I picked up my 2006 Hyundai Sonata on January 20th, 2008. She had around 38,500 miles on her. I fell in love with the car. It handled well in snow, had a nice interior, a lot of features, and fit my 6'4 frame fairly well. It was attractive, and the 4 cylinder engine (rated at 21 city, 30 highway, with the new 2008EPAestimates,according to fueleconomy.gov) seemed promisingly frugal on gasoline, at a time when gas was, if I recall, over three dollars per gallon.

Within a week, while driving down the highway, doing around 70 MPH (in a 65, I'm guilty of speeding I guess) my fourth gear (of my 4-speed automatic) was ripped out from under me, and I was dropped into third, as my check engine light came on. Getting off at the nearest exit, and using the manu-matic manual shifting mode, proved that I was unable to change into any gear other than third, making accelerating from 0 terribly un-exciting and difficult. A trip to the dealer a few days later (this had occured on a weekend night, Saturday if I recall) proved worthless, as the dealership didn't find a solution, and by then the check engine light had come back on.

A few days later, the same thing happened, and a trip to a different dealership (difficult, in my area, considering Hyundai dealerships are few and far between, and the next nearest dealership, and the one I went to, was an hour and half away) proved two TSBs out for my vehicle for a solenoid valve cover, or something to that effect, as well as part of the oil sensor system. Once replaced, a few days later, all seemed well. About two weeks later, my vehicle encountered the same problem, and taking it to the first dealership (the one closer to my house) and explaining it all, and complaining that they didn't even check for possible recalls/service bulletins on my vehicle, it was suggested by Hyundai's "Tech Line" that the dealership try swapping out the wiring harness in my Transmission. This was done, about a week later when the part was available, and the issue went away.

What was failed to be address, in this maintainence, was an awkward sound coming from my engine, at times, during acceleration, as well as horrible gas mileage on my vehicle, both issues which seemed related. Driving at 65 MPH (the speed limit) on cruise control for large expanses of land will result in an average fuel economy that is mostly below 23.5 MPG combined on a 16 gallon tank (when babying it), and at one time had gone as high as 25.5 MPG, but only two tanks that I can recall netted that. It must be noted that those two 25.5 MPG tanks were 90% highway, with little to no city involved, except to go to the gas station itself. 23.5 MPG combined on a vehicle with a 4 cylinder rated at 21/30 is pretty bad, especially considering my 2007 G6 GT with an engine that had two more cylinders and 1.1 more liters displacement had netted, typically, 30 MPG on the highway, and around 25 MPG combined.

The point being with gas mileage that, it was really bad.

So anyway, several trips to the dealer over the coarse of maybe four weeks, 2 or 3 that I recall, and having service technicians (and once or twice the service manager) driving along, listening to the engine, contained either the noise not occuring, or the noise happening but nobody noticing that it did. Funny, considering several friends of mine have heard this sporadic noise, and found it awkward. This could be considered either "normal" (who knows, it is a vehicle built in Korea that does cost thousands below it's competition, and even if the engine is, possibly, assembled in the US, as I have been told by several dealerships, that doesn't remove the fact it was most likely designed in South Korea) or just bad design, who knows. Maybe it's related to the bad fuel economy?

I've also noticed, and brought this up at least twice, that my cruise control will often times make the entire vehicle shake, but only seems to do so between the 45 and 55 MPH range. If it's on cruise at 65, it's fine. If it's cruising at 35 it's fine. But if it's set to between 45 and 55 (which is the speed a lot of the highways, county roads, around here are) it will often times make the entire vehicle shake, and will make the ride extremely turbulent. Who knows why this is, perhaps it is related to the engine noise or varied transmission issues? Nobody from any dealership has confirmed this happens, even though it happens all the time. And by the way, it isn't windy when it occurs either. Wind could be perfectly calm, and it would still shake the entire vehicle.

This bring us to the next issue. By the way, all of the issues documented so far? They happened between January 20, 2008 and March 1, 2008. And they didn't even start in on January 20. I'd say maybe January 26 or 27, as I don't recall off the top of my head. But certainly the dealership has records of my phone calls and appointments and visits. Anyway the next issue would be the vehicle deciding to, a few weeks after the transmission's wiring harness was replaced, drain it's battery overnight. This also happens to be the very incident that has caused Hyundai to literally tell me, and I quote, "We are no longer servicing your vehicle under warranty." This sounds a little extreme, so let me explain.

