Hi, to all.

I have a 2002 Elantra with 65,000 miles on it and I live in Cleveland. Yesterday my front control arm split in 2 pieces, luckily I was only going 35 mph or there would have been a terrible accident. After I barely pulled to the side of the road because the wheel almost fell off I noticed the control arm had rusted and busted. I had it towed to my mechanic and he suggested I call the dealer and tell them the situation. So I called and they said we could probably fix it under warranty, and as matter of fact we are replacing a control arm on another 02' lantra right now, and to have it towed to the dealer. The next day (today) the dealer called and said he will need to replace both front control arms as a token of his goodwill. When I first called yesterday he said he was replacing the other lantra as "goodwill' for that customer also because he was a regular to his dealership for repairs.

The main point of this post is to !!!BEWARE!!! of defective control arms especially on elantras in places where they use a lot of road salt on streets. THIS CAN BE A LIFE THREATENING PROBLEM!!

INSPECT YOUR CONTROL ARMS !!!

I have a few questions.
1. Has anyone else had this problem?
2. My front tire was damaged from this incident, should I expect the dealer to do something about it?
3. I had to have the car towed 2 times at a cost of $ 110, should I expect to be compensated?

Thanks in advance for any help and info, pizzaman.

p.s. spread the word, I think they are trying to cover up the problem with the control arms by performing things as "goodwill".

 

I think Hyundai must have had a bad supplier for 2002, as there are reports from Santa Fe owners from the same year of rear trailing arms doing the same thing. Certainly there should have been a recall. There is no TSB on the issue, no recalls.

 

Thanks for your response.

I wonder how there is going to be a recall if the dealers are fixing these as"goodwill" ?

I assume that perhaps things are not being reported properly because of the severity of the problem( namely large expense to Hyundai ).

If and when someone gets hurt, will probably get the ball rolling.

I repeat the car is only 6 years old and stays in my garage all the time, and I would have lost my whole wheel if I were on the highway. Very scary thought, especially if I had my wife and children with me.

If you can spread the word to people, especially in states and countries which use road salt during the winter. Please do so.

SIX YEARS is not very durable for a major component on any vehicle!{well maybe a Yugo : ) }

 

A 7 year old car driven in a "salt-belt" state. Sorry but that's not a defect or a recall, it's wear and tear.

 

Thanks for your response nova.

Just wondering if you would feel the same way if it happened to your car? I am not disagreeing with you but am just curious about your opinion and hoped you could give a little more info on the subject.

Should I be happy that the dealer fixed it as " goodwill " and forget about it, and never buy a Hyundai again? My wife has an 05' elantra and I had an 88' Excel before I bought my 02' elantra( that owner loyalty rebate gets me every time.)


Thanks for your time , Angelo

 

Hard to say because I've never let that happen to my car. I, too, live in the rust-belt where salt is generously used on the roads during the winter. However, I like to keep my car clean (the bottom as well as the top). I regularly frequent car washes during the winter to remove the salt from the body and the undercarriage. Second, I have my car inspected yearly to make sure the suspension parts are not rusting through. A yearly inspection should have caught the rusting control arm before it failed. Either you aren't doing that or the mechanic you are using did a poor inspection.

In my opinion, you should be happy for them replacing something that was no longer under warranty. I think choosing to "never buy a Hyundai again" would be foolish. First the cars are well built, affordable and come with a great warranty. So good that they even replace parts that are no longer under warranty. But that's just my opinion.

 

No, I think this is a problem with the quality of the steel used. I know what you're talking about, the damn thing rusts clean through, and you wonder how you survived. It's not a normal thing to happen, as heavy suspension parts are supposed to be made of a grade of steel that won't just turn to rust like that in 6 years. I've seen this in old VW Beetles, and Chrysler minivans had a problem with the strut towers. Chrysler has a recall to replace the strut towers on 1996 and later vans. Like I said, I think Hyundai got a bad supplier in 2002, and managed to keep it quiet....

Here's an interesting article:

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news0...ai_rusted.html

 

Very interesting.

 

Thanks jsinton for the link to that article.

I will be writing to the NHTSA to make them aware of my situation. The fixing of my car and probably several others( I know of at least 1 on the same day as mine at the same dealership) as " goodwill " really made me wonder, since when has a dealership had the reputation of doing something good for someone. I usually try to avoid the dealership for repairs because they have a tendency to blow off your problem OR find " extra " things wrong with your vehicle.

I will keep you posted on how things work out.

Angelo.

 

Please keep us informed.