Hyundai reportedly recalls 25,000 Kona Electric cars in South Korea; investigation underway regarding EU and US models.
As of now, the total number of vehicles potentially recalled stands at around 51,000 from major markets like China, Europe, and North America, besides others.
Though a detailed country-to-country breakdown is yet to be disclosed, the number of recalled cars in Europe and America stands at 37,366 and 11,137, respectively.
Hyundai already confirmed the voluntary recall of 25,000 Kona EVs in its home market, and the number is expected to swell to more than 77,000 worldwide.
Commenting on the situation, Hyundai stated that it is in the final stages of filing a recall notice with the NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) for the US Kona EVs and is expected to start contacting owners soon.
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The transport ministry of South Korea reported that a possible short circuit caused by an error in the manufacturing process of the high-voltage batteries may be in cause here.
Interestingly, the battery supplier for Kona EVs, LG Chem Ltd., denied any fault in the batteries, claiming that the actual cause of fires in the EVs has not yet been determined.
LG Chem also conducted a joint re-enactment experiment with Hyundai, and interestingly, the result did not lead to a fire, thus confirming its claim. The manufacturer refused to comment any further on the matter.
From a financial perspective, the process of recalling and updating Kona EVs might set Hyundai back well north of 600 billion won ($522.1 million.) This figure, however, is an estimate if battery replacements were offered on all the faulty models.
All of the recalled models in South Korea will receive a software update, with only a handful of extremely faulty models receiving a battery replacement.
