Have you been locked in your EV?
Discussion
We have a 2019 First Edition Kia e-Niro.
A couple of months ago my wife returned from a local shop to find after she had parked, that she couldn't get out of the car.
She struggled trying to turn the car off and on ... the car was dead, but eventually she found that her drivers side window would open so climbed out through the window and plugged the car in. She was then late for another arrangement and so left the car to sort itself out.
The following day I discovered the problem and found that the drivers door would open from the outside, but the car was dead.
I pulled out the thick drivers manual and couldn't find anything about a dead battery.
I phoned the Kia dealer from whom we had bought the car and was told to charge the auxiliary battery ... I was also asked if the car had a "re-start the battery" switch ? If it has, I can't find it. So I opened the bonnet from inside the car and found that the auxiliary battery was reading 4v ... and I therefore put this on a 5amp charger. Some hours later I came back to the car ... it did appear to be charging, but the battery voltage was still around 5 volts, so I phoned the dealer and asked to speak to a technician. Apparently this was not possible and I was advised to arrange to have the car recovered ... which I guess could have been complicated since it was locked in Park and plugged into the main battery charger.
I figured that either something had discharged the auxiliary battery (or this had failed) ... but why wouldn't it charge ? Maybe the charger was sensing a fault ? Or maybe there was a discharge equating to the charge current ? So I decided to remove the battery to charge it but at the sane time I decided to find, collect and fit a new replacement battery. There was one at dealership 20 miles away ...
Once connected the car sprung back into life ... and incidentally the old battery still appears to be holding a good charge ... 12.7 volts as of now and not touched since charged fully following the lock-out.
So I tried to get in touch with Kia Customer Service asking to speak with a technician with whom I could share my experience. No interest, "talk to your supplying dealer" was the best they could muster. Then i receive a questionnaire asking about my experience with Kia Customer Care ... which I of course panned ... and following which I have heard nothing.
Since this time amongst family and friends I have discovered two other Kia owners who have suffered similar problems being locked in or locked out.
How will this problem ever be solved unless the manufacturer will communicate in order to analyse the issue and coordinate at least an action plan to deal with the immediate consequences and then an owner-fix which does not involve recovering the car at great expense, inconvenience and possibly collateral damage ?
So, have you been locked in your Ev ? If so, what happened and how was the problem solved ?
This could be a life threatening issue ...
A couple of months ago my wife returned from a local shop to find after she had parked, that she couldn't get out of the car.
She struggled trying to turn the car off and on ... the car was dead, but eventually she found that her drivers side window would open so climbed out through the window and plugged the car in. She was then late for another arrangement and so left the car to sort itself out.
The following day I discovered the problem and found that the drivers door would open from the outside, but the car was dead.
I pulled out the thick drivers manual and couldn't find anything about a dead battery.
I phoned the Kia dealer from whom we had bought the car and was told to charge the auxiliary battery ... I was also asked if the car had a "re-start the battery" switch ? If it has, I can't find it. So I opened the bonnet from inside the car and found that the auxiliary battery was reading 4v ... and I therefore put this on a 5amp charger. Some hours later I came back to the car ... it did appear to be charging, but the battery voltage was still around 5 volts, so I phoned the dealer and asked to speak to a technician. Apparently this was not possible and I was advised to arrange to have the car recovered ... which I guess could have been complicated since it was locked in Park and plugged into the main battery charger.
I figured that either something had discharged the auxiliary battery (or this had failed) ... but why wouldn't it charge ? Maybe the charger was sensing a fault ? Or maybe there was a discharge equating to the charge current ? So I decided to remove the battery to charge it but at the sane time I decided to find, collect and fit a new replacement battery. There was one at dealership 20 miles away ...
Once connected the car sprung back into life ... and incidentally the old battery still appears to be holding a good charge ... 12.7 volts as of now and not touched since charged fully following the lock-out.
