Within two weeks of one another, both the left and right struts for the trunk lid on my SE broke. The plastic at the tops shattered and the metal springs jumped off.

Is this a common problem? If so, is there a better strut to replace them with? With just 30k on the car, I didn't expect both to fail unless this happens fairly often, and I'd rather not put the same OEM p/n back on the car.

 

That's why you have a 5y 60k mile warranty.

 

I know I have a warranty. Do you know if there is a better strut that fits the car? That was my question.

I'd rather pay for quality struts that won't drop the lid on a family member.

 

The OEM struts in my 2006 Tucson are still original. Never failed in 6 years. And the Tucson has 4 of them: 2 for the hatch glass and 2 for the hatch itself.

I think you just got a bad batch. I highly doubt aftermarket ones will be better than the OEM. Plus, they will cost you while OEM replacements will be free.

 

FWIW, one strut broke on my 2008 SE in the first year. I might have tried to open the oh, so slowly opening trunk lid a little too hard. It was replaced under warranty quickly and I've tended to be more judicious in my use of force to open the darned lid ever since. It still opens slower than a vampire opening up a coffin lid in a bad movie. Never had it or the other break in the next 60K miles.

 

Lately I've noticed how difficult it is to lift the trunk lid on my wife's 2009 Sonata. I am wondering if the struts have worn out and need replaced. I understand they are there to hold the trunk open, but do they also aid in the lifting of the trunk lid? I recall it was not this difficult to open over the past 5 years since we've owned it.

 

In a word: yes. They do help with lifting.

And since my last post in this thread I did have to finally replace the struts on my Tucson hatch. I bought Hyundai ones for the hatch itself (from wholesalehyundaiparts.com) and aftermarket ones for the glass on the hatch (from LiftSupportsDepot.com). The aftermarket ones were slightly cheaper but similar quality as the Hyundai struts. If you can get Hyundai structs cheap get them but if you can find aftermarket ones cheaper, I wouldn't worry.