Industry
A Hyundai Motor Kona electric vehicle caught fire last week in the first-ever Kona fire recall, prompting authorities to investigate the appropriateness of the recall, an official said. South Korea’s ministry of transport.
PHOTO FILE: The Hyundai Kona Electric will be seen at the 41st Bangkok International Motor Show in Bangkok, Thailand July 14, 2020. REUTERS / Jorge Silva
SEOUL: A Hyundai Motor Kona electric vehicle caught fire last week in the first-ever Kona Fire recall, urging authorities to investigate the appropriateness of the recall, a South Korean transport ministry official said.
A series of fires sparked big memories of the Kona EV sale of Hyundai in South Korea in October.
The latest Kona fire, Saturday in the city of Daegu, is among 11 reported so far in the country. But this incident was different in that it was the first Kona EV that caught fire after going through the recall process, the official said Tuesday.
In South Korea, Hyundai has recalled 25,564 Kona EVs built in September 2017 to March 2020 due to the risk of short circuit that may be caused by defective manufacture of the high voltage battery cells aige.
Kona EVs recalled in South Korea get software updates and some get battery upgrades after inspection.
The recalled Kona that caught fire received only a software update but no battery was found, the official said on condition of anonymity as he is not allowed to speak to the media.
The Korea Automobile Testing & Research Institute, which has been investigating the fires, is now looking into plenty of Hyundai’s voluntary recall process, the institute official and official said.
Hyundai did not immediately comment.
Hyundai is expected to launch a new electric vehicle, the Ioniq 5 – its first model using a new EV-only platform – next month.
(Narrated by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Himani Sarkar)