Hyundai Motor Co.’s Kona electric vehicle catches fire while charging its battery at a charging station in Namyangju, about 20 kilometers east of Seoul, on Oct. 17, 2020, in this photo provided by the Namyangju City Fire Station.
SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Korea Bizwire) — As more electric vehicles (EVs), both new and old, are being sold locally, South Korea is seeing a higher number of EV recalls caused by various defects.
Rep. Park Sang-hyuk of the ruling Democratic Party said that 90,746 EVs were recalled last year, according to a report from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport.
The number of recalls has grown by a factor of 173 since 2016, or by a factor of seven since the previous year.
The Automobile Recall Center, a sub-agency of the Korea Transportation Safety Authority, said that it had received 292 reports of EV defects, which was 49 times more than in 2016 (six reports).
The agency has received a total of 27,612 reports on EV defects in the last five years.
Among them, however, the center launched field investigations for only 403 cases.
Despite being the only government agency that communicates with consumers on car defects, it doesn’t have the authority to conduct investigations or order corrections, which makes it no more than a ‘call center,’ raising complaints that for consumers.
There is no place to ask for corrections or report defects after EV manufacturers deny these reports or blame consumers for the defects.
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