One night in mid March, 2008, my vehicle must have drained it's battery empty, because when I went to start my car the next morning for work, I had nothing but a ticking sound, which I would later learn means your battery is basically empty. I had the vehicle towed, after a two hour delay waiting for the towing company, to the nearest dealership, you know, the ones who earlier failed to identify or fix my initial problems? And they claimed my battery was bad. A cell had gone out. We were now around 42-45,000 miles (give or take, exact mileage is available and is well documented through both Hyundai Roadside Assistance and the dealership in question), and my battery had a bad cell. And after the pro-rated amount to replace it, with what I was told was an Interstate battery, it cost me around $80 out of pocket. I learned, not long after, it was not an Interstate, but a generic, Hyundai-stickered battery. I wonder if it will die within 40,000 miles as well?

All seemed well, however within a week of having the dealership install the new battery, I had awoken one day to find my battery dead again. Another call to Roadside Assistance. The dealership said that my battery had been drained overnight, and had no idea why. They ran some tests, and had somehow concluded (within about ten minutes of looking at it, by the way) that my car's radio "might be the problem, but we aren't sure." They weren't sure. And, ironically, my vehicle's radio had gone out of warranty at the 36,000 mile mark, about 1,500 miles before I even purchased the vehicle. Not only were they not sure, but the OEM replacement for the radio was around $1,150 (I forget the exact cost, but it was a little under $1,200 as I recall). For a factory radio. Whose feature list was limited to CD, CD-R/W and MP3 CD play-back, and nothing else. And that didn't even include installation. For around $250, you can purchase an after-market radio with the exact same features, possibly even more features, and have it installed, wiring/faceplate kit and all.

The dealership, as well as Hyundai USA, were un-willing to look at the vehicle further. The dealership claimed that the only possible way my vehicle could keep losing it's charge was because of my radio head-unit. I was not about to spend over a thousand dollars out of pocket on my 2 year old, still-under-warranty car, for a solution which some guy who looked at my car for ten minutes thought might fix my problem. Within about three weeks, my car died two other times. That made four times within about a month, three of which after my battery was replaced. But none happened until after my transmission wiring harness was replaced, and my battery never died on the original battery, it was only after having it replaced that it died. Over and over. It became so bad that, one day before work, my car had died. I had a little over an hour commute, each way, to my job. My employer had a low tolerance for absences, and I actually lost my job from my car dying, and a combination of the hour plus wait time for Hyundai Roadside to get a tow, and Hyundai's refusal to ever provide a rental car.

After losing my job, I became behind on rent and car payment, and having to chose between having a vehicle that I had already put $2,500 down for and spent a bunch more money on payments, or an apartment, I chose the vehicle, having invested heavily in it compared to the apartment, an item that I would never really own. I was evicted from my apartment a few months later, after having lost my job/been unable to make rent payments.

Calls to Hyundai either went un-answered (with the phone literally ringing and nobody answering, or somebody answering and hanging up on me), which I took as perhaps Hyundai not wanting to talk to me anymore, having had so many interactionswith me in the first three months of vehicle ownership. When I finally got somebody on the phone, and I told them of my battery dying situation, that is when I was told by Hyundai that my vehicle would no longer be covered under Hyundai USA's warranty, even though I was at around 45,000 miles of the 60,000 mile warranty (the second owner gets a 5 year/60,000 mile bumper to bumper and powertrain, versus the first owner's 5 year/60,000 bumper to bumper and 10 year/100,000 mile powertain, to my knowledge). It was then revealed that Hyundai had initially considered one of their Regional Technicians out to look at my car, but after having taken my vehicle to the dealership the last time for a dead battery, the dealership had told Hyundai that they knew it was my radio and because of that, Hyundai's Regional Technician decided to not even look at my vehicle. When I asked why, I was told by Hyundai that they "did not know why that was" and that "the Regional Technician's opinion is the last word".

Hyundai USA had told me they would no longer fix any repairs needed to my car, but had never even looked at my car. In comparison, having owned a 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt and 2007 Pontiac G6 GT, GM's Regional Technician never once hesitated to look at either vehicle, over a number of issues, all of which much smaller by the way, and all of which fixed. GM also paid for a rental car, so I could go to work for instance, just... for anybody keeping track thus far.

After Hyundai told me they wouldn't fix my car, I tried taking it to a different dealership to get looked at, only to be told that they had no idea why my car's battery essentially committed suicide over night, and that even if they knew, Hyundai wouldn't cover the costs to have it fixed, because my vehicle was 100% out of warranty. Then, a revelation. A neighbor had told me he saw my headlights on, by themselves, one night. Then, another relative told me the same. It souned like my lights were coming on by themselves, even though an advertised feature of the vehicle was the Automatic-Off Headlights. "Maybe that feature was broken?", I thought.

So, another call to Hyundai USA (and the original dealership) was made to explain the situation. The dealership said they beleived the vehicle's radio caused the headlights to turn themselves on and off automatically (which made no sense to me, considering they are in different parts of the car) and they couldn't help me, and Hyundai told me the same - they would not fix my car unde warranty. I asked if perhaps the mechanism that turns the headlights on and off was broken. I was told that Hyundai had "made up their mind" and "good luck in the future." They didn't even look at the automatic-off headlight control feature to see if it was broken, but told me "tough luck."

A host of other issues have since plagued my car, including my HVAC (heating/cooling) control ***** having the tendancy to somehow become "pushed in" to the dash, and thus very hard to control. The issue had actually popped up before, back when Hyundai serviced my under-warranty vehicle's warranty, but has since happened again, and been stuck that way for nearly half a year now, with nobody to fix it. My vehicle also has had, for at least the same period of time, issues with the front passenger-side door not unlocking or locking properly with the keyfob or the buttons in the car. The door often becomes "stuck" in one setting and you have to lock or unlock it manually to adjust it otherwise. This wouldn't be a big deal, but is embarassing to have passengers in my now 3 year old car wonder why such a "new car" has stuff broken that isn't fix. It also poses a security risk - when the door is stuck to "unlocked" you can't activate the car's alarm system, and sometimes can't even lock the rest of the doors on the keyfob, a nuisance sometimes missed in a hurry. Not to mention that when your car's front passenger-side door is stuck locked, it is just annoying, and shouldn't be that way.

Also, in July of 2008 I actually noticed at one time where my headlights stayed on after exiting the car and locking it with the keyfob. Anybody familiar with know that the auto on/off headlights are designed to stay on until you turn the car off and then exit it. It might also require your keyfob to be pushed, not sure, but for me my keyfob always had to be pushed to "Lock" for the headlights to turn off, at least right after exiting the car. I noticed the daytime running lights (or parking lights, if you will) stayed on after turning off/exiting the car, and even caught it on video on my phone. I noticed because I had forgotten to turn the headlights to "off", and ever since my battery dying problem, the only way for my battery not to die is to turn the headlights 100% "off" when exiting my vehicle, so I know they are off. At least my battery hasn't died in a while, but at the expense of the inconvenience of an advertised feature of my vehicle not working properly.

The vehicle still makes the funny engine noise, and still gets bad mileage, going as low as 19.8 MPG combined or as "high" as 23.5 MPG combined. I've also had both headlights, all four rear "stop lights" (tail and break lights) as well as the license plate holder light all die. Within 40,000 miles. And been pulled over and give a large ticket for the read tail lights on one occasion, and the license plate holder light on another. I guess considering I've often times seen cars with 100,000+ miles and still having their factory lights work, and then having nearly all of my lights die all within a month of each other, I guess you could say I didn't think to check them regularly. You buy a 2 year old car with 38,500 miles on it so you don't have to worry about those kinds of things.

I've also had two of my break pads go prematurely, at around 50,000 miles. The front two, it turns out, had to be replaced at around 30,000 miles. That isn't so much a complaint as it is a testament to how truely cheap the components in this vehicle have turned out being.

All this with my vehicle now having 58,500 miles on it. Hyundai still won't fix my car, or even look at it, even though it's under warranty. They have disallowed any dealership, to my knowledge, to look at the VIN, either. Not without my paying out of cost.

I'm lost as to what to do. I'm hoping that I could somehow explain this all to Hyundai USA, or maybe an attorney, and either get my car fixed (under warranty), replaced or just sue them. The problem with that is... if I could afford the large retainer fee for "normal" attornies, I would've been able to afford a new car, not used, and I would've picked upa BMW, not a Hyundai.

I'm simply asking for my car to be fixed, or somehow the situation to be rectified. I'm not even counting the fact I had lost my job because of it, or that it cost me thousands in stacking up bills, while I was stuck at home, unemployed from early late March/early April, until June. You don't know how much you need your $11/hour until you lose it.

