PortlandRL

As if AZine needed yet another Lemon car thread , I am making my contribution.

The straw finally broke the camel's back tonight. I am done with this no-good, worthless piece of $30,000 shit 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.

Crazy Bimmer

Dang sorry man.

You had good luck with Hyundai before though, rite?

PortlandRL

That's with warranty claims and those are through the dealer so....apples and oranges unfortunately. Based on what others have said, chances are good they will fight me hard on it. I'm hoping I don't have to contact a Lemon Law lawyer but I will if I have to.

I know there are bad cars from every manufacturer but this has really left a sour taste in my mouth. If they offer me a replacement, I may take it and I may not. We'll just have to see what happens.

neuronbob

And I am sorry to read of your trouble. It's terrible that when someone has as many issues as you've had that they have to fight the manufacturer.

dallison

I hope you get something nice.

nj2pa2nc

I would suggest you contact a lemon law lawyer and let them do the work for you, They know all the ins and outs., Good luck.

nbennettksu

iTrader: (2)

Lemon law is a little different in every state; but, they are generally pretty close in terms...

There are a few different things they take into account, but the biggest two are "days out of service", there has to be three repair attempts at one problem, or you have to have the same malfunction (and brought the vehicle in) three times... i.e your fuel pump went bad three different times. Now, if the dealer states no problem was found, that does not count as an "attempt" at a repair.

Hope that helped.

pttl

Maybe we should have a state by state lemon law attorney thread/sticky, so we can just look one up if/when they are needed.

Portland...sorry for your troubles. What a sickening feeling to have to fight a large corporation.

PortlandRL

I dropped the car off and my service advisor was very understanding. I basically told him to keep it as long as they need and how best to duplicate the problem. I also bumped into my salesman who was very apologetic about the whole thing even though I told him he didn't build it and it wasn't his fault. We got a bit of a chuckle because the car was a dealer trade, we came to the conclusion that I went looking for trouble.

Costco

Damn.... sorry to hear man. Sucks to be excited about a new (or even an 'old' new car) only to have it let you down.

Brandon24pdx

I mean sure, see if lemon law can be of any help, but that might end up costing you money if you have to get an attorney. Or not--I'm sure plenty of people have convinced a mfg. on thier own to buy back their car.

If they offered a replacement car I'd jump on that. Way better than nothing. Hyundai's cars are generally as good as anyone's these days, but it sounds like you just had crap luck and ended up with a "Friday afternoon car"

dave_ramkumar

iTrader: (5)

Good luck man , let us know how it works out.

renedcruz

iTrader: (8)

Sucks to hear about all your troubles. Hope everything works out for you.

And hey you never know, keep fighting them and they may give you a Genesis 3.8 Track Edition as a replacement for all your troubles.

speedemon90

Damn that sucks, sorry man.

Time to pick up an explorer

csmeance

As soon as the documentation is sent to Hundai they should call you back with a representative. In my claim with honda, they called as soon as they got it with a mediator who really knew his stuff. Essentially he understood my concerns and asked how I wanted to proceed. I told them that I just wanted another MDX and I'd be happy. Unfortunately they couldn't find another 2006 touring model like I had that was the way I wanted so they let me order a 2007 MDX and I just had to pay the difference in price between the two.

Thumbs up to honda for handling my problem so well, I hope that Hundai steps up to the plate as well. Good Luck

PortlandRL

Thanks, man. Hopefully Hyundai is as good to me as Honda was for you. If they want to replace it, they can give me a white one with black leather and a nav system. I'll take that.

PortlandRL

I have chosen the path of least resistance. Since it is clear to me now that this car is defective on multiple levels, I'll never be able to get it Lemon'd under this ORS Lemon Law provision:

However....I believe I have a pretty solid case with the second provision of the Oregon Lemon Law. As the car has already spent 17 days getting the paint issue fixed. I simply have to draw out another 13 days out of my service.

PortlandRL

I also want to thank everybody here on AZine for being so supportive and positive through this whole mess. I posted this same topic on another forum and have gotten nothing but 'That's what you get for buying a Hyundai' and 'That's no big deal...stop bitching about it'.

I AZine!

Gfaze

Isn't there a member here that works for Hyundai? Maybe they can point you in the direction of minimal so you can get this taken care of.

mrmako

Pure Adrenaline I think.

Portland: Sorry to hear about your Santa Fe. Lawyers love a good case against a big company.

speedemon90

Did it really spend 17 days just fixing the paint chip!?

edit: forgive me for being a newb, but it shouldnt take that long right?!

05TLdcc

The shop takes as long as they need to get the job done right. plus they have other work infront of them.



