The Ioniq 5 Cup Holder Problem: What Hyundai Missed and How to Fix It
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 gets a lot right. Fast charging, spacious cabin, that clean retro-futuristic look. But spend a week driving one and you notice something odd about the center console. For a car this thoughtfully designed, the space between the front seats feels weirdly unfinished.
The cup holders are huge and the phone has nowhere to go. Owners have been complaining about it since 2022, and Hyundai has not fixed it in the facelift either.
The two problems nobody talks about at the dealership
Problem one: the cup holders swallow everything.
If you own a Yeti, a Contigo, or basically any normal reusable bottle, you already know. It rattles around in there like a marble in a bucket. Small water bottles tip over. Coffee cups from the drive-thru slosh out at the first roundabout. There is a rubber insert at the bottom, but it does nothing for anything narrower than a full soda can.
Go on the Ioniq forum and you will find threads going back to 2022 with owners asking for solutions. Most give up and buy one of those ugly generic cup holder adapters that clip to the side. Some just accept it.
Problem two: where do you put the phone?
The Ioniq 5 does not have a natural phone spot. The dash is one long horizontal panel with nothing to grip. The vents are horizontal too, so vent clips are useless. The wireless charging pad works if your car has one, but it lies flat, so you cannot glance at it while driving. And if you want to use Waze or Google Maps on the phone screen instead of Apple CarPlay or Android Auto, you are stuck.
The popular fix is a ProClip mount that wedges between the two screens. It works, but it costs 60 to 80 euros for a plastic clip, plus another 40 for the phone holder itself. And it puts the phone right in your line of sight over the steering wheel, which not everyone wants.
Some people stick magnetic mounts on the metal pad to the left of the wheel. Others glue MagSafe pucks to the dash. It all feels like patchwork.
Why nobody makes a clean solution
The issue is that Hyundai designed the center console area to be flexible, but they left it too flexible. There is a big open tray in front of the cup holders where you are supposed to put your keys, your wallet, your phone, whatever. In practice it becomes a slide, and everything ends up on the passenger floor after one hard corner.
Aftermarket brands mostly ignore the Ioniq 5. The volume is smaller than a Tesla or a RAV4, and the interior geometry is unusual. So you get a handful of expensive imports from Korea, some rough eBay pieces, or the occasional 3D-printed part from someone's garage. Nothing that actually solves both problems at once.
What we built
We spent a while measuring the console area, printing test versions, and driving with them to see what actually works. The result is a single insert that sits right behind the cup holders and does three things at the same time.
It holds two phones standing up. One for the driver, one for the passenger. If you use your phone for navigation while your partner uses theirs for music or messages, both fit side by side without touching.
It also holds a phone lying flat. Some people prefer landscape mode, especially for Waze. The slot is deep enough to keep the phone stable even on rough roads.
There is a routed opening for the charging cable, so you can run a USB-C from the console port straight into the phone without the cable flapping around. Behind the phone slot there is extra space to tuck the slack if your cable is longer than you need.
And in front of all that, there is a small storage tray. Keys, coins, AirPods, a set of earplugs, whatever you actually carry. It is deep enough that nothing slides out during normal driving.
The cup holders underneath stay fully usable. Standard 0.5 litre cans fit. McDonald's medium coffee fits. The tall gas station cups fit.
The install
There is no install. You drop it into the space between the cup holders and it stays there. No screws, no adhesive, no tools. If you sell the car, you pull it out and take it with you.
The whole thing is textured to match the OEM interior finish, so it does not scream aftermarket accessory from the passenger seat. The material handles summer heat without warping, which matters if you park outside.
Who this is for
If you already have a ProClip and love it, you probably do not need this. Same if you use the wireless charging pad and never look at your phone while driving.
But if you are one of the people who has been searching Ioniq 5 phone holder for months and hating every result, this is worth a look. It solves the cup holder rattle, gives your phone a real home, and cleans up the cable mess. All at once.
Fits 2022, 2023, and 2024 Ioniq 5. You can check the current listing and pricing here: Hyundai Ioniq 5 Cup Holder Insert with Phone Holder and Storage.