Battery Reset & Dead Battery (HEV)

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dbrewood
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Post by dbrewood »

Well I’m not impressed this morning. Yesterday I did a lot of driving so all good. I did notice prior to the drive the aircon had reset to 22 degrees. Hey I thought that’s the first time I've seen that hope I’m not going to get the battery dead issue.
Lo and behold looked to get into the car this morning, dead as a door nail and would not unlock. Had to do the ‘manually open the door dance’ and hit the battery reset button.
Hoping this is not going to be an issue going forward. I’ve logged a countdown so I can see how long it is until it next occurs.
Not impressed at all, the car has only done 1300 miles.
Last edited by dbrewood on Sat Aug 20, 2022 11:33 am, edited 3 times in total.
Car: Hyundai Tucson Ultimate Hybrid in Dark Knight w Tech Pack
Soon to be a Kona N-Line S Hybrid w Lux pack in Denim Blue

Big S
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Post by Big S »

Reading your history on here you have had your car approx 3 months and done 1300 miles in total. In 1 post you said you had been up to Scotland in it, so I expect a lot of the time you are doing short journeys or its sitting locked on your driveway a lot. I appreciate you had a long drive in it the day before so in theory the battery should have charged up fully. I am surprised that with your mileage you haven't suffered a flat battery before. It is looking like these Hybrid cars don't like not being not used a lot. You tempted fate a while back when you said you hadn't had the reset problems!!!
old man
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Post by old man »

My car was in yesterday to have this problem checked out, although (touch wood) my battery hasn't yet died completely. I did learn that the 12V battery only holds a small charge regardless of what mileage you did the day before (as I discovered last week after a 400 mile trip) and it would appear to get easily depleted by the systems that continue to run when the car is switched off e.g. alarm system. So if after your long trip you did something else that flattens the battery e.g. opening doors, switching ignition on, in fact anything that uses power, the battery will lose power easily and shut down and/or reset certain systems and parameters e.g. your air con.
It seem to be fast becoming apparent that the 12V battery capacity is not fit for purpose.
Tucson N Line S 2WD Hybrid Auto
Big S
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Post by Big S »

Hyundai must have had some idea that the 12volt battery might cause problems otherwise they wouldn't have fitted a Battery reset button on the HEV models.
I wonder if they will update it on MY23 cars.!!
old man
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Post by old man »

Hyundai must have had some idea that the 12volt battery might cause problems otherwise they wouldn't have fitted a Battery reset button on the HEV models.
Good point and I'm convinced they know more that they're letting on.
I wonder if they will update it on MY23 cars.!!
Hopefully and let's hope if they do, that it can be backdated to earlier cars. I wonder if it can be fixed via a software update, or whether it requires a different (larger capacity) battery.
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dbrewood
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Post by dbrewood »

Argh just lost my post by hitting replay instead of submit. Anyway I was saying I understand the thoughts on journey lengths v small capacity batteries. As far as I’m aware non Hyundai hybrids do not suffer the issue so they need to do a recall and fit higher capacity batteries.
Car: Hyundai Tucson Ultimate Hybrid in Dark Knight w Tech Pack
Soon to be a Kona N-Line S Hybrid w Lux pack in Denim Blue
old man
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Post by old man »

Do you have any suggestions about what we can do to instigate a recall, especially as they're currently denying knowledge of this problem ?
Tucson N Line S 2WD Hybrid Auto
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Post by Deleted User 487 »

dbrewood wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 12:54 pm Argh just lost my post by hitting replay instead of submit. Anyway I was saying I understand the thoughts on journey lengths v small capacity batteries. As far as I’m aware non Hyundai hybrids do not suffer the issue so they need to do a recall and fit higher capacity batteries.
Other brands Hybrid models have a 12v battery as well, including other Hyundai’s like the original Ionic.

I don’t think a recall for a bigger battery is the solution. They need to find why the system resets, and fix that through software.
old man
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Post by old man »

richarde wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 2:53 pm
dbrewood wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 12:54 pm Argh just lost my post by hitting replay instead of submit. Anyway I was saying I understand the thoughts on journey lengths v small capacity batteries. As far as I’m aware non Hyundai hybrids do not suffer the issue so they need to do a recall and fit higher capacity batteries.
Other brands Hybrid models have a 12v battery as well, including other Hyundai’s like the original Ionic.

I don’t think a recall for a bigger battery is the solution. They need to find why the system resets, and fix that through software.


I'm just chuntering, guessing and speculating here, but; I think we probably know why the system resets.
The 12V battery doesn't have enough capacity when fully charged to keep power going to all the systems it's servicing when the car is switched off. So,there's a battery management system or software programme (whatever you want to call it) that decides to stop sending power to non essential settings i.e. the ones we're finding shut down and resetting to default when power gets back to them.
Now I'm sure that some boffin would be able to alter the BMS software programme so that it wouldn't cut off certain systems so early, but that in turn would flatten the battery completely, so we'd have to use a key to gain entry and press the reset button. Obviously unacceptable !
The stumbling block as I see it, is that the already installed 12V battery only has a certain capacity and I can't imagine that can be increased via a software update. I would think that a different battery with a larger capacity would need to be installed, if that's possible and I also assume that the software programme would need to be altered to accommodate a different battery.
So to us, the uninitiated, what seems like an unnecessary problem that shouldn't be there and in theory would have a simple software fix, might in reality be quite an undertaking for Hyundai to put right.
As anyone who's taken an interest in cars and the car industry over the years will know, manufacturers do not undertake recall fixes lightly because they cost money. Anything that's a safety issue that's likely to cause death or injury will get fairly quick attention because no manufacturer wants a law suit against them.
Certain other issues that are causing a stream of complaints and customers to visit their dealers in numbers e.g. an engine design fault that is causing major problems and harming their reputation will get a manufacturer to acknowledge a problem, but they don't always issue a recall, it's more likely to be free repair or part swap when customers have problems and complain.
In a case like ours, if enough people experience a problem and take it to their dealer and /or Hyundai, then eventually Hyundai might look for a solution, but if out of all the cars sold, only a few owners complain, then a fix is unlikely to be forthcoming, especially if it involves designing and fitting a new battery.

Whilst what I've stated here are my thoughts based on experience, common sense, info from dealers and owners on here, one thing is certain - if we don't take our cars to a dealer to complain, ask for a fix and ensure our dealers pass that info on to Hyundai, then nothing will get done and we'll have to put up with these glitches. Apathy won't work !!
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terryp
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Post by terryp »

old man wrote: Tue Aug 16, 2022 3:56 pm
Whilst what I've stated here are my thoughts based on experience, common sense, info from dealers and owners on here, one thing is certain - if we don't take our cars to a dealer to complain, ask for a fix and ensure our dealers pass that info on to Hyundai, then nothing will get done and we'll have to put up with these glitches. Apathy won't work !!
As I've stated before, there is strength in numbers and if we're serious about resolving this we all need to persevere to remove this "never seen this before" response.
I have just sent a "chase" email to Hyundai Customer Service.
The article recently referred to "Do Hybrid Vehicles Get Discharged?" makes great play about the make up of the batteries in the Tucson and the various Battery protection functions to prevent "over discharge" .
Any new technology will be subject to flaws and it's usually the customer that finishes up as the test pilot.
Tucson Ultimate Auto 230PS in Dark Teal. Love it!!
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