Made a Huge Mistake (vehicles, 2010, auto, coupe)

[rosecitywanderer]

I regret the moment I ever fell for this 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe. My old '04 was great but this thing has been the biggest piece of junk in our family since my dad's '93 Saab 9000. In the first three months:

- The glovebox rattles
- The A/C cuts out for no reason
- The radiator has started spewing coolant all over the engine
- Paint cracked and flaked off the edge of the right front fender

Well today the other shoe finally dropped. I was out driving the Santa Fe, relishing in the clear (but cold) weather having just picked up some lunch and going over to eat it and see if I could catch a train or two. While driving down 25th Avenue in NW Portland, I started to make a maneuver around a pedestrian refuge median. I turned the wheel right and as I started to turn it to the left, it went rock hard. It took every ounce of my strength to steer clear of hitting a car parked on the side of the street. Seconds later, the dash lit up like a Christmas tree. I got check engine, oil pressure, and charging fault lights all at once and the engine stalled out. Fearful of engine damage due to critically low pressure, I popped the transmission into neutral and put the key into accessory and then back to on to maintain steering control. I limped it onto Quimby Street and popped the hood. Upon my initial inspection, everything seemed fine; the engine was still there, oil was on the dipstick and the serpentine belt was intact and taut. I had the car towed to the dealership just to be on the safe side. After 30 minutes, the technician came back and said there were no fault codes and nothing logged in history. The car started right up and drove just fine for him.

I no longer feel safe driving this car knowing it could just shut off whenever it pleases. What if I'm in a situation where I need to quickly get out of somebody's way and it decides to take a nap? I can't wait to get rid of this piece of junk. I really should have gotten that Honda.

[LOnRainjer]

Yep, once one gives me a headache I trade it off immediately. I have no patience for crap like that from a car. Get her gone.

[Hemlock140]

Surely you haven't put 60,00 miles on it yet?

With the warranty:
[LEFT]5 year / 60,000 miles Bumper-to-bumper,
Drivetrain 10 year / 100,000 miles
Rust 7 year / Unlimited miles

you can get it fixed and then trade it in fast. Even if you end up having to go used due to depreciation you'll be better off. On the other hand, if you have a "lemon law" like we do here, you may have some options. It sounds like that's what you have, because Hyundai has actually gotten very good quality ratings, 7 out of 10 for yours according to JD Power.

here are the U.S. News scores on it:

Overall:8.1 Performance:7.3 Exterior (http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Hyundai_Santa-Fe/2010/Exterior/ - broken link):8.5 Interior:7.9 Safety:9.9 Reliability:7.0




[/LEFT]

[jc76]

See and this is where I have no faith in "up and coming" auto makers. Hyundai has a long way to go. They are like GM, making cosmetically decent autos with ugly and unreliable mechanics. Glad I own a Civic, which as usual has zero problems. Trade it in!!!! Sorry about your bad experience.

[Grandpa Pipes]

Originally Posted by rosecitywanderer

I regret the moment I ever fell for this 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe. My old '04 was great but this thing has been the biggest piece of junk in our family since my dad's '93 Saab 9000. In the first three months:

- The glovebox rattles
- The A/C cuts out for no reason
- The radiator has started spewing coolant all over the engine
- Paint cracked and flaked off the edge of the right front fender

Well today the other shoe finally dropped. I was out driving the Santa Fe, relishing in the clear (but cold) weather having just picked up some lunch and going over to eat it and see if I could catch a train or two. While driving down 25th Avenue in NW Portland, I started to make a maneuver around a pedestrian refuge median. I turned the wheel right and as I started to turn it to the left, it went rock hard. It took every ounce of my strength to steer clear of hitting a car parked on the side of the street. Seconds later, the dash lit up like a Christmas tree. I got check engine, oil pressure, and charging fault lights all at once and the engine stalled out. Fearful of engine damage due to critically low pressure, I popped the transmission into neutral and put the key into accessory and then back to on to maintain steering control. I limped it onto Quimby Street and popped the hood. Upon my initial inspection, everything seemed fine; the engine was still there, oil was on the dipstick and the serpentine belt was intact and taut. I had the car towed to the dealership just to be on the safe side. After 30 minutes, the technician came back and said there were no fault codes and nothing logged in history. The car started right up and drove just fine for him.

I no longer feel safe driving this car knowing it could just shut off whenever it pleases. What if I'm in a situation where I need to quickly get out of somebody's way and it decides to take a nap? I can't wait to get rid of this piece of junk. I really should have gotten that Honda.

It would do you well to see if your state has lemon laws that you can use to dump this pig.

[Pruzhany]

Looking at your history the car came with under 400 miles. Did it come from a different dealership than you bought it from? Your list of problems fall in line with water damage. With the flaking paint it sounds like salt water.

[trlhiker]

Actually if you do alittle research on Santa Fe's you will see people are having lots of problems with their trannys and other things. Sorry this happened to you but I would be calling Hyundia corporate.

[kingofsorrow]

i love the look and the performance numbers off the new hyundai's. i thought finally they're stepping up their game, maybe buy a genesis coupe for my DD. then i find out they've been lying about the safety/crash performance off the vehicles, so i think i'll pass for another 10 yrs.

[jtur88]

Neither warranty nor lemon law is a solution in this case, because there is no evidence (except the driver's word) that anything happened. What would a warranty repair? What is the basis for a lemon law remedy?

Trade it in as is. There is nothing that can be done to increase the apparent value of the car above what it is right now, unless the fault replicates while being driven or inspected by a prospective buyer.

If, in fact, the problems are attributable to water damage, Hyundai is blameless, unless the water damage occurred before it left the custody of the factory.

[Wilson513]

I see no reason why Lemon Law would not apply. Confirmation by a technician is just a matter of proof not a bar to recovery. Oregon is the same as Ohio with which I am familiar. The consumer recovers attorneys fees and other damages making it very likely that if the statutory conditions are met, they will take the car back and give you your money. Three tries on the same item, two tries on a safety item. Dead in the road is a safety item. Good luck.

More to the issue of proof:

Court procedures are not always fair, reasonable or intuitive, but in all courts of the US, the party who has met the burder of proof wins. In a Lemon Law case that is a "preponderance of the evidence." That means that if more evidence is presented on behalf of the consumer than that from the dealer, the consumer wins. If the consumer says the car was dead in the road two times and the dealer says he doesn't know why, the consumer wins. It is possible that a judge thinks the consumer is lying and disregards the consumer's testimony, but who would get himself stranded and get towed, etc. just to send his new car back? Unless there is something indicating that scheme occurred like financial problems and attempts to sell it, this is simply not a problem. Since the dealer was not in the car when it failed, they have nothing to offer. Hence consumer's story is unopposed and he wins.