I am hoping posting this here will maybe help, maybe somebody who knows (or is) a lawyer will read this, and have advice? Or maybe Hyundai USA or somebody who knows a contact there will read this and know how to have my car's vast list of problems fixed. All I know is, I love my car when it works, and the only other complaint I've ever had about it since I purchased the vehicle is that when I bought it, it was listed as (and looked) a dark navy or black (I bought it in January when it was snowy here in WI) and didn't notice until a few days later, when the sun shone directly on it, that it was actually a dark shade of purple. I hate purple.

I must say, Van Horn Hyundai of Sheboygan, WI (the dealership that caught the TSBs when I took it to them the second time, and the dealership I purchased the car from) have been lovely, despite being 1 1/2 hours away, and when my car was in the shop with them for around a week, they let me take a brand new, off-the-lot (!) 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe as a loaner. I brought it home with only 10 miles on it, and took it back to them with nearly a thousand (after the commute to pick it up and drop it off) and they had no problems with it. And the vehicle itself was lovely, even just being an entry level car. Had I been able to afford the car/gas, I might've picked one of them up. Great car, satellite radio standard, awesome interior (the lit cup-holders were so cool!) and a striking design made the car a beauty.

I must say, as a watcher of the auto industry for years, I was impressed by Hyundai's improvements. The new Accent and Sonata in 2007, as well as the Elantra and Santa Fe in 2007 really impressed me, but the plethora of problems that I've had with my car, combined with Hyundai's un-willingnes to fix the issue has made me never want to touch a vehicle made by the slanted H again... a shame, since the Genesis sedan and coupe are beautiful vehicles!

Thank you for your time,

Matt Woller,
Neenah, WI

 

First, fuel mileage is not guaranteed.

Second, cruise control is not making your car shake. It is probably the alignment or a tire out of balance.

Third, brake pads are wear items and not coverd under warranty except for defects.

It looks like you purchased a used car that was poorly maintained by the original owner. That's not Hyundais fault.

 

File mileage being terrible with a history of transmission and possible engine issues is a cause for concern, which was the point of including it. Also, Hyundai does include wear items up to a point, however listing brake pads (along with lights) was also to demonstrate how obviously cheap the car and it's materials were.

My car shakes while in cruise control only in a certain mile range, and the shaking does not occur when traveling the same speed sans cruise control. That tells me there is a problem. Maybe it's not. But when I drive exactly 55 (and alter very little, if at all) without cruise and it's fine, and the second I flip cruise on it is horrible, shakey and awkward-feeling, that seems out of the ordinary, and of concern. I wouldn't know, however, since Hyundai refuses to look at my car, and thus has been unwilling to examine my cruise control to see if perhaps part of it is having problems or is faulty. The brakes might also have been faulty, given how quickly they seemed to fail (new pads at 30,000 miles? Come on.), but who knows, because again Hyundai refuses to look at my vehicle, which by the way was the entire point of my post. Not sure how legal it is for a company to sell a vehicle with features that ended up not working, or not honor a warranty they offer and regularly tout, but at the very least it reflect poorly on the company that is doing things. There is a reason we have a "Lemon Law."

 

Buying used is always a gamble. Sounds like maybe your car was a former rental? A lot of 06 Sonatas were.... and it probably was not well treated during that time if it was a rental. Just do a youtube search & you'll see peoplewho doburnouts and neutral drops in them all day long.You might want to look into getting rid of the car if you've had this many problems already. The radio you're better off going aftermarket. I wasn't too impressed with the factory radio and put an Alpine in mine. Brake pads you did well to get 50k out of them. Your fuel economy is bad but that is probably related to your engine problem. The headlight problem is either a bad light sensor orswitch. If Hyundai won't cover it you can probably get those parts from a junk yard easily enough. I've had no problems in almost 3 years and 40k, but I bought my 06 V6 new with 4 miles on it. You can try writing Hyundai and maybe you'll get somewhere. Personally if I were in your shoes I'd dump this car ASAP.

 

I don't have much to add to the above folks, except about your door locks.

I just purchased an 06 in June, and before I took delivery I noticed the door locks "stuck" (they didn't lock with the key fob or the button on the armrest). It took me three trips back and forth to the dealer (thankfully all under waranty), but they work now. I think it had something to do with the lock actually sticking. they just replaced the whole lock assembly, and even though it took two different assemblies, all is well now. *knock on wood*