The Hyundai Kona caught fire during a crash test. The incident forced the manufacturer to issue a recall and raised concerns about the safety of the vehicle.
A 40%-speed (64 km/h) crash test conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) found a worrying problem. After completing the test, technicians found smoke and flames coming from the engine compartment.The fire not only appeared once but also recurred twice, forcing technicians to intervene to extinguish it. The problem was finally resolved only after completely disconnecting the 12-volt battery pack on the car.
After disassembling the 2024 Hyundai Kona, IIHS found that the alternator and the 12-volt positive cable were damaged by the collision. The engine control module (ECM) was also pushed into the 12-volt positive cable, and it was determined that the ECM bracket was displaced during the collision. This came into contact with the bare copper core of the battery cable, causing an electrical short and fire.
Hyundai quickly came up with a fix by adding a new coating to the battery anode on the 2024 Kona, to ensure safety in the event of a collision or accident. This measure was proven effective in the next IIHS test.
The automaker will also contact more than 10,000 owners of the 2024 Kona 1.6T-GDI in the U.S. to address the issue. Customers just need to take their vehicle to a dealer and they will have the battery protection cover installed for free.
In Vietnam, the Kona model is no longer distributed by TC Motor (Hyundai Thanh Cong) since June 2022 due to a lack of spare parts supply. In addition, the company also wants to focus on selling the Creta model, which has had quite good sales with 20,862 units since its launch in the Vietnamese market in March 2022 until the end of November 2023 (according to VAMA, TC Motor).
The 2024 Hyundai Kona caught fire during a crash test, raising questions about the safety of the vehicle. A quick fix was implemented, but the incident left questions and posed significant challenges for the auto industry, especially electric vehicles.
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