2023 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Brakes Problems

On [XXX], I received a warning on my 2023 IONIQ 5 that said “stop vehicle and check braking system” and the car went into “turtle mode”. I took it into the dealer for repairs and they said the issue was related to the 12V battery and returned the car to me as repaired. Then, on [XXX], I was driving the car and I got the same error message but this time the car’s brakes didn’t work. Thankfully, I was able to pull off the surface road I was on and pulled into a residential area where I used the parking brake to stop the car. I then had it towed to the dealer and they are currently in the process of repairing it. My son and I were in the car at the time of the [XXX] incident and were very fortunate that we did not hurt anyone or ourselves when the brakes didn’t work. As of today, the Hyundai dealer (Roseville, CA) says they are repairing a brake component that was defective but they missed this on the 2/28/26 inspection. See attached photo of the warning indicator. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

12/30/2023 at approximately 5:30pm I drove home with the iPedal engaged. The iPedal was installed as a download to the car in August 2023. My daughter was in the passenger seat. I began to back into my driveway but shifted to Drive to straighten out the car. The car began to roll forward I took my foot off the accelerator but the car did not stop in spite of the iPedal being engaged. I put my foot on the BRAKE PEDAL which went all the way to the floor to no avail. The car rolled slowly into an electrical pole which brought the car to a stop. I previously filed a complaint here but I have since learned that iPedal may disengage if the car is put into reverse. There is not warning light to alert the driver that iPedal is disengaged so the driver is not aware that the brakes may not work as expected. I believe this may have been the case with my accident. However, this does not address why using the foot pedal for the brakes did not stop the car. Have found many complaints about this on various forums and believe this aspect of iPedal needs to be addressed. It should not disengage unless the driver instructs the car to do so. I have not been able to find documentation of this functionality in the manual, but I have searched and will continue to do so.

12/30/2023 at approximately 5:30pm I drove home with the iPedal engaged. The iPedal was installed as a download to the car in August 2023. My daughter was in the passenger seat. I began to back into my driveway but shifted to Drive to straighten out the car. The car began to roll forward I took my foot off the accelerator but the car did not stop in spite of the iPedal being engaged. I put my foot on the BRAKE PEDAL which went all the way to the floor to no avail. The car rolled slowly into an electrical pole which brought the car to a stop. Neither iPedal nor the foot brake pedal had any effect on the car. I then put the car in reverse and backed the car into my driveway and the brakes worked as expected. When I then attempted to charge the vehicle, the charging port would not open. I could hear the motor working to open but it would not open. On 1/11/2024, I again attempted to open the charging port and this time it did open. So, TWO different electrical (including the brakes and the charging port) were not working properly. Inasmuch as the charging port again worked and the brakes again worked, there clearly was a malfunction that was random and unpredictable and also nearly impossible to reproduce but if this happened once, it could happen again. The brakes failed. Had we been traveling on a busy road, or at the top of a hill, we would have faced significant bodily harm, death to ourselves or others. This car had been driven locally, predominantly on local roads. The car is available for inspection and has only been driven on the dealer lot since the the incident. There were no warning lights or messages to indicate that any issues existed. The manufacturer has executed an inspected but has not reproduced the problem. The manufacturer and dealership claims the car is safe to drive without addressing the brake failure. I do not believe the car is safe to drive without a determination of how the bake failure happened or without a repair to that issue.

The brakes lights do not illuminate when slowing down using regen braking. This has cause cars to stop very close to rear-ending me. This video explains this issue in great detail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0YW7x9U5TQ

The regenerative braking will not turn on brake lights unless the accelerator is fully unpressed. In the more aggressive modes (L3 and I-Pedal), the stopping power is very strong. Without brake lights, it catches other motorists off guard and they nearly hit me. For reference, I-Pedal mode is able to bring the car to a full stop on its own. This is dangerous. The brake lights need to come on depending on the rate of deceleration, not the accelerator pedal state. This can happen at any speed, but becomes more dangerous at highway speeds.

When using most of the regenerative braking levels, including the one-pedal driving mode named “i-Pedal,” the brake lights will not illuminate until the drivers foot is fully off the gas pedal, or manually applying the brakes. This can create a dangerous, life threatening scenario leaving surrounding drivers unaware the vehicle is slowing. This has not been reproduced by the automaker not inspected by them, police, insurance, etc but has been verified on video. No warning lamps appeared.

Brake lights do NOT come on when decelerating in I-PEDAL mode and Level 3 regen brake modes, perhaps more. The car should instead generously apply brake lights by default anytime deceleration occurs via regen braking.

Brake lights do not lit while decelerating using regen braking system without letting foot off of accelerator. There is no indication for vehicle behind mine to decelerate which can result in collision