Hesitation when accelerating

Faults and Technical chat for the Kia Niro
duncanda
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2018 9:17 pm

Post by duncanda »

Hi. I’m new to the forum and bought a March 2017 Niro 3 with 10,000 miles on the clock a month ago. I’ve been commuting 400-500 miles per week and I’m getting use to the car. My previous car was a Lexus IS300h.

My query is about the drive train. On a few occasions I seem to have caught out the gears. What I mean is that I’ve come to a stop, or near stop and then have gone from braking to accelerating and there’s been a noticeable delay for the gears to engage and accelerate away. Never had this problem in the Lexus. I know it’s a different type of auto gearing, but the delay has really caught me out. Is this typical of the Niro?

Greenman
Posts: 108
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:11 pm
Location: West London

Post by Greenman »

Those of us who got the cars in the early months found this as a general problem. There was a recall in 2017 that improved it a lot, and then at my last service 30 Aug there were 4 updates that have improved it again. I'd say now that any hesitation is pretty comparable to any other automatic on the road. Your car may not have had the recall actions done?
Mike R
Niro 2 Black [no additional driving aids] Since 1 Sept 2016
Previously: Sportage KX2awd on11 plate
duncanda
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2018 9:17 pm

Post by duncanda »

Thanks Greenman. I'l be sure to check if it's had the updates. I think I've seen them on another thread on the forum. Just realised it was your post.
h2onorth
Posts: 174
Joined: Thu Nov 24, 2016 6:19 pm

Post by h2onorth »

Hi all, I must slightly disagree with greenman about the hesitation. In my case Niro2, At 12k miles the hesitation has never really improved, during warm up period anyway, up to 5 miles. Once warm It's very hard to criticise but of course the whole point of a hybrid is the engine tries to turn off as often as possible so the engine may get cool again, that's why the emissions are higher for hybrid, see Which reports.
My old diesel auto NEVER hesitated like this at any stage and if it had it would be in the garage pronto
h2onorth
duncanda
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2018 9:17 pm

Post by duncanda »

Got recall letter and also asked garage to check software versions. They replaced clutch actuator and did the software upgrades and throttle and clutch are far better and the car drives more smoothly. A vast improvement. However still not as good as my previous Lexus IS300h.
JOL54
Posts: 64
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 4:37 pm

Post by JOL54 »

I second above - had 2 IS 300h's before the Niro and the Lexus was very smooth.
Local dealer however has not said anything about software upgrades or clutch actuator only mentioned rear arms. Jerkiness is getting worse now,
seems as if you had kept foot lighly on clutch and then suddenly taken it right off!!!
duncanda
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2018 9:17 pm

Post by duncanda »

Another poster, Greenman, listed an ECU update and another couple. I showed the dealer when I took my car along for the recall. The dealer said they updated the software.
mutley
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2018 2:39 pm

Post by mutley »

I must admit I never had a problem with any jerkiness until I had a software update in Oct on its 2nd birthday , I find the car now surges on light throttle uphill and is so jerky there is no way I would have bought a car which performs in this manner, they have totally changed the character of the car . Needless to say It will be returned after the 1000 miles they tell me Kia says it will learn and bed in by, I can only say it is a slow learner up to now .I find If you need acceleration I just knock it into sport mode and floor it, it goes like a bat out of hell with no hesitation , I generally get high 50s to 64 mpg on a brim to brim filling and that's with probably 65 percent done in town driving ( 2-5 mile journeys ) so very pleased with that, much better than my previous diesels.
Regards the Lexus it is a totally different system much like the Daff of old , which can be likened to a derailleur on a bike but without the steps the drive just rides up a cone shape to reach a higher gear and down again for the lower gears hence the sudden rise in RPM when accelerating hard . smooth but noisy . well you can't have everything.
duncanda
Posts: 52
Joined: Wed Aug 01, 2018 9:17 pm

Post by duncanda »

When going from braking to acceleration quickly e.g. roundabout, the car can be slow to accelerate. Getting use to the lag, but not ideal. Regards the Lexus hybrid auto, it’s not like the old belt drive of the Daf, it’s done by gears, not belt and cones and the IS300h never had any transmission lag.
mutley
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Oct 28, 2018 2:39 pm

Post by mutley »

Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive (HSD), which is used in hybrid models such as the Prius and Lexus IS 300h, uses a form of CVT gearbox as part of the hybrid system. This has a split power delivery so that the car's engine is either driving the wheels or sending power to the battery.
CVT reliability
A CVT gearbox doesn't have many moving parts, so it's relatively reliable. It's also mainly used in low-power applications, so cars running a CVT are usually fairly unstressed. As long as the right fluids are used to lubricate the gearbox, and you stick to a regular maintenance schedule, then a CVT box should be no less reliable than a conventional auto or manual. The only real issue you might have is that the drive belt between the two pulleys can wear out. This can lead to slip, which will be obvious as the engine revs, but the car will fail to accelerate as quickly as normal.
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