Hyundai and Kia secondary toll litigation submitted to arbitration

January 11, 2025 — Hyundai and Kia electric charging class action lawsuit alleges these models are defective because they fail to charge as advertised when using Level 2 charging:

• Hyundai Ioniq 5

• Hyundai Ioniq 6

• Come to EV6

• Kia Niro electric car

• Genesis GV60

Specifically, the class action lawsuit alleges a problem with Level 2 chargers that caused vehicles to overheat before charging.

The lawsuit says Level 2 chargers can overheat within 30 to 60 minutes, forcing customers to unplug and reinsert their home chargers to restart the charging process.

Hyundai and Kia customers believe vehicle components may be damaged when Level 2 chargers overheat.

Hyundai and Kia are said to have yet to fix the charger issue, with a software fix by dealers causing longer charging times due to reduced Level 2 charging speeds.

According to the class action lawsuit, charging the vehicle can take more than 10 hours.

“When the port reaches a certain temperature, the vehicle terminates the charging session as a safety measure, but it does not restart the charging session once the port reaches an acceptable temperature.” — Hyundai and Kia Level 2 charger class action lawsuit

Motion to Compel Arbitration

Hyundai and Kia claim the second-level class action lawsuit should not proceed in court because customers signed a valid arbitration agreement when they agreed to the Kia Connect and Hyundai BlueLink terms of service.

Kia and Hyundai claim that the Kia Connect and Hyundai BlueLink Terms of Service are click-through agreements. According to the clickwrap agreement, “Users must expressly acknowledge this Agreement before continuing to use the Site.”

Courts regularly enforce arbitration provisions contained in clickwrap agreements.

Most of the plaintiffs told the judge that the arbitration clause should not apply because they were unaware of the arbitration agreement.

According to the judge:

“After considering the relevant facts, applicable law and the parties’ positions, the court concludes that there are valid arbitration agreements between the plaintiffs and Kia and Hyundai.” — Judge John W. Holcomb

Judge Holcomb ruled that the case be stayed pending arbitration.

The Hyundai and Kia class action lawsuit was filed by the following plaintiffs:

• David Gould/New York/2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5

• Kaushik Iyengar / Georgia / 2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited

• John Nixon/Florida/2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5

• Brendon Lobo / Georgia / Hyundai Ioniq 5 SE

• John Nixon/Florida/2023 Ioniq 5

• Jane Chang Bright / California / 2022 Kia EV6

• Sean Mahon/Illinois/2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5

• Peter Konheim/California/2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5

• Kingsley Barney/New York/2022 Kia EV6

The Hyundai and Kia Level 2 Charger Class Action Lawsuit has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California: David Gould et al. v. Hyundai Motor Co. et al..

The plaintiffs are represented by Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP.