Hyundai, Kia to recall 1.7 lakh EVs over charging software issue

Seoul, March 14 (IANS) Hyundai Motor and Kia will voluntarily recall nearly 170,000 electric vehicles (EV) to address a software error in the charging system, the government said on Thursday.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said 12 car models totaling 232,000 units from Hyundai Motor, Kia, Stellantis Korea and Tesla Korea are subject to recall due to manufacturing defects.

Of those, 169,932 Hyundai Motor and Kia units were found to have software errors in the integrated charging control unit. Models affected are Hyundai's Ioniq 5, Ioniq 6, Genesis GV60, GV70 and GV80 EVs, totaling 113,916 units, and 56,016 units of Kia's EV6, reports Yonhap news agency.

The ministry said that the error could prevent the vehicles in question from conducting low-voltage charging, leading to the possibility of the vehicles stopping while driving.

Additionally, 61,131 Hyundai Avante units will be voluntarily recalled due to a problem with the durability of the headlights.

According to the ministry, 527 units of Stellantis' Jeep Cherokee were found to have reverse lights installed higher than the standard, while 148 units of the Jeep Wrangler plug-in hybrid electric vehicle model were found to have defective high-voltage batteries.

A total of 136 Tesla Model 3 units were found to have issues where pedestrian warning sounds do not activate during low-speed driving or reversing.