2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5

1. Component/System: One-pedal driving / regenerative braking (i-Pedal mode). Vehicle is available for inspecti On three separate occasions since leasing the vehicle in April, 2025, the vehicle failed to decelerate when i-Pedal mode was active and I fully released the accelerator pedal. Instead of slowing immediately as expected, the car continued maintaining speed for a few seconds before eventually reducing speed. In all instances, the accelerator pedal returned fully to its default position, and my foot was completely off the pedal. My foot was hovering over the brake and prepared to brake manually. This unexpected continued acceleration created a safety risk, particularly in situations where I anticipated immediate slowing. Safety Risk: This behavior increases the risk of rear-end collisions or reduced reaction time in traffic. It causes uncertainty in vehicle response and requires sudden manual braking when the system fails to operate correctly. Inspection/Reproduction: The dealership has inspected the vehicle and has denied existence of any issues. Warning Lamps/Messages: No warning lamps or messages appeared before or during the events. ⸻ 2. Component/System: Blind spot monitoring / driver assistance sensors Since acquiring the vehicle, the blind spot monitoring system routinely activates warnings when vehicles are more than one lane away, not in the adjacent lane. This results in frequent false warnings, especially on multi-lane highways. Safety Risk: The false alerts cause distraction and hesitation during lane changes. The system startles the driver and forces additional visual checks beyond normal safe driving practice, increasing cognitive load and reducing confidence in the system’s accuracy. Inspection/Reproduction: This behavior is frequent and occasionally reproducible. Warning Lamps/Messages: System behaves as if detecting vehicles in blind spot even when lanes are clear.

Traveling on Highway at 65 mph the vehicle suddenly lost speed and would not respond when my foot pressed on the acceleration pedal. I made it off the freeway to the exit. I turned the EV off and on and the car accelerated until I came to a stoplight. Again the car acceleration pedal would not respond. I put on my flashers and returned to the vehicle. I turned the car off and restarted it and was able to drive it home on side streets. I did not want to get back on the freeway. I had the car towed to the Hanlee Hilltop Hyundai in Richmond California. They performed a computer check and no error code came up except for an external charger error code. Our Ioniq 5 is charged with our wall box charger and has performed with no problem. It has worked with our Kia Niro EV also without problem. I fear there is a problem with this Electric Vehicle and do not feel safe driving it. I have initiated a buy back with Hyundai. I wanted to report the problem to this government agency in case there is a larger safety problem with this model year.

FORWARD ATTENTION WARNING system incorrectly detects a driver's lack of attention when I drive wearing sunglasses consistently. Many times it will incorrectly detect lack of attention while not wearing sunglasses. The camera has perfect line of sight to my eyes. Turning the system off through the Driver Assistance features does not stop the problem. It drives me crazy and I'm unable to identify any solution to this problem and I have learned this is a very common problem with this year and model.

I turned on adaptive cruise control while on the highway and got an alert from the Forward Attention Warning system that I wasn't paying attention even though I was looking out at the road normally. The car eventually decided this meant I was unresponsive and initiated an automatic Emergency Stop in the middle of the highway. The only way I could get the adaptive cruise control to work as expected was to remove my glasses, which I need to see clearly and drive safely. I was able to disable the Adaptive Cruise Control and continue driving normally before the car stopped in the highway, but this seems like it could create a dangerous situation. After a bit of testing, I found that Forward Attention Warning system did not work with some pairs of my prescription glasses and some non-prescription sunglasses I use when I wear contact lenses. There does not appear to be a way to disable the Forward Attention Warning when using cruise control.

The car has a highway driving assist (HDA) system, but the system will not work when I am wearing sunglasses. It also has a lane assist system that is supposed to steer the car for you but it also fails and gives a message that the driver is not paying attention. The driver attention alert will not go away as long as I am wearing sun glasses. If I remove the sun glasses it works fine. Hyundai says I have to wear different sun glasses, but I have tried 4 kinds and none of them work with the system. They refuse to make any changes or repairs to the system.

The lane-keeping assistance system on this vehicle is equipped with a "driver attention monitoring system" that is meant to tell if the driver has his or her attention focused off the road. The trouble is that this system is far too sensitive and prone to very loud and distracting false alarms to the point where it becomes *MUCH* more distracting than the distractions it is meant to prevent. I almost lost control of the vehicle at freeway speeds once because the system alarmed so suddenly and loudly that it startled me. This needs to be fixed.

The ICCU unit has failed after 10 days of driving of the brand new 2025 Ioniq 5. It gave me a warning that the battery has failed while I was waiting on a signal light, and the car started limiting my speed. The car continued to get slower and slower, then it says battery regeneration failed at one point. The fastest I could go at one point was 30 mph. It was dangerous as I need to make sure the cars behind me don't come at me. When going uphill, I was only able to drive in 20mph. The car was taken back to the dealership to get serviced. They confirmed that the ICCU unit and the fuse have failed and my car will need a replacement.

Ioniq 5 is known to have a loose and possibly dangling wire underneath the driver seat. This wire is often uncovered and unshielded, and is susceptible to becoming damaged due to the automatic seats and adjustments. This wire directly operates the airbag and if damaged loses all functionality. Hyundai is not covering any damage to this wire under warranty, and this poses an immediate threat to anyone driving their vehicle.

Description of Defect/Incident Model and Feature: This complaint concerns a significant safety defect in the Driver Attention Monitoring System (DAMS), which is specifically the Forward Attention Warning (FAW) feature, on the 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5. The Defect: The DAMS system is generating false positive "Pay Attention" warnings with an excessive, loud, and high-pitch chime multiple times per hour while the driver is clearly and actively paying attention to the road. This happens regardless of driving conditions (city, highway, sunlight, darkness) and without any valid trigger. Safety Consequence (The Critical Issue): This issue appears to be a systemic defect, as numerous other owners have reported the exact same pattern of frequent false warnings on online owner forums and social media groups. E.g. [XXX] , [XXX] The false warnings create an unreasonable risk to safety in two ways: Driver Distraction: The constant, intrusive, and erroneous auditory and visual warnings are a direct and severe driver distraction. The driver is forced to look away from the road to confirm the system status, check the camera light, or physically gesture to the camera, which is counterproductive to safe driving. Warning Desensitization: The high frequency of false alarms leads to the driver becoming desensitized to the warning chimes. This creates a severe risk that the driver will ignore or dismiss a future legitimate warning from the Forward Attention Warning or other critical safety systems, potentially resulting in a collision. Request for Action: I am filing this complaint to urge NHTSA to investigate this pattern of false warnings in the Hyundai Ioniq 5's DAMS/FAW system as a safety-related defect. The current behavior of the system creates a hazardous condition on the road that requires a prompt engineering solution or recall. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)