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I don't know about that but the dealership where I bought the Sonata is locally
owned by a family that also owns several other dealerships. Toyota, Nissan and
something else I think GMC, and the Hyundai, all separate places but same owners. They have been in business for over 30 years probably much longer than
carfax. The man that owns these is a hands on type of guy very up and up, I have been buying vehicles from him since he went in business. His policy has always
stayed the same if any new car comes through his places and has anything done
as far as repair like broken glass, repaint a scratch or whatever it is documented and
disclosed to the buyer, all you have to do is ask. Now if you or anyone else has a
dealership that don't stand behind their cars, then it may be time for a change wouldn't you say.
Slim and none...and Slim just left town.
plant. I have not visited the Sonata car maker in Alabama but have come across
quite a bit of info during research. It sounds like it is a very modern high tech place.
If this is such they probably utilize the same kind of equipment as most of the
others use. There are hundreds of car bodies painted every work day, the trunk lid,
the hood and the doors are not on the body when painted, this painting is done
by robotic computer controlled machines. We all know that machines and computers are dfifinetly not foolproof, so things will happen. That is why these companies also have so many quality inspectors to catch paint blemishes on the
final product. When it is found I dont think that car is thrown away, it is fixed, and
if it is a door it could very well be fixed in place like a body shop maybe better, but
maybe not perfect "over spray?" or the like. Since it was only caught by very
close observation by a critical eye it is not hard for me to believe it couldn't have
happened at the factory. Would they keep records on exactly what car it was done
on, your guess is as good as mine. It may not have been any damage on the door
just repaint, again who knows. This is just a thought, no one has to agree!
No B.S.
ship a vehicle out that don't meet their standards, more importantly our standards.
In a perfect world that could happen, unfortunatly no one alive is perfect and
most every man made item is not perfect including robots. As you said anything
is possible. Lets say the painted door was actually done by the high tech paint
machine and that is how it came out and the inspector for that area was thinking
about his girlfriend or something, he or she could have missed it since it was hard to find according to the owner. How would anyone know? If a paint mill gauge don't
detect it that would be kind of hard to do without sanding the entire door down.
This is my opinion only.
you may find that even Hyundai don't permanitly attach the doors, hood, or trunk
lid for paint process, they are taken off at the start of the final assembly line and
brought to an area to put the finishing touches such as on the doors, power window
parts, remote trunk and gas door, glass etc. and the liner. For the hood and trunk lid the insulation is put in and the little hydraulic cylinders are attached the locking
assembly is put in. The main reason these things are taken off is to allow the
robot equipment to install interiors like all the dash, seats, actually everything
including complete drive train. What I am getting at is with all this taking off and
putting on, moving and handling can the final paint job on it be scratched or damaged some way, and will the same door or hood go back on the same car it
came off of, there are many cars painted the same color on the line at 1 time. On
the tour it didn't show that part step by step I presume, maybe they don't want that
part to be seen. All this is not exclusive to Hyundai check the GM assembly line
some of their older plants still paint cars by hand and put doors and things on after
final assembly. You have probably heard of new cars being bought with factory
defects are even with parts missing, if you by enough of them you have a very
good chance of getting one also, feel very lucky if you don't have one already! Do you have a new one?
I have never owned a hyundai. I took the tour because I was thinking of buying a hyundai genesis and was interested in learning how they do things in their factories. If I were in the market for a car in the sonata class for myself, I would give it very serious consideration.
a bunch of research for a few months on most of the competitors in that class the
one that stood out the most is the one we wound up with. 2009 se v6 and so for
after 11,000k miles am very happy we did. IMO this thing is awesome all the way around, seems like the factory in Alabama really got their _ _ _ _ togather, and
proud of it. I think this is good for the whole Auto industry in general Hyundai will
push them to build better cars with more standard equipment and up the warranty
and keep the prices a little under control. If people keep buying the over priced cars
that other car makers put out just for the name, that company may not step up
what they offer. Just as an example one of the top competitors at the time of our
purchase had the comparable trim line but had much less standard stuff had to drop
to a 4 cylinder version to compare. Sonata had $3000. rebate and a $2000. dealer
incentive the other had no rebate or dealer incentive. With the warranty difference
it was not even close, the Sonata was rated better by almost all the top rating
people and $3000.+ less expensive. Will be more than happy to give you the info
on where I found this info. Happy motoring!
