— Hyundai level 2 charger problems have caused a class action lawsuit which includes the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Hyundai Ioniq 6, Kia EV6 and Genesis GV60.
The three owners who filed the lawsuit allege they had problems with the level 2 chargers.
The lawsuit alleges the vehicles are advertised as offering certain charging times at home by using a level 2 charger.
But defects allegedly cause the level 2 chargers to overheat before the vehicles are charged.
The plaintiffs assert the chargers may overheat within 30 to 60 minutes of being in use. Hyundai owners allegedly must unplug and replug the home chargers in order to restart the charging process.
The class action alleges owners who plug in their vehicles at night come back in the morning to find their electric vehicles are not fully charged. And the lawsuit further alleges, "overheated chargers frequently lead to damage to vehicle components."
The electric vehicles should allegedly be charged by 240-volt level 2 chargers at 48 amps in about seven hours, although the class action alleges the Kia EV6 promises a charging time of five hours and 50 minutes at home with a level 2 charger.
Hyundai and Kia offered a software repair the plaintiffs contend does nothing to solve the charger problems. Dealerships perform the software modifications which allegedly lowers the level 2 charging speeds to avoid overheating.
The class action lawsuit alleges this creates charging times of more than 10 hours.
According to the plaintiffs, the Hyundai level 2 charger problems leave customers with different vehicles than advertised.
Technical service bulletin (TSB) 23-EV-003h was issued to dealers due to level 2 charger problems when an electric vehicle, “intermittently stops charging before charging completes.” But the charger lawsuit alleges the TSB never mentions how the software update will double the charging time.
Hyundai and Kia customers must allegedly manually turn down the charging current to prevent charge failures, but some vehicles allegedly suffer failures while charging at a low 28 amps. This means it will take much longer to fully charge the electric vehicles.
The plaintiffs blame the problem on a defect in the charging port design which causes overheating.
"When the port reaches a certain temperature, the vehicle terminates the charging session as a safety measure, but it does not restart the session once the port has reached an acceptable temperature." — Hyundai level 2 charger lawsuit
The class action also alleges battery charging failures occur more frequently when outside temperatures are higher.
The Hyundai level 2 charger class action lawsuit was filed by these customers.
- David Gould / New York / 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5
- Kaushik Iyengar / Georgia / 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited
- John Nixon / Florida / 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5
The Hyundai level 2 charger class action lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California: David Gould, et al., v. Hyundai Motor Company, et al.
The plaintiffs are represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.
