Hyundai: Hyundai warranty woes.. Don't trust the "Hyundai Advantage"..

Don't despair if Hyundai jerks you around or if the arbitration
doesn't get you the result you deserve. You are not the first person
this has happened to. File a claim in small claims court. If it
costs more for a jury trial, request one.

During discovery (a pretrial procedure where you get to ask written
questions which Hyundai has to answer) ask all the questions you can
think of including how many other similar claims Hyundai received and
the disposition of those claims. Ask whether Hyundai is aware of the
problem you had and what the cause is. If Hyundai's responses are
vague or evasive, file a motion for more complete answers or for
sanctions (your sanction will include suppressing Hyundai's defenses)

I assure you that if you stand up for yourself you can prevail. Don't
let them get away with this. Unfortuantely, I have had to give
similar advise to a number of other Hyundai owners when Hyundai
refused to honor the warranty. One of Hyundai's strategy is
apparently to deny claims and only pay when someone makes a big enough
fuss. In the long run, it saves them money, even if it is disloyal to
customers.

There are a number of websites that can provide info on filing small
claims court cases. Most of the time, the court itself is very
helpful to consumers seeking justice.

Bottom line. You complaint is justified, not frivolous. Hyundai will
have to pay an in-state attorney to represent them and will ultimately
loose if they don't settle. They know it will cost them more money to
defend than to repair in this situation so they will likely make a
reasonable offer after you file suit and demand answers to
interrogatories.

The only way you will loose is if you take "no" for an answer.
Fortunately there are still honorable car manufacturer's out there
that won't jerk you around when a car breaks down under warranty.
Good luck!

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 13:45:15 -0400, "McDao" <com>
wrote:
 

Thanks for your advice on this, Beave.

I had previously spoken with a lawyer about this case and he had pretty
much the same advice for me.

A few more questions:
1. Should I wait until arbitration to file the claim, or just go ahead and
do it now?
2. Who exactly should the claim be against? The dealership where I bought
the car? .. I assume that Hyundai America is bit of a big fish for someone
like me to attempt to fry..

1. If you've already filed the arbitration and it's in progress, you
may want to finish that process first (it may actually be a
requirement in some small claims courts to first exhaust other
available remedies).

2. I suspect that your warranty was provided by Hyundai Motors
America (or something like that - see your warranty book). If you
believe that the dealer mishandled the coolant check or otherwise
contributed to the problem, you may also want to add them, but the
main culprit is Hyundai -the one that gave you the warranty but won't
honor it. Suing the "big fish" in your home town small claims court
and making them pay for an in-state lawyer to file an answer and
handle your discovery questions, etc. is exactly what you want to do.
The more relevant questions you ask, the more it will cost them to
answer (assuming you follow through with a motion to compel). And the
more questions that you ask that will require them to reveal
potentially damaging info (such as known premature
breakdowns/defects), the more incentive they will have to settle with
you.

(Unfortunately, threatening to file a lawsuit usually doesn't work
because companies think there's a good chance that you won't follow
through - you actually have to act so they know you're serious.)



On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 15:22:55 -0400, "McDao" <com>
wrote:
 

What did the dealer say was the cause of the overheating?

If the cause of the overheating was a part that's covered for 5/60, then
they're correct, you're not covered beyond that. I understand the
temperature gauge did not cause your overheating. If Hyundai has denied
coverage, they should be able to supply sufficient reason. The
temperature gauge is not. What specific part of the temperature gauge
system was broken. The gauge? The sensor? The wiring?

If, on the other hand, the cause of the overheating was a component that
is covered for 10/100, such as the water pump, or head gasket, then
Hyundai should cover the repairs unless there was negligence on your
behalf that caused the part to fail. If Hyundai is claiming such
negligence, then they should be able to tell you what it is. Driving the
vehicle did not solely cause the vehicle to overheat. Hyundai should be
able to show a clear link between some action someone made and a part
failing on the vehicle that caused the overheating. Unfortunately, you
don't come out ahead on this. Most of the cooling system parts are 5/60,
not 10/100.

Last, find out what the "failed part" is. If you were denied coverage on
the basis that the failed part was a 5/60 component, then the Hyundai
should be able to tell you which part failed that caused the overheating.
If they can't, they have no grounds for denying the claim on the basis
that the failed (defective) part is no longer covered by warranty.

Good Luck. Unfortunately, I don't have enough info to tell you whether I
think your repair shold be covered.

Well intentioned advice, but the bottom line is that Hyundai
advertises everywhere that it has America's Best Warranty and covers
the engine for 100K miles. Take 'em to court and put them on the
defensive. I'm confident that courts and juries will look at the
common sense of it, not the technicalities.

And by now you should know better than to put too much trust in
Hyundai and your dealer. After all, it was stated at the beginning of
this thread that:

"The Hyundai service manager who had worked ony car pretty
much told me that the company will do ANYTHING to get out of paying
for a new engine. And that by signing up for the warranty, I had
pretty much forfeited my right to sue." - which, of course, is total
nonsense and a sleasy tactic.

On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 18:54:00 -0400, "hyundaitech"
<hotmail.com> wrote:
 

"McDao" <com> wrote in message
news:talkaboutautos.com... 
my 

I assume you aren't the same person as the one on the www.newtiburon.com
tech forum website that hit some road debris and unknowingly damaged the
radiator, causing all the coolant to leak out. This person continued to
drive
until the engine died several miles later. Their temp gauge also showed a
normal temp the whole time until the engine seized. (They didn't know the
engine seized until after the radiator was replaced by the dealer and then
the car wouldn't start.)

Is there a known problem of the temp sensor not working unless it is fully
immersed in coolant? On most cars I've seen, the temp sensor will still
indicate the temperature of steam or even of the metal it's screwed into.
But if the temp sensor is not screwed into the cylinder head but into, say,
a coolant pipe leading to or from the engine, you could get a false reading
when the coolant disappears.

Any idea where the coolant temp sensor is located on the Tiburon engines?

Bob

Off the top of my head, I believe it screws into the thermostat housing.
While temp sensors are relatively accurate in coolant/water, they don't do
so well with air or steam.

My point is that in court, he must show the engine to be defective, not
some other part that caused the overheating that would not be covered by
the warranty.

Or, in court, he must show that the overheating was caused by a component
covered by the 10/100 warranty. He looks pretty good if Hyundai has
nothing to counter with (i.e. cause of overheating was stuck closed
thermostat, etc.)

I don't think we've gotten the full story here. Just that the car
overheated. We don't know why.

In any event, he has the right to sue. Agreed. Just because he purchased
a car which had a 10/100 powertrain warranty doesn't limit his right to
sue. He didn't ask for this warranty in return for an agreement not to
sue, it came with the car.