Anyone have direct access to the factory information and can discuss the procedures for what happens when a door is dropped/damage during assembly?
Much Thanks again for all the help, Nick
BTW, if you want, I'd sell it to you for a good deal, only $19K, fully loaded Limited V6 with only 1600 miles.
Cheers, Nick
http://jalopnik.com/5299918/lexus-porsche-top-2009-jd-power-initial-quality-surv- ey
Would you accept spoiled meat just because you bought hamburger instead of filet mignon?
Those of us who cannot afford a Lexus (and there are many) still have a right to expect that when we purchase a new vehicle with our hard-earned cash, it's an undamaged specimen.
this forum is for people to express their good and not so good experiences with
Hyundai Sonatas not Lexus, that would be the Toyota forum. Most of what is said
on this site is to help each other solve issues with 2009-2010 Sonatas. If you are here to make rather negative personal comments about someone that has a
legitimate beef I would think I'm not the only person that sees this as inappropriate.
You should be on DEAR ABBY forum not here. If you don't care what condition
your vehicles are in, Nick offered you a pretty good deal on his Limited, and I can
make you a better deal I have a Cash for Clunkers 1996 truck, still runs and the air
conditioner even works, needs some TLC and you may the right person for it.
Have a very good evening, Nicks new friend:
Back in 1991, my father was in an accident in his 1990 Chevy Suburban (needed it for towing their camper). The car that was hit (even though it was a T-Bone, my father was not at fault in that accident, though the accident a month later.... but that's another story, as you'll see) was totalled, and the Suburban was in pretty bad shape. The dealership had the Suburban for a listed two weeks to repair the front end, chassis, and repaint. So the bid day arrives, and my father goes to pick up the Suburban; he and I (I drove him) are waiting to drive it home. Get all checked out with paperwork, and they go to fetch the car. We sit and wait for the five minutes. No Suburban. We wait some more. We wait for over an hour. Finally, we get up and go to see the manager and ask if there is a problem. That's when we're told that while fetching the Suburban, the valet driver had had an accident with it... he'd T-Boned another car (PARKED) in their repair lot/holding lot. It would be two more weeks to repair and (again) repaint the Suburban.
The kicker is they had long-standing reservations to go camping in two weeks... the car would be done THE DAY they would need to hook up the camper and tow it from Virginia Beach Virginia to Asheville NC. You can guess what's coming next, with my father still upset from the original accident a month earlier, and driving "overly cautious" (even though it wasn't my father's fault, the woman on the passenger's side of the car that had been hit in the first accident had ended up in critical condition, and was still in the hospital three weeks after the accident, the driver's elderly mother). Of course, the repair shop had had to adjust brakes because of the frame damage, and the electronic braking for the camper hadn't been dialed in quite right, which meant the camper (a 35 footer) wasn't braking properly.........
Suffice it to say, even though the Suburban after the THIRD accident in 4 weeks was in VERY bad shape, he had to use it to drive the campber back to his home before the Suburban itself was towed.
So take away from the story: Dealerships do NOT treat the cars as if they were their own personally owned vehicles. They treat them as disposable things with any problems that are created by the dealerships pushed off to the unsuspecting buyer.