So I tried to get in touch with Kia Customer Service asking to speak with a technician with whom I could share my experience. No interest, "talk to your supplying dealer" was the best they could muster. Then i receive a questionnaire asking about my experience with Kia Customer Care ... which I of course panned ... and following which I have heard nothing.
Since this time amongst family and friends I have discovered two other Kia owners who have suffered similar problems being locked in or locked out.
How will this problem ever be solved unless the manufacturer will communicate in order to analyse the issue and coordinate at least an action plan to deal with the immediate consequences and then an owner-fix which does not involve recovering the car at great expense, inconvenience and possibly collateral damage ?
So, have you been locked in your Ev ? If so, what happened and how was the problem solved ?
This could be a life threatening issue ...
ChrisW. said:
In reply:
1. No emergency door release that I could find ... I found the emergency charge cable release ... will look again but Kia never mentioned it.
2. Yes the battery has been replaced ... but the old one appears to hod a reasonable charge and discharge tested OK.
3. ????
Did you disconnect both contacts from the battery ahead of getting the 4v reading? If so it's definitely not a healthy battery on some level.1. No emergency door release that I could find ... I found the emergency charge cable release ... will look again but Kia never mentioned it.
2. Yes the battery has been replaced ... but the old one appears to hod a reasonable charge and discharge tested OK.
3. ????
As for the door lock thing, I just googled and can't find a thing - that's bizarre. There has to be a manual release for safety imo. I'd call Kia UK and be a bit more pushy.
Not an EV but I got locked in my 2012 Merc SLK and had to lower the roof and climb out. Not battery related but some thing to do with a component in the door mechanism that had stretched so pulling the interior handle would not release the door. Not ideal in an emergency situation. Merc garage said it was quite common !!!
EVs may bring some new scenarios with them, but older cars aren't immune either
EVs may bring some new scenarios with them, but older cars aren't immune either
Being locked in is quite common on VW Group cars with keyless locking - usually the driver gets out to pop into a shop or whatever and absently mindedly locks the car while his missus is still in it. The car deadlocks and the doors can’t be opened from the inside.
There’s a post on a SEAT Ateca forum today where someone managed to lock himself in his car in his garage as the battery died - but oddly he was able to open a rear door, which he shouldn’t have been able to.
There’s a post on a SEAT Ateca forum today where someone managed to lock himself in his car in his garage as the battery died - but oddly he was able to open a rear door, which he shouldn’t have been able to.
Sheepshanks said:
Being locked in is quite common on VW Group cars with keyless locking - usually the driver gets out to pop into a shop or whatever and absently mindedly locks the car while his missus is still in it. The car deadlocks and the doors can’t be opened from the inside.
There’s a post on a SEAT Ateca forum today where someone managed to lock himself in his car in his garage as the battery died - but oddly he was able to open a rear door, which he shouldn’t have been able to.
My old Jag had deadlock doors too - but I never locked my wife in it by accident, or for fun There’s a post on a SEAT Ateca forum today where someone managed to lock himself in his car in his garage as the battery died - but oddly he was able to open a rear door, which he shouldn’t have been able to.
(for bonus points she had to remain motionless until I returned, otherwise she would set off the alarm)
There must be a manual way to open from a safety perspective. Perhaps for security purposes, Kia will not respond directly in case of random theft so they refer you back to the dealership.
So try asking your dealership from whom you bought the car. If there is a manual opener then they should be able to help.
I would like to know the answer because potentially Kia would be my preferred EV purchase but not if this is a safety risk.
So try asking your dealership from whom you bought the car. If there is a manual opener then they should be able to help.
I would like to know the answer because potentially Kia would be my preferred EV purchase but not if this is a safety risk.
Exactly same scenario as OP in my 4 month old ev6. Currently sat on drive as dead as a doornail. 12v battery will not hold any charge, as soon as charger is disconnected the car is totally dead. RAC won’t do anything but jumpstart it and dealer is not returning calls. No way I’m getting in it as there appears to be no way out if the battery is dead. 7 year warranty my arse…
kambites said:
As others have pointed out, I don't really see why it would be anything to do with it being an EV. The doors work the same! 
