In May 2024, Kia announced a recall for the Kia EV6 due to faulty ICCU (Integrated Charging Control Unit) systems taking care of the correct energy level in the 12-volt battery. In November 2024, the issue was found to affect more than 200,000 units of Kia, Hyundai and Genesis cars. We are now in March 2025 and there are reports that the manufacturer is still handling the problem poorly, with repairs dragging on for weeks.
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The ICCU takes care of charging the 12-volt battery from the EV battery. Its improper functioning leads to a gradual, increasingly deep discharge of the battery. It does not matter that there is energy in the main battery – the car may refuse to obey at some point anyway. The symptoms are reminiscent of an alternator failure in a combustion vehicle: increasingly poor functioning of the vehicle, finally darkness on the gauges and unresponsiveness to the driver’s actions (not counting the mechanical subsystems). In Germany, problems with the ICCU indirectly led to at least one accident:
The owner of the Kia EV6 ignored the alerts about the 12-volt battery running down and continued driving. At some point, the car stopped – at night, with no lights. A short time later, it was hit by another vehicle (source).
It turns out that Kia is dealing with the problem on average. It has tried updating the software, but this has not helped. The company also carries out ICCU and VCU (Vehicle Control Unit, the computer that controls the car) replacements, but this has to be accepted by the manufacturer/distributor each time, so the cars are held up in services for weeks. Confirmation from the workshop that ‘everything is fine’ is no guarantee, as our Forum member found out on a ski trip:
On the way back (15.02) in Austria, my car died while driving (about 15 minutes after charging on Ionity). The error ‘check vehicle electrical system’ appeared, the car lost power first 80 km/h, then 50 km/h, then turtle. I was very lucky: at the last minute I got off the motorway and it was still downhill – on the downhill everything died – black screen, no lights, no power steering, low pressure in the brake lines. Needless to say it was pretty bad (with family in the car at the time). The car was returned on a trailer to the service and I have just had confirmation from the service – ICCU…
This is not the end of the story. Our other reader complained to us that, in his case, the action regarding the ICCU involved replacing the 12-volt battery, as this one, after a deep discharge, no longer held parameters. After several months, the problem with weak voltage in the system returned, but ASO claimed that the warranty on the battery had ended, because the car warranty had expired. Let us add that such a statement is not true, the warranty for the new part runs independently of the vehicle warranty, it is valid only from the moment of its installation – so the EU law states.
The best results are supposedly achieved by contacting the service when the car starts to indicate problems with the 12-volt battery. You can attempt to charge it yourself and, in the meantime, the ASO will finalise the formalities. A member of staff at the Kia dealership told us that there was a new software update in January 2025, which translates into better ICCU performance and lower module failure rates.
