Twinned with the original Ioniq series from Hyundai, the first-generation Kia Niro has been hit with a safety recall. According to Kia America, the high-voltage battery safety plug of certain 2022 Kia Niro EV models is prone to overheating, which may lead to a loss of drive power and/or a fire.
This prompted Kia America’s Safety Office to investigate the vehicle in question, finding no issues with the battery cells or temperature sensors. Given the aforementioned, the parts were shipped to the Kia Corporation in South Korea for in-depth analysis. In October 2023, the safety boffins in Seoul informed Kia America of a potentially similar incident involving a 2022 model year Niro EV.
Kia Corporation was unable to duplicate the melting condition, but come May 2024, the mothership identified the root cause of the melting condition. As it happens, a deviation in the manufacturing of the female-female terminal causes the safety plug to overheat. As per the recall documentation filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the North America office identified one warranty claim, three techline cases, and two more vehicles with isolated melting of the safety plug. Thankfully, Kia America isn’t aware of any reports of fire caused by the recall condition.
The supplier of the iffy safety plug assembly is Korean company KET, whereas the affected population of vehicles produced for the United States market were manufactured in the period between July 21, 2021 and December 2, 2021. Together with the supplier, Kia Corporation determined that the contact surfaces of the safety plug may develop high electrical resistance.
Dealers will be notified about said recall no later than July 16, whereas owner notifications will be mailed on or about July 19. The suspect high-voltage battery safety plug assembly bears part number 37518-K4000. An estimated 2,209 vehicles were produced for the 2022 model year with suspect high-voltage battery safety plug assemblies.
Kia ended production of the first-gen Niro after model year 2022. Internally referred to as SG2, the second generation rolled out in 2021 for model year 2023. Now related to the Hyundai Kona rather than the Ioniq, the Niro comes in three flavors.
The hybrid is the most affordable of the bunch at $26,940 for the 2024 model year, whereas the plug-in hybrid is $34,390 from the outset. $39,600 gets you the Niro EV, which also happens to be Kia’s most affordable electric vehicle in the US of A.
Niro EV promises up to 253 miles (407 kilometers) of EPA-rated driving range, and every Niro EV ships with 500 kilowatt hours of charging credits on Electrify America’s network. Kia America says that’s good for around 1,750 to 2,000 miles.
