[jillandsamhershfield]

Rick2055, one of the automatic operations like the cooling fan or auto ventillate or auto dehumidify could be the problem all of us 2024 Konas are having with parasitic battery drain. I've found our fan running after we've left the car for some time. I've shut of all auto ventillate and dehumidify settings. Let's see what happens. Clearly not enough of us 2024 Kona owners have had dead batteries to get Hyundai USA or Hyundai corporate in Seoul's attention. Thanks TJ for the auto fan info!

 

[Floplop]

Was at the dealer the other day for 5 hours. There happened to be a tech there from Hyundai who was training the mechanics. This is what he told me, and don't blast me for the info, I am just the messenger. He saw the mileage on my car which is very low 2k for 5 months. I told him I just retired, and I don't use the car much. He told me that there are many things that draw power from the battery even when the car is off, including the app, the sensors, the cameras etc. He said when I came in, my battery checked at 70%. It was a 40 miles drive to get there. He said he guarantees that my battery was probably 30-40 percent before I left the house. He said if you don't drive it, it will steadily lose juice to the point that it won't start. He told me it's not the battery, and they would have no problem putting a new one in, if that was the problem. He brought me over to the new car lot and showed me all the new cars that have battery tenders on them because Hyundai wants them charged up in case a customer wants to test drive one. He told me to get a battery tender and leave it on, so the battery will always be charged and ready to go. So I just picked one up for $40. Again, I am sure most here won't agree with this, but for me, it's the best solution for now. I'll give Hyundai a few months to see if this is something they recognize, and if not, I will trade it in.

 

[david13]

Was at the dealer the other day for 5 hours. There happened to be a tech there from Hyundai who was training the mechanics. This is what he told me, and don't blast me for the info, I am just the messenger. He saw the mileage on my car which is very low 2k for 5 months. I told him I just retired, and I don't use the car much. He told me that there are many things that draw power from the battery even when the car is off, including the app, the sensors, the cameras etc. He said when I came in, my battery checked at 70%. It was a 40 miles drive to get there. He said he guarantees that my battery was probably 30-40 percent before I left the house. He said if you don't drive it, it will steadily lose juice to the point that it won't start. He told me it's not the battery, and they would have no problem putting a new one in, if that was the problem. He brought me over to the new car lot and showed me all the new cars that have battery tenders on them because Hyundai wants them charged up in case a customer wants to test drive one. He told me to get a battery tender and leave it on, so the battery will always be charged and ready to go. So I just picked one up for $40. Again, I am sure most here won't agree with this, but for me, it's the best solution for now. I'll give Hyundai a few months to see if this is something they recognize, and if not, I will trade it in.

What about people who don't have q garage

 

[Floplop]

What about people who don't have q garage

That would be a problem

 

[jillandsamhershfield]

We had a 2020 Kona Limited for three years and NEVER had this problem. If Hyundai loaded the 2024 up with so many apps/sensors/cameras that drain the battery after they are turned off, why didn't they come up with a more powerful battery or charging system that made up for the inherent parasitic drain? Anyone know of any other Hyundai owners with 2024 models (other than Kona) who are having our problem? This is a model killer in my opinion. If Hyundai can't provide a Kona that doesn't go dead by itself, it's time for a new car, even though we only have 2200 miles on ours.

 

[TJ Moritz]

I have Auto Dry turned On in my 2024 Kona Limited. Even if it does run it’s only the cabin fan on low speed and never more than 30 minutes. Usually less. It will time out at 30 minutes maximum.
I don’t have issues.
I just returned home from a trip and after 2 weeks sitting in my garage the Kona started right up.
I like the Smart Defrost feature too.

The cabin fan running is a feature on the Kona Limited. In the settings on the main menu go to setup, vehicle, climate and finally automatic venilation. There are two settings in automatic venilation. Automatic dehumidify and scheduled ventilation. The automatic venilation is set to on in my car. The other option scheduled venilation is set to off. Went on a road trip Tuesday and after I got home I went to the garage about 20 minutes later and the cabin fan was running. It ran for about 30 minutes and shut off by itself. Back to the drawing board on the battery draw. I have found the cooling fan on the motor running twice but not recently. Thanks to TJ Moritz for the education on the manual and fan. Hyundai wants me to take the car back to the dealer again and I have an appointment on June 18th. The car isn't holding any codes so I am not really confident that they will find anything. Really like the car and it got 36mpg out on the road. Hopefully Hyundai will come out with a fix.

i haven’t had any dead battery issues even after sitting in my garage for 2 weeks while we were on vacation. We did notice the fuel economy is considerably better than what’s listed on the Monroney sticker. I’m very happy about that. All in all it seems like a very solid and quiet well built car. And we get lots of comments on the style and people asking if it’s an EV. LOL Enjoy your ride. We sure do.