Back in 1991, my father was in an accident in his 1990 Chevy Suburban (needed it for towing their camper). The car that was hit (even though it was a T-Bone, my father was not at fault in that accident, though the accident a month later.... but that's another story, as you'll see) was totalled, and the Suburban was in pretty bad shape. The dealership had the Suburban for a listed two weeks to repair the front end, chassis, and repaint. So the bid day arrives, and my father goes to pick up the Suburban; he and I (I drove him) are waiting to drive it home. Get all checked out with paperwork, and they go to fetch the car. We sit and wait for the five minutes. No Suburban. We wait some more. We wait for over an hour. Finally, we get up and go to see the manager and ask if there is a problem. That's when we're told that while fetching the Suburban, the valet driver had had an accident with it... he'd T-Boned another car (PARKED) in their repair lot/holding lot. It would be two more weeks to repair and (again) repaint the Suburban.
The kicker is they had long-standing reservations to go camping in two weeks... the car would be done THE DAY they would need to hook up the camper and tow it from Virginia Beach Virginia to Asheville NC. You can guess what's coming next, with my father still upset from the original accident a month earlier, and driving "overly cautious" (even though it wasn't my father's fault, the woman on the passenger's side of the car that had been hit in the first accident had ended up in critical condition, and was still in the hospital three weeks after the accident, the driver's elderly mother). Of course, the repair shop had had to adjust brakes because of the frame damage, and the electronic braking for the camper hadn't been dialed in quite right, which meant the camper (a 35 footer) wasn't braking properly.........
Suffice it to say, even though the Suburban after the THIRD accident in 4 weeks was in VERY bad shape, he had to use it to drive the camper back to his home before the Suburban itself was towed.
So take away from the story: Dealerships do NOT treat the cars as if they were their own personally owned vehicles. They treat them as disposable things with any problems that are created by the dealerships pushed off to the unsuspecting buyer.
1) Replace hood
2) Replace car
3) Touch-up chip. (I bet dealer would touch-up chip before they put on lot and you would never know it was damaged.)
How noticeable is the defect? 1 foot? 10 feet only under 1 certain angle.
The best I would expect is they will repaint the door for you. There must be a paint warranty from Hyundai that will take care of it for you.
My point is you are posting before the dealer or factory gives you an answer. Wait and see, they may fix the car to your satisfaction. If they repaint the door it will have a life time warranty. The dealer probably did not know there was anything wrong when they sold it to you. Give them a chance to make it right before you sue.
No history? That means it was CERTAINLY damaged by/at the dealership.
I want to make it very clear that I only made my original post to see if there was anybody on this forum that has experience with Hyundai USA and how they would handle my complaint and if they have had any issues with the new manufacturing facility in Alabama.
I will post the results of my complaint as soon as it is resolved and I' still waiting for someone to chime in that has a similar experience as mine with Hyundai.
Cheers, Nick
I think that is an unrealistic expectation.
But good luck!
tolerance for acceptance there could be many more answers to that question. If I
got my brand new car home and in a day or two noticed a paint chip on the hood,
how would I know if it was there before I left the lot or it happened to me on the way
home? If I didn't see at the dealership was it there or did I miss it? Now if I got home and it was a touched up paint chip, that is a whole different ball game. It had
to have been there at the lot, and I must have missed that one too. If it bothers me
about the quality of the repair I may return to the dealership about it. They may say
we are very sorry and we will fix it to your satisfaction, but they could also say
something like, well it wasn't done here, how do we know that you didn't do it
yourself. Now you have a ( I said YOU said thing). If no one wants to live up to who
did it then we wind up where Mr. Nick is with his brand new Limited. This can be a
very sticky situation. The dealership may take a firm stand and say that you had
all the time in the world to inspect every inch of that car before you bought it, but
you did buy it and bring it home a day or so. Unfortuanitly they may not have to
prove they didn't do it, you may have to prove they did. This is were the how much
you can tolerate comes in! A tiny paint chip I can handle fixed or not fixed I really
don't know where the line is drawn, again a personal issue. We are all on your
side Nick, it would leave a better taste in our mouth if they would satisfy us, as we
the buyer keep them in business... as I see it!
In mid-Feb. the factory released a software patch to allow reprogramming the door locks. The dealer set our '09 SE to lock automatically at 10 mph and stay locked when the trans goes to park and the engine is shut off.
