Do not park the Hyundai Kona EV inside, as it may ignite
The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued a recall request for Hyundai Kona and Hyundai Ioniq electric vehicles after more than a dozen battery fires were reported.
The agency also warns owners of these cars not to park cars near homes or any flammable building.
The power failure in Hyundai Kona's lithium-ion battery cells increases the risk of fire while standing, charging, and driving, the NHTSA said, adding: The safest place to park it is outside and away from homes and other buildings.
Last month, Hyundai announced it was recalling about 76,000 Hyundai Kona electric cars built between 2018 and 2020 due to concerns about a battery fire.
This was the second recall of the Hyundai Kona, but the first recall was universal in nature.
The car manufacturer also said: It recalls some Hyundai Ioniq electric cars and electric buses that it builds.
In total, Hyundai said it recalled 82,000 cars and estimated it cost $ 900 million.
The Hyundai Kona battery is manufactured by LG Energy Solutions, which is also based in South Korea, as is Hyundai.
LG Chem is a major supplier of lithium-ion batteries to automakers such as General Motors, Audi, Mercedes, Volkswagen, and Daimler.
Hyundai is the latest carmaker to issue a voluntary recall due to battery defects.
GM said last year it recalled nearly 69,000 Chevy Bolts, and Audi recalled more than 500 E-Tron SUVs due to the risk of battery fires.
Chinese company Nio has recalled nearly 5,000 ES8 electric SUVs after multiple reports of battery fires in 2019.
There is no evidence that electric cars catch fire at a rate different from that of internal combustion cars, but this topic has received increasing scrutiny as more electric vehicles enter the road.
First responders are trained to deal with electric vehicle battery fires, given that they cannot be extinguished by some conventional methods.
The Tesla car fires have attracted a lot of attention in particular, so much so that the company's CEO, Elon Musk, has publicly opposed covering the accidents.
Other automakers, like Jaguar, have suffered isolated fires in their electric cars.