A story about "seven year warranty" car brands

[Guest]

Hi all, keen to hear your thoughts on this. It doesn't relate to a Toyota model, but a good friend of mine has a 2019 Hyundai i30N fastback - basically Hyundai's answer to the Golf GTI / Focus ST or RS etc. 280hp, well equipped, not my cup of tea looks wise but certainly not bad. He loves the thing. He previously had an i40 saloon, pretty high spec. He doesn't keep the cars beyond the warranty period, so regardless of how unreliable they might be long term with all the fancy tech, it's not his problem, right? 

A few weeks ago his car kept going weak / dying out. Running in limp mode. I helped him scan it with our Autel scanner and it shows P0088 - sensor to do with fuel rail system not working properly. A quick Google, and this is a common issue with various Hyundai / Kia / Genesis models with the basic GDI petrol engine block (albeit various variations of it for different uses).  It's part of the fuel system under the bonnet - I can't say what exactly, but it's common enough. 

Now, you'd think that given that his car is covered by warranty, they would repair this no questions asked. After all, Hyundai is 'so confident' that it offers this prestigious 7 year warranty... that thing that the likes of CarWow / CarBuyer and the reviews would try to shame Toyota over back in the day when they had a 3 year warranty, as if it were some kind of guarantee - should a nightmare like this happen. 

Firstly, the local Hyundai dealer charged him £125 for the diagnosis - even though it might be a warranty repair, if so , they refund / cove that, if not, you're out of pocket. They were talking of 'contaminated fuel' before they took the car, and they refused to even discuss our P0088 code finding and what this potentially might mean. I thought that was a disgrace - I've had Fiat and Toyota both inspect and replace a bunch of things under warranty (even things arguably that were just damaged and not their problem..).  

They came back with a diagnosis that his car is destroyed by 'bad fuel' and a bunch of photographs (which I'll share soon when I find them again) of parts. Some fuel drained out into a bottle, with what looks like sand / dust in it.  They also sent him pictures of the 'lid' for the fuel pump assembly (as it sits ABOVE the fuel tank and under the cars body) covered in dust - now of course this is covered in dust, it's external / dust would gather here - I think them including this is a red flag - anybody would know that the outside of the tank has no bearing on the fuel inside the tank.  

The dealer (and Hyundai by proxy) have told him because this is allegedly a fuel issue, caused by him using poor quality fuel, they will have nothing to do with it. They quoted around £2,000 as a 'best case scenario' for a new fuel pump in the tank.  And £6,800 for the rest (basically the entire fuel system). This will need to come entirely out of his pocket. For the last month, he's had the car sitting down there. 

Now, for what it's worth, this guy frequents TWO petrol stations. One right in the city centre (used by most of the city who just default to their nearest station) and another, just across the border that another massive population of people use for having the lowest prices - both big brand petrol stations (Go) - not independents. He also puts in premium fuel and we'd debate whether or not it's worth it, but his car being a fast one, he does it. The only others I bet who use this, are people who own Jags, Porsches, other high end cars - and I bet it'd be pretty obvious locally if the fuel was to blame...  I doubt his car would be the only one affected or he'd be the only person in this situation. The petrol station companies told him their franchises, washed their hands with him. Both station managers simply said they'd see him in court and that they had no issues. Modern stations are also so highly regulated, and filters along so many points of the pumps, that it is hard to think that the fuel would be the issue.

Hyundai maintains it's the fuel.  He tried to go via insurance for the repairs, the insurance companies sent off the fuel for lab testing. Came back confirming there is no issue with the fuel. He's in the process of getting this in writing for himself to go back to Hyundai. 

My thoughts are, even if he put bad fuel in, the filter in the tank would clog first and the car would stall eventually on every attempt... leading to a new pump needed at best, not the entire system. Surely Hyundai are admitting their pump filter didn't do its job.. or the seal to the top of the tank if they think the dirt actually got in this way. How on earth, with the fuel sample test results, can the justify leaving him with this bill....

What a horrible car company. They spend the last 20 years copying nearly every little design cue from GM, VAG, Ford and the Asian brands which have only recently started to look somewhat sleek and sharp... They shove the promise of a 7 year warranty in everyone's faces to earn some false sense of security... sell for a few grand less, out-do the competition on their spec lists and people seriously don't think there's a catch. Then, they treat their customers like this when an issue comes. 

This is a 4 year old 'premium' hot hatch, not an old banger that's been neglected. They've washed their hands of him. I highly, highly doubt even Ford or VW would do this to their customers of their slightly higher end cars. I know for a fact that Fiat and Toyota have a night and day attitude, they've fixed things on my Avensis like the door handles and hand brake system which were clearly damaged from abuse,  Fiat had rebuilt the entire bottom end of the engine on a 2 year old Fiat Panda I had, plus replaced a parcel shelf that was also clearly broken from misuse...  never once did they ask for money upfront and at least before the pandemic never had to be asked to provide a courtesy car. 

I think it's terrible the impact Hyundai / Kia have had in the last couple of decades. Undercutting the competition, who lets face it purchase based on a pleasant test drive giving no thought to how long or well made these things are under the surface. These days it's easy to mass produce things that feel good to the touch, or look good but have absolutely no substance. This is catching out your average buyer who likely isn't on a forum like this. It's funny now that MG are probably the only brand that will do the same thing back to Hyundai / Kia, but probably going to hurt consumers in the same way twice as hard as time goes on. A woman up the street already had to have an entire gearbox replacement on a two year old MG crossover thing... hardly normal. 

A year ago I was in the current Fiesta, 3 door model. High spec, had a sunroof, heated seats, new nav system and about everything along with that EcoBoost engine. I shut the door and the sound of it was horrendous, like hollow tin.  The model before that wasn't so flimsy feeling. I mentioned this on another car forum and the verdict was that the likes of Ford have cut corners in small ways like that to try to keep up with the number of customers they've lost to Hyundai / Kia and Dacia over the last decade.

Quality is falling and so is service. 

If you've read this thus far, I wonder what your thoughts or advice would be. I'm still getting update from him, so far he's got to go back to Hyundai with the fuel sample results and hopefully they don't find another way to throw the problem back at him...  If there's anything worth reporting back on I'll share it. 

So damn glad I own a Toyota. Company respects its customers. Doesn't produce crap. Is fairly grated when it does something bad and praised for all the right things which bolster its reputation with buyers to make it profitable. I'll buy another 10 Toyotas with the same scratchy plastic and 'boring plain' switch gear for the rest of my life as long as they stand by their customers and don't cut corners at the expense of the owner.  

[Hybrid21]

Hi Shane, did your friend buy the car new from that dealer and has he had it serviced by the dealer ?

 

[FROSTYBALLS]

Hyundai has a 5 year new car warranty in the UK and Ireland - we've had three Hyundais without any issues !

Common for dealers to charge a diagnostic fee in case the issue isn't covered by the warranty - even Toyota dealers do this. This way they can cover their costs if the issue is outside of the warranty.

Depending which side of the Irish border the friend lives, the car would either be the responsibility of Hyundai UK (Northern Ireland) or Hyundai Ireland (Ireland). Hyundai Ireland is a separate company to Hyundai and isn't actually owned by Hyundai - similar to Toyota Ireland.

Go are a minor brand in the UK, owning 31 petrol stations - https://www.statista.com/statistics/312047/petrol-station-sites-by-brand-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/

No experience of using their fuel, but would have to meet the usual UK or EU standards. Being a relatively small company in this industry, their additive package may not be as good as others.

[Mojo1010]

I would say contact Hyundai GB direct and see what they say as well as trading standards. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Hybrid21 said:

Hi Shane, did your friend buy the car new from that dealer and has he had it serviced by the dealer ?

 

He bought it when it was 2 years old (ex demo car they had from 2019-2021). From a main dealer here in NI. First registered owner I believe.  He has had it serviced there and by other Hyundai dealers each time as well. 

[Guest]

29 minutes ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

Hyundai has a 5 year new car warranty in the UK and Ireland - we've had three Hyundais without an issues !

Common for dealers to charge a diagnostic fee in case the issue isn't covered by the warranty - even Toyota dealers do this. This way they can cover their costs if the issue is outside of the warranty.

Depending which side of the Irish border the friend lives, the car would either be the responsibility of Hyundai UK (Northern Ireland) or Hyundai Ireland (Ireland). Hyundai Ireland is a separate company to Hyundai and isn't actually owned by Hyundai - similar to Toyota Ireland.

How long did you hold on to them for and which models were they out of curiosity? 
 

Fiat and Toyota have never charged me to be honest. Not on cars in warranty. When I had my old 10+ year old Panda yeah, any time I rang them about an issue they said they’d need to charge for a diagnostic hour. If it’s common, somehow I’ve been lucky. 
 

It’s the UK side. It’s just one of the petrol stations he frequents is down there. Personally I wouldn’t let my tax money go to their government I’d rather get fleeced and support our economy 🤣

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, Mojo1010 said:

I would say contact Hyundai GB direct and see what they say as well as trading standards. 

They’ve told him to go to his dealer and raise it via them.  I keep telling him to hammer on at them even for a goodwill payment.  The same dealer recently lose their DS franchise (same showroom / garage he’s now interacting with). They were equally useless with me but Citroen Customer Care third time around approved new alloys, minor body repairs and paid for a Merc for two months through enterprise.   Can only wonder how / why they lost their DS franchise with their attitude 

[Stivino]

There will be no fault with the fuel.  If the fuel was contaminated, every other car that used the outlets in that area would be affected.

Fuel is very strictly regulated, I find it hard to believe the fuel is at the root of the problem.  I think they are blaming the fuel because they don't know what the actual fault is.

[FROSTYBALLS]

5 minutes ago, SB1500 said:

How long did you hold on to them for and which models were they out of curiosity? 

2012 i20 - 3.25 years. 2015 i20 - 4.75 years. 2020 i20 - current car.

Similar lengths of ownership to our other cars from Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota - 21 new cars in total incl the Hyundais.

[Mojo1010]

1 hour ago, SB1500 said:

They’ve told him to go to his dealer and raise it via them.  I keep telling him to hammer on at them even for a goodwill payment.  The same dealer recently lose their DS franchise (same showroom / garage he’s now interacting with). They were equally useless with me but Citroen Customer Care third time around approved new alloys, minor body repairs and paid for a Merc for two months through enterprise.   Can only wonder how / why they lost their DS franchise with their attitude 

Well your friend is not happy with the outcome so they can make a complain?

[Guest]

1 hour ago, FROSTYBALLS said:

2012 i20 - 3.25 years. 2015 i20 - 4.75 years. 2020 i20 - current car.

Similar lengths of ownership to our other cars from Honda, Mazda, Nissan and Toyota - 21 new cars in total incl the Hyundais.

I'm glad you've had a positive experience with the brand.  I'm sure there are horror stories about Toyota et al. too. 

[Guest]

13 minutes ago, Mojo1010 said:

Well your friend is not happy with the outcome so they can make a complain?

He's going to have to, I will keep you all updated with what happens. But the fuel is definitely an excuse that the dealer / Hyundai were happy to stick to.  I have a feeling they may have an unwritten rule that they'll resort to this... and unless the customer fights it they do nothing.  But it's definitely not a good look.  

I thought they'd look after their "N" model customers even a little better than usual if they're serious about winning over the hot hatch customers from the other big makes... 

[Stivino]

The margue will always come down on the side of the franchise. 

[Mojo1010]

31 minutes ago, SB1500 said:

He's going to have to, I will keep you all updated with what happens. But the fuel is definitely an excuse that the dealer / Hyundai were happy to stick to.  I have a feeling they may have an unwritten rule that they'll resort to this... and unless the customer fights it they do nothing.  But it's definitely not a good look.  

I thought they'd look after their "N" model customers even a little better than usual if they're serious about winning over the hot hatch customers from the other big makes... 

It's not a fuel problem. The fact that they blamed it to fuel and wanting £2k at least to sort the problem when it should be a warranty issue? This needs to escalate to manufacturer and the motor ombudsman with the complain, tell the dealer this.  

11 minutes ago, Stivino said:

The margue will always come down on the side of the franchise. 

Not always. 

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Mojo1010 said:

It's not a fuel problem. The fact that they blamed it to fuel and wanting £2k at least to sort the problem when it should be a warranty issue? This needs to escalate to manufacturer and the motor ombudsman with the complain, tell the dealer this.  

Not always. 

I was speaking to him earlier, that's exactly what he plans to do - speak to Hyundai UK but he hadn't thought of that as an option, as initially they didn't take him on / sided with the dealer.  However I reminded him that now he has the results / fuel sample in hand... he can open a new case with Hyundai, and ask for it to be escalated since this isn't the first instance so that it can be reviewed... email them the report and boom, surely they MUST respond. He said last week the dealer are now trying to split hairs between 'a sample from the tank' versus 'a sample from a part of the pump'...  I said if I were him, I'd even go get whichever is 'the other' part tested even at my own expense so that they can stamp that notion out.  I don't think it was the fuel either

[Guest]

Hyundai UK have now escalated it. They wasted all last week by saying they need to hear from the dealer, who are adamant it's the fuel and refuse to believe Axa's conclusion that the fuel was fine. The Hyundai dealer is telling him that 'if they fix it and it's not covered by warranty, they are out of pocket'. I mean there's just so much wrong with that...  Hopefully one of their senior claims people will sort this out for him. If that was me I'd not have it go through from that dealer. I'd cough up the money to move it to the next dealer over to get the business as they're more deserving. 

Such contrast to how DS treated me in 2021, took me three tries but eventually they compensated me for poor service from (the same dealership which lost its DS showroom (now Hyundai)) by sending the car elsewhere and paying for that Merc for two months whilst it was rectified..  DS actually apologised for its service.  

I'll keep posting updates as they happen.  They have the car sitting out, gathering dust and they've introduced a little "soon you'll need to pay us to keep it here" nonsense.  Real customer support there... 

[Mojo1010]

Who will be out of pocket if they fix something doesn't need to be fix? It's their job as a Hyundai garage to diagnose the fault. 

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, Mojo1010 said:

Who will be out of pocket if they fix something doesn't need to be fix? It's their job as a Toyota garage to diagnose the fault. 

It's a Hyundai garage for his i30N , I was posting here merely to get the advice / thoughts / warning across that a seven year warranty means jack **** when their customer service is lacking as much as theirs is.  

In fairness, my local Toyota replaced a bunch of things on my car when I bought it (four years old / ex lease) with no service history replaced a bunch of things on it. They easily could have said no service history etc, but nope, stellar service.