Portland- I'm not sure if they will acknowledge the 17 days for paint, as that has nothing to do with the engine, trans, mechanical components, etc.

stogie1020

Damn, dude. Sorry it has been so much trouble. I sat in that car and it was a nice car!

Hope Hyundai treats you right and makes this all acceptable for you.

I might suggest deciding just WHAT would be acceptable for you, so that when they ask you, you have already thought of a descending list of acceptable solutions from best case on down.

PortlandRL

Again...this law comes into play as it was, in fact, "out of service by reason of repair or correction". They will probably try to sugar-coat it and say that it shouldn't count as a rental car was provided but the truth remains it was out of my possession for that length of time due to manufacturing defects. I'm sure the lawyer will feel the same way about it.

At this point, I'm feeling charitable. My list of preferences from most to least preferred.

1. Full vehicle replacement. I waited almost five years to own one of these cars and I'm not going to piss it away after three months. Unfortunately my color has been discontinued so they if they can replace it with a new one in black with a black interior, V6 engine and a navigation system, that would be satisfactory.

2. Complete purchase price refund. This would also be acceptable. If they choose this route, I will likely go buy something small and fuel-efficient (probably a Honda Fit) and once I get working, buy a nicer car for weekend use.

3. Keep the car with cash settlement. I'm not interested in this at all and if they choose this route, I will trade the car in on something like I listed above.

Regardless, this car will likely be gone before the end of February.

princelybug

iTrader: (16)

Sorry.

PortlandRL

Thanks, man. If this whole thing has a bright side, we have a very good family friend who moved out-of-state and I'm house-sitting while the house is on the market. She left her 2004 Explorer Limited here as well and she said I could use the car while mine is in the shop.

Aman

Damn, man sucks to hear, especially when your last thread on this car was full of complments on how well you took care of it

I'm surprised that you'd take a full vehicle replacement over a cash refund, though. You must like these cars a lot, eh?

Wish I could help more beyond just saying good luck.

LasVegasTL

Sorry to hear man.

LuvMyTSX

No big deal?! For a new car, I think it's a very big deal!

Like you said, all makes have their lemons, but it doesn't help your situation any and I can totally understand why you'd have a sour taste in your mouth. I would, too.

Keep fighting till you get what you think is fair. Good luck and don't give up.

Italiano

whats up with Cotscos avatar? Sorry

PortlandRL

Just went through all my existing repair orders and so far I have 15 of the necessary 30 out-of-service days. I'm expecting an e-mail or call from Hyundai Consumer Affairs today and will likely hear back from the dealer, as well. I'll continue to keep everybody posted!

nj2pa2nc

I do wish you everything turns out for you. I also want you to know that Hyundai's in general are great cars. Even with having a 03 sonata with problems from day 1 we had excellent luck with the other ones we owned. That also can be said about the honda we previously owned-one P.O.S and the others good.

PortlandRL

Update: Picked my car up this afternoon and while they did replace the radiator, they were unable to duplicate the defrost issue. The latter is not surprising as it is very dry and clear today and the problem only surfaces in wet, muggy weather. It's supposed to get wet and warm up in a few days so if it starts to do it again, I'm going to drop everything and make a bee-line for the dealer.

I also got this e-mail from Hyundai Consumer Affairs which is promising. In the meantime, I have marked off an old calendar to keep track of the days out of service should the car continue to give me grief.

Aman

Let's hope they stick to that timeline and continue to work with you. Glad to hear they're not giving you problems yet

mrmako

Hope this works out

SwervinCL

I had a Santa Fe that absolutely tarnished my feelings about owning another Hyundai. It would just randomly shut down leaving us stranded where ever it decided to to. Dropped it off at Hyundai so they could fix it, for them to reply "We don't know what is wrong with it, so we replaced your battery" (Without my consent as the battery was just changed a month prior). They had the car for about a week and couldn't figure out what was wrong.

After that, I picked up the car from Hyundai and drove it to Carmax. Traded it in on an 05 explorer and have not had 1 problem with the explorer. I've put 50,000 miles on the explorer and it has never been in the shop.

As much as I like the Genesis Coupe, I'll never ever own one.

apnorm

iTrader: (3)

Good luck with this.

So you must have started thinking about other cars "just in case"? What's on your list?

PortlandRL

Thanks. I'm pretty choosy when it comes to cars and have made up my mind that if this one is insistent on a divorce, I'll pick up a Honda Fit Sport MT for daily driving until I get my railroad career on track. Then I can pick up something sexy and impractical for weekend use.

Cars on my (short) list include:

Ford Fusion
Honda CR-V
Honda Fit (as I said)

Ken1997TL

I'd get the Fit. Tried talking my wife into one but she wanted the damn Mini.

PortlandRL

I absolutely adore the Fit. Owners report fuel mileage waaay above what the EPA says it should get plus it's infinitely versatile.