I went to a different dealer yesterday and they were able to do exactly that. They weren't sure if they had downloaded the patch, but they had, and it worked like a charm.Now I feel more like my car is entry-level luxury. Thanks!
my research. Keep the good stuff coming.
There is a famous tort case where BMW was sued BIG TIME for this exact type of situation. A doctor bought a car, nine months later found out it had been repainted and then sued BMW. In court, BMW argued the same thing as your dealership is arguing - if the repair was less than 3% of the vehicle's value then they did not disclose it to buyers. Here is a summary of how the case came out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_of_North_America,_Inc._v._Gore
It went all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. Mostly what you will read about this case is about the damages and how the Supreme Court ruled they were way too high. The main thing that came from this case is how to calculate punitive damages, but it is used in court to this day.
Here is a link to the full case: http://docs.justia.com/cases/supreme/517/559.pdf - the Facts similar to yours start on page five.
has anyone else had this problem and if so what was solution?
can anyone advise what steps I can take? No one at hyundai seems to want to help me....even called the customer service line
please note I am in canada
Is your Sonata a Limited? My 2009 Sonata Limited pulls slightly to the left especially noticible at high speed. They told me to be patient and wait a bit for the suspension to break in. I have put 3300 miles on it now in the past 4 months and nothing has changed. They said they will do an alignment (which is free within the first year anyway) to see if that corrects the problem. But a mechanic friend of mine has suggested having them swapp the front tires and see if my pulling problem is a "radial (tire) pull". I am going to have them do this when I have my first service done some time in early 2010. Hopefully, that will solve my pulling problem. I'll post back when I know something. Your problem seems to be quite a bit more severe. Keep us posted and good luck.
I guess I am curious if anyone had such a problem and it was fixed....or if anyone can advise on what kind of legal steps i can take (in canada)
problem. The Mazda dealership did the computer thing and adjusted but it
was still not right, so I told them I was going to another (doctor) and get a
second opinion. That did the trick so the dealership got w/ them and paid
for the work and found out what to do. GOOD LUCK!!!!!
For me, when they rotated my tires 7000 miles ago it was worse, but then when they were rotated again (3500 miles later) it was a little better. So my thought is something is wrong with a few of my tires even though the dealership says they look fine. Which, by the way, I should mention that I have Hancook tires that came with the car and after 40,000 miles the dealership says they are about to the point where they need to be replaced. So, to me, the tires are garbage and I hope when I replace them that the pulling goes away.
If it matters, I have a 09 v6 limited Sonata. What has your dealership said about the pulling?
Sorry, Dave, but sounds like you've just blown your warrenty by abusing the automobile.
Bill is right: in that kind of extreme cold, operating your vehicle in that manner is nothing more than abuse.
If you treat your car right, your car will return the favor. If you treat your car like a street-walking prostitute, don't be suprised if you wake up with crabs.
But back to the issue...
This will be the second winter with this type of cold I've owned my Sonata. True, I tend to run it a bit to hard year round and have so far been quite impressed with the Sonata's ability to handle the stresses I put it through, but my experience with head gaskets with other vehicles has been fluid burning or oil/coolant spray throughout my engine compartment. Total failure of the head/gasket.
Right now, I seem to have no power loss, fluid loss, smoke, or spray, just the light smell and was wondering if anyone else may have experienced this same issue after "burning out the carbon" as it goes.
Set your personal redline at about 1-2K RPMs less than normal in severe winter driving, and you'll put a LOT less stress on the engine and the gaskets. IIRC, the redline on a V6 is 5.5K (or was that the yellow line?); keep it to 4K and under and your car will have a longer life, your wallet will be slightly happier from gas costs, and your wallet will be MUCH happier from not having expensive repair bills.
On a slightly different topic, the heater fan tends to drop off at stops and sometimes at idle. Is this a common issue and is there a computer update might take care of this that I can get on my next service?
That sounds like a marginal charging system or a weak battery to me.