Battery Drain Issue Kia Niro HEV 2021

Faults and Technical chat for the Kia Niro
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AmyG
Posts: 1
Joined: Sat Dec 07, 2024 2:00 pm

Post by AmyG »

We have a Kia Niro Hybrid. In the last 6 months we've gone to start the car after around 12 hours of inactivity and the battery has been completely flat. We've had to call out breakdown each time. We've taken the car to the dealer, Kia Wessex, and they've run all the standard tests and say they cannot fault the car. We've asked the dealer to loop in Kia Technical - more tests run and no fault found. I've asked to see a copy of all the communications between Kia Wessex and Kia Technical and here's what I got back:-

- Our driving habits were highlighted as potentially contributing to the issue (short 3–4 mile trips twice daily).
- "It may well be the overall usage of the vehicle which could be why the 12v battery is activating the 12v latching relay" Kia Technical
- No abnormal battery drain was identified, and weather conditions or intermittent faults with components like the boot handle switch or door latch connectors were suggested as potential culprits.
- A recommendation to maintain a detailed vehicle usage log for further investigation

We now have the car back from Kia Wessex with no plan for how to resolve this issue, other than we should keep a diary of when this happens (!!) KIa Customer Care have deflected all responsibility to Kia Wessex, refuse to accept that there is an issue with a car that cannot be used for short journeys and have said "In general, on any make or model of vehicle lots of short journeys will drain the battery more because the alternator will not have the time or capability to replace charge. This is not unique to Kia."
Kia Wessex is barely communicating with us.

I am at a loss for how to get some resolution on this and extremely frustrated with Kia Wessex and also Kia UK Limited Customer Services. We have a car that cannot relied upon. Has anyone experienced the same issue and found some way of getting a resolution from Kia in the form of a fix, a replacement or a refund?

h2onorth
Posts: 189
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:19 pm

Post by h2onorth »

Thus sounds absolutely unbelievable. Great sympathy for you . Suggest. Independent engineers are instructed to look at car and produce report!
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