealership.

Then I went out of town and then when I came back I picked-up the vehicle and then had the 'Turtle mode' happen on Dec 14th.

Since Dec14th, I had a loaner.
2024 AWD Sportage until about a week ago when they moved me to a 2024 AWD EV6 Light LR. (Paperwork says the loaner is $47 a day and I just passed 6 months on May 14th...so over $8500 in loaner/rental fees)*

I was out of the factory warranty for the recall as I was at 110,400 miles.
(I do have another Kia purchased from the dealer that was servicing the Soul EV, a 2017 Kia Niro Touring that was purchased with a $0 deductible 100k mile warranty, pre-paid service contract, and such.)

The dealer I used to take the Soul EV to only provided me a rental vehicle 3 out of 7 shop visits. Reason I was normally not provided a vehicle was due to there not being any more Loaners available. They did let me know that I could rent a vehicle and provide receipts for rental reimbursement. (My 2015 Soul EV has had 1 motor/drive unit replaced, 3 On-board chargers replaced, 1 battery pack replacement, 2 Charge port replacements, and the AC Compressor was replaced.)


It is terrible hearing those of you that have been left without a vehicle.
Did anyone else from those same dealerships get loaner vehicles and they just not extended to a select individuals?

At my local Horne Kia Dealer they are not marked as Courtesy Vehicles, but are still the Dealer plate vehicles. Mark Kia my loaners were marked(window logo/vinyl) as Courtesy Vehicles.

 

[spidermonkey]

May I get a link to a Soul EV fire?


The only Home fires I have seen related to a Kia Soul were Gas variants.

As for the loaner vehicle : my extended warranty covers a loaner vehicle.

I didn't need a loaner when initial software recall was done in Nov, as I was taking delivery of a F150 Pro at the n3ighboring dealership.

Then I went out of town and then when I came back I picked-up the vehicle and then had the 'Turtle mode' happen on Dec 14th.

Since Dec14th, I had a loaner.
2024 AWD Sportage until about a week ago when they moved me to a 2024 AWD EV6 Light LR. (Paperwork says the loaner is $47 a day and I just passed 6 months on May 14th...so over $8500 in loaner/rental fees)*

I was out of the factory warranty for the recall as I was at 110,400 miles.
(I do have another Kia purchased from the dealer that was servicing the Soul EV, a 2017 Kia Niro Touring that was purchased with a $0 deductible 100k mile warranty, pre-paid service contract, and such.)

The dealer I used to take the Soul EV to only provided me a rental vehicle 3 out of 7 shop visits. Reason I was normally not provided a vehicle was due to there not being any more Loaners available. They did let me know that I could rent a vehicle and provide receipts for rental reimbursement. (My 2015 Soul EV has had 1 motor/drive unit replaced, 3 On-board chargers replaced, 1 battery pack replacement, 2 Charge port replacements, and the AC Compressor was replaced.)


It is terrible hearing those of you that have been left without a vehicle.
Did anyone else from those same dealerships get loaner vehicles and they just not extended to a select individuals?

At my local Horne Kia Dealer they are not marked as Courtesy Vehicles, but are still the Dealer plate vehicles. Mark Kia my loaners were marked(window logo/vinyl) as Courtesy Vehicles.

House fire was fake news. Sorry.
No offer of a free loaner.
No offer of a loaner in the warranty or extended warranty.
No indication of how long the repairs will take.
No offer to pay for the tow by Kia or my insurance company.

Lucky you.

 

[chrislarsen3]

Update on mine (after 9 months) - they actually ended up ordering a new battery thats being sent now. Software update wasnt possible in the end.

So this car will have had 3 batteries in 6 years!

 

[ksoul2084]

Wow. I believe this is the first confirmed battery replacement due to fire-risk BMS-detection since they revised the BMS software.

 

[spidermonkey]

Update on mine (after 9 months) - they actually ended up ordering a new battery thats being sent now. Software update wasnt possible in the end.

So this car will have had 3 batteries in 6 years!

I sincerely hope this is true, maybe the rest of us will get batteries too. Nine months is a long time to wait, I'm at about eight and a half months myself.

 

[Vicki Streetman]

Hey, i have a 2017 Soul EV+.

Bit of history-
Late 2022 I got my battery replaced (was a month out of warranty but kia still honored it and was able to do it free of charge to me, yay I loved them for that) by a dealer here in NC that hadnt ever seen an EV in their shop but they got it done with kia phone assistance. They didnt recalibrate (or didnt do it propery) so it was messed up range reporting wise. Brought it back and they did the recalibration and it reported 120, so i let it slowly come back down into normal range. Otherwise everything was going great thru sept 2023.

Sept 2023 we got a recall notice to bring it in for a sw update on the charging. Did that.

2 days later we started getting weird power issues like the entertsinment system would go out and/or freeze up until turning the car off and back on again. Brought it in and they said that the support bulletin says if the recall update isnt good a new battery is needed.

They've now had my car since september (! With no new battery ordered!) and keep stringing me along.

My personal feeling is they messed it up when doing the recall update in september and no are in problem territory with kia warranty dept when trying to work thru ordering the new battery but dont want to tell me they messed up. I have no way of knowing though and they still have my car!

I'll be calling Kia HQ to see what the situation is from their perspective but wanted to get some opinions here first in case anyone has any enlightening experiences or feedback.

TIA!

I had a similar issue with my 2017 Kia Soul EV. When the range on the EV dropped rapidly in the summer of 2022, just short of my 2017's 5 year anniversary, I took it in for a checkup as I thought warranty would cover it. Yes, they ended up replacing the EV battery over that year end. Then in August 2023 I got the recall re the battery harness and took it in for work (Sept '23). I got the car back but in less than a month it went into "turtle mode". The dealer took it and said the software update had somehow destroyed the battery which was only 8 months old! They had my car SEVEN months during which time I got updates on the battery ordered for me but never delivered to the dealer . Just a month ago I heard they had "fixed" the car with a software update that kicked it back into working mode! The range is at 96 miles now (as before this failure) . Glad to have my car back but I've very little confidence in their software updates or KIA EV repair expertise. FYI, I was told there are (or were) thousands of Kia EVs at dealerships for months now while they work through this mess!!

 

[chrislarsen3]

UPDATE- New battery received and installed! 121 miles on the charge in 95 degree heat wave.

Went to pick it up and the car wouldn't start Turned out the basic battery depleted somehow, which they replaced right away for free and it's fine now.

 

[RubberToe]

I had a similar issue with my 2017 Kia Soul EV. When the range on the EV dropped rapidly in the summer of 2022, just short of my 2017's 5 year anniversary, I took it in for a checkup as I thought warranty would cover it. Yes, they ended up replacing the EV battery over that year end. Then in August 2023 I got the recall re the battery harness and took it in for work (Sept '23). I got the car back but in less than a month it went into "turtle mode". The dealer took it and said the software update had somehow destroyed the battery which was only 8 months old! They had my car SEVEN months during which time I got updates on the battery ordered for me but never delivered to the dealer . Just a month ago I heard they had "fixed" the car with a software update that kicked it back into working mode! The range is at 96 miles now (as before this failure) . Glad to have my car back but I've very little confidence in their software updates or KIA EV repair expertise. FYI, I was told there are (or were) thousands of Kia EVs at dealerships for months now while they work through this mess!!

Same thing happened to us. Awaiting a Kia buyback offer. See other thread for details.