 

[Floplop]

We had a 2020 Kona Limited for three years and NEVER had this problem. If Hyundai loaded the 2024 up with so many apps/sensors/cameras that drain the battery after they are turned off, why didn't they come up with a more powerful battery or charging system that made up for the inherent parasitic drain? Anyone know of any other Hyundai owners with 2024 models (other than Kona) who are having our problem? This is a model killer in my opinion. If Hyundai can't provide a Kona that doesn't go dead by itself, it's time for a new car, even though we only have 2200 miles on ours.

I have 2k on mine and I agree with you. At least with the tender, I can keep it charged until I decide what I want to do. If anyone is thinking of using a Tender, the Battery in the Kona is 12v AGM setting.

 

[TJ Moritz]

I have 2k on mine and I agree with you. At least with the tender, I can keep it charged until I decide what I want to do. If anyone is thinking of using a Tender, the Battery in the Kona is 12v AGM setting.

I’m wondering if they didn’t just get a bad batch of batteries. Myself and my friend both have 2024 Kona Limited AWD and no issues. I’m an ASE certified auto tech specializing in electrical and network systems.
I’ve gone as far as putting a digital storage graphing ammeter on mine to check for draw. While I agree there is a small draw after you shut the car off it stops after 20-30 minutes as the modules on the CAN networks shut down. It’s no different than my 2023 Lincoln Nautilus or my 2014 Lincoln MKS. You can see the current draw change as the modules systematically shut down. Parasitic draw is about 60 milliamps which is typical of any car.

 

[jillandsamhershfield]

Good input. Then why do some of us have dead batteries? Never had this problem on any of my many cars before. 😕

 

[goddi1]

We've got a 2024 Kona Limited FWD. We were away for 18 days. Got back, Kona started with no problem. If the dead battery problem was to happen, I guess that would have been the test. I hope it gets figured out. Gary

 

[The Riddler]

Add me to the list of people who are having this issue. My Kona was bought in January and I had my first experience with this problem today. I had noticed the fans coming on after the car was shut off before but thought it was a 'feature'. I'll be taking it to the dealer tomorrow and plan on giving the tech all the links to these threads about this problem. Not sure if they can do much about it, but at least they'll know where to start.

 

[TJ Moritz]

Add me to the list of people who are having this issue. My Kona was bought in January and I had my first experience with this problem today. I had noticed the fans coming on after the car was shut off before but thought it was a 'feature'. I'll be taking it to the dealer tomorrow and plan on giving the tech all the links to these threads about this problem. Not sure if they can do much about it, but at least they'll know where to start.

The Cabin fan coming on IS a feature called Auto Dry. If you don’t like it, read the manual. It’s a setting you can turn on or off. But… I have it ON on our 2024 Kona Limited and don’t have a battery issue.

 

[david13]

Has anyone used a 12 volt battery tender plugged into the cigarette lighter in order to slow charge the battery

 

[Rick2055]

Was at the dealer the other day for 5 hours. There happened to be a tech there from Hyundai who was training the mechanics. This is what he told me, and don't blast me for the info, I am just the messenger. He saw the mileage on my car which is very low 2k for 5 months. I told him I just retired, and I don't use the car much. He told me that there are many things that draw power from the battery even when the car is off, including the app, the sensors, the cameras etc. He said when I came in, my battery checked at 70%. It was a 40 miles drive to get there. He said he guarantees that my battery was probably 30-40 percent before I left the house. He said if you don't drive it, it will steadily lose juice to the point that it won't start. He told me it's not the battery, and they would have no problem putting a new one in, if that was the problem. He brought me over to the new car lot and showed me all the new cars that have battery tenders on them because Hyundai wants them charged up in case a customer wants to test drive one. He told me to get a battery tender and leave it on, so the battery will always be charged and ready to go. So I just picked one up for $40. Again, I am sure most here won't agree with this, but for me, it's the best solution for now. I'll give Hyundai a few months to see if this is something they recognize, and if not, I will trade it in.

No offense but the tech's explanation of the battery draw sounds like a cop out. If that were the case all the Kona's would have dead batteries. I would think that the cameras and sensors remain powered off until you start the car. At this point I don't think that Hyundai has any clue about what is causing the problem. Personally I don't think anyone in their right mind would build a car with that kind of battery drain built in. Good luck with your car. If that tech told the trainees what he told you then that is what is going to be stuck in their mind. If they happen to service a car with the dead battery problem they will go to that explanation and no further.

 

[tadda]

No offense but the tech's explanation of the battery draw sounds like a cop out. If that were the case all the Kona's would have dead batteries. I would think that the cameras and sensors remain powered off until you start the car. At this point I don't think that Hyundai has any clue about what is causing the problem. Personally I don't think anyone in their right mind would build a car with that kind of battery drain built in. Good luck with your car. If that tech told the trainees what he told you then that is what is going to be stuck in their mind. If they happen to service a car with the dead battery problem they will go to that explanation and no further.

