My Santa Fe's a Lemon

OCDinPDX

OCDinPDX

Paint Ph.D
The straw finally broke the camel's back tonight. I am done with this no-good, worthless piece of $30,000 xxxx and have just fired off a letter to Hyundai Consumer Affairs officially opening a case under the Lemon Law. If they refuse buy-back, I will trade it in on something else, bite the bullet and take the hit. I have been patient and tried to be understanding that no machine is perfect but this thing has just drawn my last nerve. To recount my problems in the mere three months I have owned this car:

- Paint cracked and flaked off - repaired under warranty, car was out of my possession for two weeks.
- Radiator needs to be replaced
- Car stalled for no reason and left me stranded - no fault codes and could not reproduce.
- Defroster does not work; in fact, it sometimes acts as a fogger, making it virtually impossible to see, especially in wet, humid weather. I have nearly had an accident because of this.
- Air conditioning has stopped working

This is simply unacceptable and I will be taking it to the dealer tomorrow and tell them they can have it back. I am so sick of the crap this car keeps pulling it took every ounce of restraint in my body to keep from driving it headlong into a tree, drenching it in gasoline and lighting it on fire. God help who ever gets this demon car next.
 
I'm really sorry to hear this. I think it is a good looking Ute but I couldn't deal with it either. On the other hand we have two RAV4 V-6's. One has been bulletproof and the other (mine) has been problematic. How about a new transmission with under 7K miles? They all build a turd now & then.
 
I thought the Lemon Law was three repair attempts for the same problem. I admit I am not that educated in it since most of my cars have been problem free. That does sound like a lot of problems. How many miles are on it?
 
Good luck getting anything done under lemon law. Unless the dealer can duplicate the problem every time, and make an attempt to repair you have no leg for lemon law. Trust me, been going through it over a year with my 2009 Silverado I purchased with 373 miles on. its been a battle and i have given up....
 
a lot of issues for a new vehicle. at this point i would give the dealership a chance to "put it right". nothing sucks more than getting a NEW vehicle and having issues from day one. that is supposed to be one of the best feelings in the world, then ruined by issues. been there. on the 2010 toyota fj cruisers, they have a steering wheel shimmy around 55-60 mph. they just cant figure it out. sucks. my new one did it from day one. toyota dealer here claimed it was normal! BS!!! ended up really not liking the vehicle overall. traded. never looked back.
 
PA DETAILER said:
a lot of issues for a new vehicle. at this point i would give the dealership a chance to "put it right". nothing sucks more than getting a NEW vehicle and having issues from day one. that is supposed to be one of the best feelings in the world, then ruined by issues. been there. on the 2010 toyota fj cruisers, they have a steering wheel shimmy around 55-60 mph. they just cant figure it out. sucks. my new one did it from day one. toyota dealer here claimed it was normal! BS!!! ended up really not liking the vehicle overall. traded. never looked back.
Click to expand...

my Sequoia had a similar problem with the shaking and since one of the family business's is the tire and front end business so we looked hard ... first it was wheel balancing, and nothing. then rotation and wheel balancing again ..nothing ... then we went to the front end .. it seems if these toyota vehicles are even a slight bit off in their toe settings they will shake. Mine was barely off, but as soon as it was adjusted , the shaking was gone for ever and tire wear is good too.

As for the Hyundai , well as much as I'd like to give them a chance as many did with Toyota and Datsun when I was young, I think either you have to have patience or stay away. Also the lemon law does vary from state to state, but I believe what Scott said... 3 times for the same unfixable problem will get you a new vehicle (besides a lot of xxxxxing and moaning) and maybe the threat of a law suit.

good luck :rockon
 
Its ashame that the Hyundai is giving you trouble. Overall they are very good cars. I work for a Toyota dealership , and they somethimes act up too.
 
OCD, sorry to hear of your problems. I know it is especially disappointing because you were so excited when you purchased it new. I experienced several similar issues (paint, stalling w/o no faults) years ago with a Chrysler mini-van. We ended up fighting through it and spent many times more in maintenance and repairs than the original purchase price.

As for the lemon law, there should be something online specifically spelling out the terms and remedies in your state. Hope you find a satisfactory resolution to your headaches.
 
That really sucks... how many miles have you put on it in 3 months?

I doubt you'll get anywhere with lemon law, but if you do take the hit on it, might I suggest looking at the Chevy Equinox to replace it? :D
 
My problem is that if I take a hit, I will be relegated to buying whatever I can afford with the trade-in value.
 
