Love the car, but wish Hyundai would openly address ICCU issues
Absolutely love everything about our new 2026 Ioniq 9, its design, the smoothness and quietness, the fast charging and range. It is clearly the best value electric SUV on the market.
That said, if you look at social media including Facebook and Hyundai owner forums, the unreliability of the ICCU is a huge problem, to say the least. It appears that Hyundai and its dealers avoid discussing the issue, which causes sudden failure of the vehicle without notice, and for no consistent reason. You could be on a vacation with your family when suddenly you hear a pop, a warning message appears on the dashboard, and the vehicle is forced into limp mode. The vehicle then needs to be towed to the nearest dealership, which could be a considerable distance, and it may take weeks if not months for the car to be repaired. You’re on your own, Hyundai may or may not provide a loaner car, or assist with the cost of a rental car. The responses by Hyundai are all over the map, frustrating owners. It’s also possible the dealership you were towed to has no understanding of EVs and the ICCU issues, requiring the vehicle to then be towed to another dealer who has mechanics experienced with EVs. The repairs cannot be done by anyone but a Hyundai dealer.
It’s a nightmare for owners, even if ICCU failures supposedly affect less than 1% of Hyundai or Kia EVs. Few owners believe the failure rate is this low, but no one seems to be able to get accurate information.
Hyundai is making a huge, huge mistake ignoring this problem. They are destroying the reputations of the EVs among those interested in buying an EV. If unaddressed, this will someday make for an interesting case study in business school of how large corporations are often their own worst enemy. Kodak, Sears, IBM, Xerox are comparable examples from years past.