Here’s Why American Hyundai Ioniq 6 Owners Are Getting Shortchanged On Frunk Space

Last week, I found myself participating in the AJAC EcoRun, an economy competition against several Canadian automotive journalists in some of the latest green models. While I enjoyed my time behind the wheel of the Toyota Crown Signia (you can read my take here), I found myself closing day one behind the wheel of a rear-wheel-drive Hyundai Ioniq 6 with small wheels and wonderfully temperature-defying cloth seats. It’s a brilliant spec because thanks to its 361 miles of rated range, range anxiety simply doesn’t exist. You’ll want a break before the car will, and that gives a chance for your mind to wander onto more important subjects, such as why the North American rear-wheel-drive Ioniq 6 gets shortchanged on frunk space.

As we stumbled upon last year, in the rest of the world, the lack of a front motor on RWD Ioniq 6 models allows space for a bigger frunk, boosting capacity from 0.53 cu.-ft. (15 liters) to a more usable 1.6 cu.-ft. (45 liters). While not as capacious as the 3.1 cu.-ft. (88 liters) you get in a Tesla Model 3, a 200 percent increase in frunk space is huge.

In North America, however, all Ioniq 6 models get a small, shallow frunk. It’s big enough for a Level 1 charging cable, but only just, and it’d be difficult to transport much else up front. A full grocery run is pretty much out of the question, and a full roadside kit would have to be crammed in there like sardines.

Since the frunk isn’t fully shrouded, it’s easy to see the sheer amount of space between the bottom of the plastic frunk tray and the hard parts under the hood of the rear-wheel-drive Ioniq 6. We’re talking about several inches before you’re even close to touching high-voltage componentry, and in the world of frunks, that’s a lot.

So why aren’t North American Ioniq 6 RWD models equipped with the deeper frunk? Well, it seems to come down to requirements for emergency frunk releases. See, NHTSA has something called Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 401, and it exists to prevent people — especially small children — from getting trapped in trunks and, um, dying.

Here’s how NHTSA defines a trunk as per FMVSS 401 testing requirements:

(a) means a space that:
(1) Is intended to be used for carrying luggage or cargo,
(2) Is wholly separated from the occupant compartment of a passenger car by a permanently attached partition or by a fixed or fold-down seat back and/or rigid partition,
(3) Has a trunk lid, and
(4) Is large enough so that the three-year-old child dummy described in Subpart C of Part 572 can be placed inside the trunk compartment, and the trunk lid can be closed and latched with all removable equipment furnished by the passenger car manufacturer stowed in accordance with label(s) on the passenger car or information in the passenger car owner=s manual, or, if no information is provided, as located when the passenger car is delivered. (Note: For purposes of this standard, the Part 572 Subpart C test dummy need not be equipped with the accelerometers specified in Part 572.21.) (b) Does not include a sub-compartment within the trunk compartment.

So, if a compartment is small enough that the test dummy cannot be placed inside the trunk compartment with the lid closed and latched, a glow-in-the-dark emergency release isn’t necessary. That explains why the Rambox available on full-size Ram pickup trucks has emergency releases, but the shallow little tray in the Ioniq 6 doesn’t. Hyundai didn’t include an emergency release, so this seems like a feasible workaround.

However, some Ioniq 6 owners crave more frunk space, and a few have taken matters into their own hands, producing both good and bad news. The good news? The deep frunk has a part number that you can look up, 86710KL000. The bad news? Options for sourcing it may be somewhat limited. Owners on the Ioniq forums have been purchasing the deep frunk from a vendor called Spare Korea, and while the part itself is reasonable at $177, shipping is expensive because the frunk is a bulky item. Once you add the cost of shipping to America, you’re in it for $657.55.

Is it worth spending $657.55 for an extra 1.07 cu.-ft. of storage space? Probably not for most people, but for frunk enthusiasts, it’s nice to know the option exists. It’s totally possible to just unbolt the small North American frunk and bolt in the bigger one on Ioniq 6 models, and we suspect this is something we’ll see more Ioniq 6 enthusiasts doing in the future.

(Photo credits: Thomas Hundal, Hyundai)

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