I agree...In my experience I've found these service techs knew far less about the problems and their causes than I did when it came to fixing problems!

 

[TJ Moritz]

No offense but the tech's explanation of the battery draw sounds like a cop out. If that were the case all the Kona's would have dead batteries. I would think that the cameras and sensors remain powered off until you start the car. At this point I don't think that Hyundai has any clue about what is causing the problem. Personally I don't think anyone in their right mind would build a car with that kind of battery drain built in. Good luck with your car. If that tech told the trainees what he told you then that is what is going to be stuck in their mind. If they happen to service a car with the dead battery problem they will go to that explanation and no further.

I’d be real curious to see the build dates of all these vehicles that are having this problem. I’m sure Hyundai has that information somewhere. The reason I’m asking is not every car does it. I’m wondering if they didn’t just get a bad batch of batteries. By looking at the build date and approximate mileage on these failures, we could determine and narrow it down a little bit more. I realize from the time the dealer orders the car until the time it’s delivered to their dealership it can take approximately four months because these cars come from South Korea.

 

[TJ Moritz]

Has anyone used a 12 volt battery tender plugged into the cigarette lighter in order to slow charge the battery

That’s not a cigarette lighter. It’s a 12v power port and IMSM, it’s only hot when the car is on accessories or running. So a switched power port will not work if you plug a tender in it.
my Dodge and Ford each have 2 ports. One switched and one non switched meaning the non switched is active all the time. Those are the ports I use for my tender. With the engine running, get a 12v test light or volt meter and check for power on your Hyundai port. Should have 12v.
now shut the car off and open the drivers door. If you lose 12v than the port is switched and a tender won’t work in that case. You’d have to go directly to the battery.
Hope this explains it.

 

[TJ Moritz]

I agree...In my experience I've found these service techs knew far less about the problems and their causes than I did when it came to fixing problems!

I sure agree. Seems like if the car doesn't set a code they have no clue what to do. I’m a Certified tech myself with 56 years experience. We’ve fixed tons of cars from other shops and even dealerships. Just because it won’t throw a code doesn’t mean there isn’t a problem. Get these techs trained up. I also trained auto diagnostics for a major tool and equipment manufacturer for 25 years.
Sad state of affairs.

 

[Rick2055]

As I was posting earlier this morning my Hyundai's battery was dying. Went to the garage to go shopping. Hit the starter button and nothing. There was enough juice left in the battery to illuminate the display. A message flashed on the display that said there was a parasitic outside source discharging the battery. Had to leave for about 45 minutes and by the time I got home the battery was toast. I checked the battery with my volt meter when it happened and you could actually see the voltage falling. I made a short film clip of it. Called roadside assistance. Triple A came out and jumped it and I let the car run for about 30 minutes and shut it off. Put my battery charger on the battery and it wont take a charge. Charged it for about four hours and it only shows a 25% charge. Never saw a battery discharge that fast without something running on the car. There was nothing running and like I said before you could actually see the voltage falling with a meter. What ever happened it may have killed the battery for good. Will know in a couple of hours. Put my other battery charger on it to see what happens. Probably be calling road side assistance again in the morning. Concerning the message that was on my display what could be an outside source on the car? Thought it was a self contained system. I have been watching the car like a hawk to try and catch something running on the car but was a little too late. I am completely baffled.

 

[TJ Moritz]

As I was posting earlier this morning my Hyundai's battery was dying. Went to the garage to go shopping. Hit the starter button and nothing. There was enough juice left in the battery to illuminate the display. A message flashed on the display that said there was a parasitic outside source discharging the battery. Had to leave for about 45 minutes and by the time I got home the battery was toast. I checked the battery with my volt meter when it happened and you could actually see the voltage falling. I made a short film clip of it. Called roadside assistance. Triple A came out and jumped it and I let the car run for about 30 minutes and shut it off. Put my battery charger on the battery and it wont take a charge. Charged it for about four hours and it only shows a 25% charge. Never saw a battery discharge that fast without something running on the car. There was nothing running and like I said before you could actually see the voltage falling with a meter. What ever happened it may have killed the battery for good. Will know in a couple of hours. Put my other battery charger on it to see what happens. Probably be calling road side assistance again in the morning. Concerning the message that was on my display what could be an outside source on the car? Thought it was a self contained system. I have been watching the car like a hawk to try and catch something running on the car but was a little too late. I am completely baffled.

I’d bet the battery is an issue. Possible internal short. Hyundai uses AGM batteries in the Kona and god knows who makes them. These are not like the typical flooded lead acid batteries were used for years.
running the car for 30 minutes probably did little good. Kona uses a “smart” charging system designed to maintain charge rather than charge a dead or low battery. A good half hour run down the interstate will help to charge it. Not idle speed.