this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2025
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This isn't a new thing. Almost every car that has an electrical park brake advises you to use software to change change out your rear brake pads, as when you release your Electric Park Brake (EPB), the EPB motor doesn't wind back enough, to give you the space required to install new pads and/or rotors, it only winds back enough to release pressure off the piston pushing the pad, which this has been in production cars since 2001 (some cars have brake maintenance modes which can be activated without software, Mazda first comes to mind with this). This whole Hyundai/Kia deal reminds me of Volkswagen back when they were intoducting proprietary software for vehicle maintenance, which led to a guy getting mad and making his own software that does everything the factory software does for a fraction of the cost and arguably better (Rosstech/VCDS) which I feel will happen soon with Hyundai. But being mad just at just Hyundai for this is the wrong mindsent, almost every car manufacturer does this and for a long time, and needs to stop. Even for dealerships this is horrendous because it uses a always online software that if you live somewhere with bad internet or GPS connection, stops you from even just resetting the service interval, which as usual is explained as being a good thing for "safety reasons" by the manufacturer.
The new thing is that the user bought a professional scan tool and license and he still couldn't do anything because he didn't have a business license. Hyundai said the software was "not for DIYers".
The other guy commenting is somewhat right, the user shouldn't have bought this tool for DIY use, as most dealership software won't work for DIY use because it is also a warranty tool, hence the need for a business license, the diagnostic software will record everything you do, upload a log file for the manufacturer to read to make sure they carry out the repairs correctly/services are inline with schedules, and they need that business license information so they know who to approve or deny a claim to. every manufacturer will have a software that does this and they shouldn't be used for DIY use because it simply won't work (unless there are cracked versions where people have remove that functionality, I believe there is software for Subaru and Toyota out there like this). There is other tools for the DIY use that are a fraction of the cost that does what you need, and most aren't vehicle/brand specific, and good brands of OBD2 scanners will regularly pushout updates to cover more cars and more test functions over time. The issue mainly I see is manufacturers hide this information and unless you are well knowledged in the field or know a guy, the cheap and safe route is often so incredibly difficult to find and usually ends up in people confused and scared to work on their own cars, which sucks because the premise of all the hardware used in cars isn't really that far from 50 years ago, software and 4-8km of wiring can scare people and the manufacturers want that because it scares people out of DIY fixes but still ticks the boxes of right to repair laws. (Sorry for the big comments, I can't keep them small)
He shouldn't even have bought that. Most manufacturers give the diagnostic info to 3rd parties who build consumer tools. That's how things like iCarsoft support a lot of these dealership tool functions.
Also J2534 is standard. He didn't HAVE to buy a Hyundai recommended one. There are cheaper ones.
The problem is you're blaming the consumer instead of the manufacturer.
This is not a consumer tool. There are several consumer tools available for much cheaper. He bought into an enterprise solution and wondered why it was expensive.
Most WORKSHOPS don't spend on manufacturer specific software. It's for dealers and specialist shops.
Why do you think businesses should have access to tools that consumers don't?
Didn't say that, just said you're a bit special when you buy tools specifically meant to make money off dealers. Alternatives are cheaper and often more user friendly. The manufacturers license the required data to companies that make 3rd party tools. Put it this way, dealers are required to use 1st party, by contract.
Hyundai is cheap too. I've seen dealer scan tools run over 20k, with a 2k annual subscription. Luckily that one is obsolete on cars that support J2534 so small shops can get rid of the 20k up front cost, but dealers STILL have to carry that obsolete version too. Consumers are allowed to get 3rd party alternatives which cost much, much less.
The target of the scam here isn't the consumer. The consumer can have use tools. Dealers are REQUIRED to pay for the expensive ones. Just like they are required to buy a lot of other expensive tools from the manufacturer. It's the price they have to pay for officially being the place that you can take your brand new car to for maintenance. And then THEY can scam you with exorbitant rates and book hours.
The entire thing sucks and manufacturers SHOULD offer something for consumers too, but this is a different issue, right now we're talking about enterprise software licensing being expensive for consumers. Yeah no shit, they weren't expecting him to literally just go and buy it.
What's stopping people from disconnecting the EPB and manually connecting a battery to the motor to wind it back?
Nothing really, if it works, it works, But do have to be mindful though that the wind back function could also be a recalibration of the motor to know where the pistion is in some manufacturers. Some manufacturers the Body Control Module (BCM) might not care that it took 3 seconds longer then last time before there was resistance on the EPB, where as in some it'll flag that there was a large discrepancy and put a warning on the dash and maybe disable the park brake, or ABS and the BCM will require a test function to be ran to recalibrate the EPB before regaining the functionality, but again this is manufacter specific