Has anyone successfully had a warranty replacement for degradation?

[vancitymiev]

My parents have a 2012 Imiev with 98,500 miles on it. The last couple years the range has really gone done to the point of about 60 km (37 miles) on a full charge with no heat on, and 35 km in the winter with heat on. To complicate matters further, this is an American vehicle originally that we imported into Canada years ago. Since covid started we have been working with Mitsubishi USA to try and get the battery replaced under warranty. Eventually they had us take it to a local dealer where the “battery smoothing” process was performed that made no difference. What I’m wondering is anyone has successfully had their battery replaced due to degradation under warranty? The local dealer quoted $18,500 plus install / tax on a new battery. Now that the border is open our next option might be to tow it down to a dealer in Washington state that was Imiev certified.

 

[MickeyS70]

Hi there

I think you’re wasting your time I’m afraid:

Based on information on several forms, battery degradation is considered wear and tear and therefore replacement is not covered by warranty.

Only if the car no longer fully charges (16 bars) can a claim be successful, but I gather only cars sold in the US have a 10 year battery warranty.

But let’s assume for a moment you’re successful, a 2012 triplet will contain LEV50 cells that are no longer produced. Even a ‘new’ battery has probably been in storage for the past 10 years, (SOH expectation below 70% due to age degradation).

Sad but true: you will never get the original range back going through the official channels

There is however promising news from Australia where a 3rd party company is offering real upgrades (basically twice the range).

Even if rolled out globally, I will most likely come too late for most original triplets.

You didn’t mention if the low range is actually affecting daily usage of the car by your parents, as although limited it would still be perfectly adequate for many (me including)…

 

[vancitymiev]

My parents are retired so they can still use it for a fair amount of trips but it’s increased their ice vehicle use age. As a result they ordered a new Hyundai ioiniq5 long range that will replace the Imiev when it arrives in may. I was planning on buying the Imiev off them to commute to work in, but it struggles to make the 38km round trip that’s mostly highway. I’ve owned 5, but most have been new or near new and therefore a lot closer to the original range. I doubt that we’ll be successful on the battery warranty as well but my dads trying to get a number from Mitsubishi on what they think is an allowable degradation number. It seems that they don’t have one or don’t want to share it at this point.
Which would leave either the battery out of Australia or buying a used one from a wrecker.

 

[MickeyS70]

Which would leave either the battery out of Australia or buying a used one from a wrecker.

Be careful with the latter, using a post 2012 pack (LEV50N cells) will result in “suboptimal” performance with a pre 2012 BMS, haven’t come across anybody successfully updating the BMS, maybe swapping it at the same time as the pack might work, (pure speculation on my part)

As mentioned before any used LEV50 cell will have lost 30-40% capacity due age degradation, even before you take usage into account. If you like a challenge and don’t mind taking a chance go ahead but be prepared to end up with similar range after all your troubles and expense.

 

[vancitymiev]

I think ours should have the newer 2012 cells as it’s a mid 2012 build. I was hoping to find a wrecked low mileage 2016 or 2017 to pull the battery from so that it hopefully won’t have that 30-40% reduction from age.

 

[MickeyS70]

I seem to have stumbled upon the answer in https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2017/MC-10116253-9999.pdf.

Though not stated explicitly, it appears that the magic build date for LEV50N cells is after November 15, 2012 for North American cars.

Andrew

FYI

 

[Gyver]

in 2017 I was able to have a battery replacement under warranty, car was almost 5 years old (warranty limit here in Italy), it was parked without being used for some months, when I started using it again it could charge only to 12 bars. It wasn't easy though, I had to push hard to convince the dealer to try and ask for a replacement. Battery needed 3 months to be shipped from Japan. I know they changed the BMS with the new battery too. All perfect till one month ago the BMS failed :? (and they charge 7000€ for that part alone)

 

[PV1]

I know somebody who just recently got a new pack under warranty (not for degradation, though. The pack was bricked) and it restored their 2012 US model to full original range using new or like-new LEV50N cells. I helped them diagnose it and CaniOn reported all cells at 0 volts, pack voltage at some wild number, and SoC was in the negative territory.

There was one member who successfully got a degradation-related replacement (I believe in addition to Gyver). Their car would still charge to 16 bars but only had 25 miles of range or so. It was a process, IIRC, but was done.