First post but this is an important one. I had a 2009 Mazda Tribute. By 4000 miles it had had 3 PCMs and two automatic transmissions.
I hired a lawyer to pursue Mazda as they thought it was perfectly OK to have had such problems.
I just gave them the car back last Thursday after almost 6 months of BS.
You should use the Internet to research the lemon laws or your state. In California, all that had to happen to guarantee it would be bought back by the manufacturer was to be in the shop for a total of 30 days with any problem relater to warranty. I got 30 easily as they have no mechanics in San Diego that really know how to work on a newer car.
The other way would have been to have been in the shop for at least 3 repairs that could have been considered life threatening or major repairs.
Important things to do:
Keep detailed documentation of every time you complain to the dealer.
Don't let them blow you off, even if they say they can't find anything wrong, it will count towards the total needed to seal the deal on it legally being a lemon.
Leave the car with them whenever you can, as that will build towards the 30 day total.
Don't do anything to the car that will bite you in the ass later on when it does go to corporate remediation.
Talk to as many lawyers as you can. They are NOT all good. You will get a good overview of what will happen after hearing the same things from several different lawyers.
Do not agree to a deal unless you are happy with it. i did not want a car that had had half its parts spread out across the dealers garage floor before it had even been broke in. I parked it, bought another brand of car and bode my time to have Mazda buy back my lemon.
You should write corporate once with a registered letter and file a complaint with your states BBB. The letter documents the start of the process, then let the lawyer that you choose take it from there.
I know that it will be tough to bear with your problem but there are laws to help you get proper restitution. If the car is taken back as a legal lemon, they have to tell who ever else buys the car that it is a lemon vehicle and it will lower the value of it immensely.
Don' let it get you too down and keep us posted on what happens. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
 
Oregon Lemon Law

www dot bbb dot org/us/Storage/16/Documents/BBBAutoLine/OR-LLsummary.pdf

From BBB.

For vehicles purchased/leased on or after September 21, 2009, the presumption is
met if either of the following events has occurred during the two-year period following
the date of the motor vehicle’s original delivery to the consumer or during the period
ending when the vehicle mileage reaches 24,000 miles, whichever period ends first:
1. The manufacturer, its agent or authorized dealer has subjected the nonconformity to
repair or correction three or more times and has had an opportunity to cure the
nonconformity, but the nonconformity continues to exist; or
2. The motor vehicle is out of service by reason of repair or correction for a cumulative
total of 30 or more calendar days or 60 or more calendar days for a motor home; or
3. The manufacturer, its agent or authorized dealer has subjected a nonconformity that
is likely to cause death or serious bodily injury to repair or correction at least one
time and has made a final attempt to repair or correct the nonconformity, but the
nonconformity continues to exist.
The one-year/12,000 miles period, two-year/24,000 miles period, and the 30-day
period are extended by any period of time during which repair services are not available
to the consumer because of a war, invasion, strike, fire, flood or other natural disaster. This information is not intended as legal advice. Please direct specific questions to your legal counsel.
 
Well...Oregon law is similar to California and I already have ten days out of those 30 for the body shop work and as that was a warranty claim, it qualifies. I will start keeping track and see when I hit 30 days.

I may not even keep it that long. With the price of gas going up again, I'm seriously considering picking up a Honda Fit instead. I'm in a holding pattern at the moment and will not make a move until Hyundai responds. I will accept replacement if they offer it but for some reason, I feel they aren't going to do that.
 
Welcome to Ray Cerio! I nominate him for First Post Hall of Fame! Good job, Ray.

Calm down, guys! Correcting serious problems in a new vehicle is SIMPLE.

For example:

Let's say that you're a consultant who works about six-month jobs away from home, and you live in your RV while on the road... point being that your truck represents much more than basic transportation. You are truly stranded without it.

Let's suppose that the problem consists of experiencing a severe wobble in the front end, occurring unexpectedly at Interstate Highway speeds, and corrected only by stopping the truck! A real "tank slapper" in motorcycle terms.

Take your new $50,000 pickup... oh let's just say a Ford F250 King Ranch, 4 door, 4X4 for instance, to three different dealerships in two states. Get a different answer in each dealership.

So, frustrated by the apparent lack of troubleshooting skill or interest in finding a resolution at the dealerships, you flip to the back of the Owner's Manual and call the manufacturer's Consumer Affairs department.

Hypothetically speaking, of course, you make your living as a Performance Improvement consultant, helping Fortune 100 companies fine tune their business processes... staffing and equipping call centers, training telephone agents in the skills required to produce customer satisfaction, measuring the quality of these customer interactions in an empirical fashion.

In other words, you are an expert at making the distinction between poorly supervised, ill-mannered, and rude individual customer service representatives and an automobile manufacturer who has intentionally devised a process to unmercifully jerk its customers around for the purpose of avoiding the costs of warranty repairs and vehicle recalls.

I'll fast forward three months (the truck having been in warranty the whole time) and get to the SIMPLE part:

- Skip all of the above. They truly do not give a damn.

- Replace all parts that have been suggested as a possible source of the problem... wheels, tires, shocks (twice), steering stabilizer and rotors.

- Get at least two four-wheel alignments. Check your drive shaft, springs, etc., etc., etc.

- Plan on spending... oh... about $4527.16

- The problem persists. Now the truck wobbles all the time.

- Take your vehicle to a trusted local non-dealership mechanic, where in less than twenty minutes it is discovered that the original equipment non-greasable ball joints had seized.

-Replace these at an additional cost of $288.

- Rides like a dream.

SIMPLE
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top