In my TVR T350 it is possible to be locked in due to the contact points having rust or moved out of place due to flexing of the body. There is a button to open the door which triggers a motor to unlock. However, there is a manual cable which you can pull to open the door (it's an emergency cable because once used it takes a bit of fiddling to reset the cable).In my other cars it's always been a mechanical function. You pull the door handle lock and it opens the latch.
I wouldn't know whether keyless entry cars would have the same issue as EV though.
fatjon said:
Exactly same scenario as OP in my 4 month old ev6. Currently sat on drive as dead as a doornail. 12v battery will not hold any charge, as soon as charger is disconnected the car is totally dead. RAC won’t do anything but jumpstart it and dealer is not returning calls. No way I’m getting in it as there appears to be no way out if the battery is dead. 7 year warranty my arse…
I did not disconnect the battery before checking the voltage or putting the battery on charge for a couple of hours ... the voltage was still around 5v after the few hours in charge.I think for some reason there is a heavy load which prevents all else from working. I simply fitted a new battery but in doing so disconnected the old battery ... which may have re-set the car ?
I don't believe the 2019 eNiro has a battery re-set button ? Certainly I couldn't find it in the car's handbook and Kia could not tell me where it is ...
Ridiculously the handbook does tell you how to jump start the car as-if it is a petrol model !!
Edited by ChrisW. on Friday 4th August 18:07
Hol said:
I’m showing my ignorance here, but do these type of cars still have a round 12v socket?
If so, does that socket allow a 12v back feed into the power system via one of those small jump packs?
If, no. Then I have nothing….
Mine has one in the boot, but the fear of producing a relatively large mushroom cloud is putting me off trying to see if it would charge the 12V battery If so, does that socket allow a 12v back feed into the power system via one of those small jump packs?
If, no. Then I have nothing….
ChrisW. said:
Ridiculously the handbook does tell you how to jump start the car as-if it is a petrol model !!
I've had to jump 2 EVs (and a PHEV actually) because of dead 12v batteries. You need the juice to close the contactor.Edited by ChrisW. on Friday 4th August 18:07
Looks like the reason you've got stuck is that the 12v battery had died. Surely this can only be because the battery is faulty, of the dc dc battery charger is dead.
We had an eNiro die at work, probably because something was left on in the car. Battery was down at 7v. Jumped it and it started, then measured 14v on the battery, so it was charging. Is this the case in yours?
I'd definitely be changing the battery. It's well within the realms of a DIY job.
That's how I solved the problem.
I replaced the battery with a new one from Kia York ... the alternative suggested by the supplying dealer was getting the car recovered to them.
Though not necessarily a factor, the negative connector to the battery did appear to be a little corroded so I also cleaned that up with emory paper.
I appreciate that the original battery will have been damaged ... but it does appear now to be holding a charge ... hence the question, what happened that my wife had to climb out of the window when she had just been out to the shops ? And why wouldn't the battery charge on the car ? Which brought me back to the idea of some very heavy load that dropped the voltage so far and was taking the charge from the 5 amp charger ?
Maybe disconnecting the battery completely to replace it was actually the cure in that it force-turned everything off ??
I replaced the battery with a new one from Kia York ... the alternative suggested by the supplying dealer was getting the car recovered to them.
Though not necessarily a factor, the negative connector to the battery did appear to be a little corroded so I also cleaned that up with emory paper.
I appreciate that the original battery will have been damaged ... but it does appear now to be holding a charge ... hence the question, what happened that my wife had to climb out of the window when she had just been out to the shops ? And why wouldn't the battery charge on the car ? Which brought me back to the idea of some very heavy load that dropped the voltage so far and was taking the charge from the 5 amp charger ?
Maybe disconnecting the battery completely to replace it was actually the cure in that it force-turned everything off ??
Edited by ChrisW. on Saturday 5th August 12:30
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