Last week, we reported on the suspicion of a defect causing water leakage in Hyundai Motor Company’s ‘Ioniq 6’.
Since the broadcast aired, there have been a series of reports and posts about the same phenomenon occurring in their own cars.
When the reporter opened the inside of the vehicle with an expert, it was pointed out that there was a problem with the design from the beginning.
Reporter Kim Eun-cho covered the story.
◀ Report ▶
This is the Hyundai Ioniq 6 purchased by a consumer in October last year.
I washed the car by hand with the engine off, but each time the air conditioner filter got wet, and eventually the air conditioner parts also became rusty.
[Cho Beom-seok/Ioniq 6 car buyer]
“No matter how carefully you wash your car by hand… When you wash your car with a car wash towel between the wipers, water just gets in.”
Another car owner removed the air conditioner filter and tilted it, and water seeped into the filter and started flowing.
This video was filmed by the owner of an IONIQ 6 vehicle parked outdoors last summer after discovering a water leak.
The owner of the car, who drove with the air conditioner turned on at full blast to prevent fogging when it rained, also complained of the same damage.
[Ioniq 6 car buyer (last 17th)]
“You can think of it like this every time it rains. The smell is a bit sour that it’s difficult to leave it in.”
On the electric car club internet cafe, 47 posts were posted saying that they had suffered the same damage.
In response to consumers’ suspicions of defects, a Hyundai Motors official said at the time:
[Call recording from Hyundai Motor Company (last month)]
“This is not a defect because all IONIQ 6s are like this. It is not a defect… <Then what is it?> It is a deficiency, a deficiency.”
I personally disassembled the vehicle with an expert굿모닝토토 to find out what ‘lack’ Hyundai is talking about.
When I lifted the plastic cover, the external air intake was left open and exposed.
If water gets in between the glass and plastic cover, it falls straight into the air intake.
[Park Byeong-il/Car maintenance master]
“Either the glass should come forward or the air conditioning system (air intake) should go inward, but it’s neither this nor that, it’s stuck in the middle.”
The external air intake of the previously released IONIQ 5 is different from the one located inside the windshield.
The steel barrier installed to prevent rainwater from overflowing into the air intake is also made lower in the IONIQ 6 than in the IONIQ 5.
[Kim Pil-soo/Chairman of Korea Electric Vehicle Association, Professor of Automotive Engineering at Daelim University]
“(Other cars) are structured so that they can escape immediately even if water enters, and especially, even if there is a large amount of water, such as rain or wind, it is prevented from entering (into the intake port) at all. give.”
In response to consumers’ claims of water damage, Hyundai Motors maintained its position that “if the air conditioner or heater is turned on strongly when it rains, rainwater may flow in due to the structure of the car,” and said, “We are reviewing the issue from various angles.” .
This is Euncho Kim from MBC News.