Hyundai Paywalls Brake Pads replacement on Ioniq 5 N

A 2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5 N owner was venting on Reddit recently about not being able to change his brake pads without specialized computer equipment. It sounds insane, but this is what new-car ownership is like in 2025. We did some digging and made contact with Hyundai to understand the situation and break it down for you—it’s a frustrating one.

Having to talk to computers to fix a car isn’t necessarily unique to the Korean automaker, but I fell into a rabbit hole of Hyundai maintenance research here, so that’ll be our focus for the moment.

Context for casual readers: Brake pad and rotor replacements are super basic car maintenance. You won’t need to do the job nearly as often on an electric car (thanks to regenerative braking), but even EV pads don’t last forever. On most cars, part of the job involves disconnecting or retracting the parking brake, which usually grabs the rear wheels. Many modern cars, and all EVs, have an electronic parking brake controlled by a computer signal, rather than a manually adjustable nut-and-cable situation. This is what sparked Redditor u/SoultronicPear’s justifiable frustration.

One more piece of stage-setting: Since electronic parking brakes are indeed common, many readily available diagnostic tools (pretty basic OBD scanners) can issue a retract-brake command to a car’s ECU. Still, you do need one with bi-directional test functionality. Remember that point—it will become significant again in a few paragraphs.

Wondering if your car has an electronic parking brake or a cable one? It’s very easy to tell—if you’ve got a button or switch (left), it’s electronic. Parking brakes with big, satisfying handles (like on the right) are mechanical. stock.adobe.com

Apparently, no cheap scanner option worked on the original Reddit poster’s Ioniq 5 N. That led them on a journey of attempting to access commercial-grade car-repair gear, which was ultimately fruitless.

You can access a Hyundai EV’s diagnostic brain using the brand’s proprietary dealership hardware and software (it’s called GDS, and it is publicly buyable but costs about six grand) or a third-party aftermarket system running a J2534 program. J2534 is an interface standard designed by the SAE and mandated by the EPA that basically ensures ECUs from different car brands can speak the same language for the sake of independent repair shops.

Bi-directional scanners are readily available for a few hundred bucks. This TOPDON ArtiDiag900, for example, advertises electronic parking brake controlability, but I don’t think it would pass Hyundai’s software authentication checks. TOPDON

Hyundai supports J2534 and recommends one of three machines for talking to its cars: CarDAQ Plus 3 (about $2,000), MTS 6531 (also about $2,000), and d-briDGe PRO (about $800). “…under no circumstances do we recommend the use of a non-approved J2534 device,” the company states. You would then also need a subscription to Hyundai’s J2534 Diagnostic Tool Software, which costs $60 a week (or less over longer time blocks). All this info is in .PDFs linked from Hyundai’s tech portal.

At this point, after spending about $2,000 on tools, you should be able to service your own Hyundai Ioniq brakes, but if you’re a DIYer, you still can’t. Written in red at the top of one of Hyundai’s many tech documents is this: “Access to Bi-Directional Tests and Special Functions require Diagnostic Professional or Vehicle Security Professional credential from NASTF.”

NASTF is the National Automotive Service Task Force. It exists “to identify and resolve gaps in service information, tool information, and training” between OEMs and independent shops (cool idea). It’s also the arbiter of things like lock coding and car credential management. To get scan-tool validation as a member, you need to be a professional mechanic.

And with that final roadblock, we can confirm that, no, a DIYer can not do their own brakes on a Hyundai Ioniq 5 N.

I’m guessing most of you reading this will now have the same thought I did—it does seem smart to have some regulation on sensitive data like the codes to your car locks, but what the heck, you should be able to do brake pads on a car you own. Or as Randy Marsh would have put it: “I’m sorry, I thought this was America!”

Here’s an exploded view of Ioniq 5 rear brakes. Hyundai

Naturally, I also dropped Hyundai a note about this directly. Here’s what the automaker told us:

“Hyundai is committed to supporting both our dealer network and independent repair facilities with safe, secure, and accessible service solutions. For vehicles equipped with electronic parking brakes, including the Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 5 N, the official repair procedure requires placing the rear calipers in service mode using either our Global Diagnostic System (GDS) or the J2534 application. This ensures proper functionality and customer safety. Hyundai recently expanded access through an update to our J2534 application, enabling aftermarket users to perform functions previously restricted by the GDS secure gateway. While authentication through NASTF is required for sensitive operations, this step helps maintain security and accountability. Our official dealer tool (GDS) is also available for purchase by anyone.

Hyundai is actively exploring ways to make routine maintenance easier for all customers while upholding safety standards.

“We appreciate the interest in DIY repairs and will continue working toward solutions that balance convenience with security.”

Here’s a rear brake caliper. See that little hook I put an orange arrow pointed at? That’s the parking brake engager. If you were changing pads and rotors on this car, you’d probably disconnect that cable to get the caliper off, then screw the piston into the caliper, then reinstall the cable and manually adjust its tightness with a nut on the cable. Modern cars have the same functionality, but you can’t mess with it without computer control. stock.adobe.com

So after all that, we can address the Reddit thread title “Hyundai declares WAR on Right to Repair” as technically incorrect. Right-to-repair legislation prevents product manufacturers from hiding technology behind proprietary diagnostic tools, and this stuff is not restricted to the brand’s own equipment. So, technically, I think the company’s in the clear on the rules as-written. We can also add a layer of clarification to the Carscoops post on this that was headlined as “Apparently You Need Hyundai’s Permission To Change Your Own Brakes.” It’s not Hyundai’s permission you need, it’s the NASTF’s.

However, obviously, both Carscoops and the guy on Reddit were totally right in principle. A car repair task that has historically been totally DIY’able in a driveway is now relegated to shop-only because of technology. And that’s not good.

We focused on Hyundai here because this particular Reddit thread caught my eye and sent me on a research quest about this particular brand, but the Korean automaker is hardly the only company making it hard to mess with modern cars.

I understand, and even appreciate, automakers wanting to be careful with things like lock and engine-starting encryption. You definitely don’t want anybody to be able to download your car keys and make off with your vehicle, or do worse. But there’s got to be a better middle-ground than this. People should have unfettered access to the cars (and tractors, and tools) they own, plain and simple.

One last note: For anyone who found this article because you, too, are trying to get a modern car’s electronic brake to release for service but aren’t having luck … I did find this one tool that might be able to override the existing software. But I’m making no endorsement of it whatsoever—I’ve never used it and have no idea if it works or if using it might trigger any unintended consequences. Use at your own risk (but report back in the comments if you’ve tried it).

Got a tip? Drop us a line at [email protected].