[RahulNagaraj]

Hyundai will soon be updating the software on its EVs to change how the vehicle's brake lights behave.

According to reports, electric vehicles from the Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai, Kia & Genesis) could potentially be brought to a complete stop without the brake lights ever switching on. This is said to be because of Hyundai's "one-pedal-driving" feature which uses regenerative braking from the vehicle's electric motors to slow the car down and in some cases even bring the car to a complete halt.



Reports showed that many EVs from the Hyundai Motor Group could be made to stop without even having to touch the brake pedal. This is a cause of concern as the brake lights don't illuminate unless the brake pedal is pressed.

Hyundai recently made an official announcement that it will update the software on its EVs. The company stated, "Regardless of the accelerator pedal input, the brake lights will now turn on when the deceleration rate exceeds approximately 0.13 G.”

However, there is no confirmation yet as to whether Hyundai EV owners will get the software update remotely or will have to take their cars to a dealership for the fix. Also, while Hyundai & Kia are both said to be bringing in updates, there is no information on whether Genesis (Hyundai's premium brand) models are affected by this problem.

Source: Autoblog

Link to Team-BHP news

[libranof1987]

Mercedes has this on the EQS (and presumably other EVs). From our official review:

The EQS gets three regeneration braking modes apart from switching off regen completely:

1) Normal: This is the normal setting with a mild level of regen
2) Strong: This is a very aggressive form of regeneration where taking the foot off the accelerator implies mild/strong braking. In this mode not only do the brake lights turn on when you lift off the throttle, but the brake pedal gets depressed as well!
3) Intelligent: This is a mix of Normal / Strong depending on the car's computer

I'm not sure if Hyundai will employ this universally, or only on the most intense setting of Regenerative Braking. But, there's a lot of merit in having this feature as, for instance, engine braking in Mercedes' Strong Regenerative Braking setting is actually very significant, in the sense that the speed reduces dramatically, and can lead to potential rear-ends if the vehicles behind do not anticipate it.

The brake pedal being slightly depressed when the mode is active helped us also then further brake accordingly.

[corvus corax]

Chanced upon this video by 'Technology Connections' a few days ago which discusses the same topic in detail

https://youtu.be/U0YW7x9U5TQ

[mally2]

Tata vehicles right down to the Tiago EV do this from Regen 1 onwards.

[Venkat_KM]

This was the exact feature we were missing in Nexon EV Prime before the last firmware update, even while it had the lowest regeneration itself. Thankfully after the firmware update this was taken care with brake lights coming on after certain time while slowing down using regeneration irrespective of regen levels and brake pedal engagement. This clearly is a safety issue and should be brought as standard in all EV vehicles including two wheelers for that matter.

[electric_eel]

Originally Posted by mally2

TATA Vehicles right down to the TIAGO Ev do this from Regen 1 onwards

Tatas do not have the "one pedal driving mode" so this is not actually comparable.
But it switches on the brake light when the regen starts decelerating the car beyond a point (one of the first features I tested on the Nexon EV Max as we were driving from the show room after delivery ).

[iamgyan]

Not sure how Hyundai missed this but turning on of brake lights is required by law once the limit of defined deceleration are breached. Refer below screenshot from AIS 151 published by ARAI. The limits themselves are taken from UNECE R13H which is referred globally for local regulations also.
The signal mentioned here is the brake lamp signal.

PS: The AIS regulations are freely downloadable from ARAI website among others

[carthick1000]

The deceleration limits as mentioned by user iamgyan is how Tesla and some other European OEMs do it for EV regenerative braking. Hyundai's EVs remain still a lot buggy and incoherent in the way how their software works.

They have some good models on the market, but their software implentation is not upto the level of their designs. If you checkout online forums about Hyundai EVs esp. Ioniq 5 (which is the most sold/available in the market with their e-GMP platform) and EV6, you will see a lot of issues with Charging, SW updates not working correctly and lot of other issues with software. I don't think the legacy OEMs get it (yet).