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2010 Elantra....transmission failed at 2600 miles!
Please tell me I'm not the only one that this has happened to. I bought my BRAND NEW Elantra on October 8th. Today is December 11th....the car has 2600 miles on it, and the transmission has to be completely replaced. I am OUTRAGED. How could this have happened?
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I called the consumer affairs department....spoke to a nice woman who filed a claim and gave me a case number. Someone at Hyundai is supposed to call me back in 3-4 days. I don't even know how to handle this. Everyone I have spoken to said they've never heard of this before. Even when I do get a new transmission in the car, my peace of mind is completely shattered and I will never feel safe in that car. I mean, we aren't talking about a broken tail light...this is the TRANSMISSION OF THE CAR for crying out loud.
Does anyone out there have any advice for me? I guess calling consumer affairs was the first step, but other then that I don't know what to do. I did not buy a brand new car just to get a rebuilt transmission put in after 2,600 miles.
Sarah, let the warranty work for you. Hyundai should replace the trans and you'll be on your way. To help you frame this as an isolated event, if you scan the forums here you'll see very few references to Hyundai having transmission problems in recent years. For the Elantra specifically, I can't recall the last time I saw one mentioned even for cars well past the warranty expiration.
You got a good car with a bad part. The best advice is to not sweat it, get it fixed, and get back to enjoying life.
Consider: My wife's '01 Elantra was subject to a subframe rust recall. Due to parts availability it was at the dealer for a week before it was repaired & returned to us. It hasn't shaken our faith in Hyundai at all; there was a problem and they took care of it. It took longer than we would have preferred but we got a free Sonata loaner so no harm no foul. We got a week to put miles on "someone else's" car and a week to not put miles on our car (including an out of state trip). Nice extended test drive.
I suppose the car no longer being new smoothed out the bumps in the ownership experience; time and miles on the replacement trans should help soften the blow for you.
But I guess YOU think differently just because it's a $16K car? WTF? You can take your snobbish and condescending attitude and shove it. Thanks a lot for your "help".
I'm sorry my suggestion doesn't appease you. It appears all you want to do is complain and cry and expect the problem to magically have never occured. If you don't feel safe, trade it in and take a soaking in the process. What else do you want people to tell you? Perhaps you wish you had bought that "perfect" Toyota that will accelerate out of control? Now, that's something to not feel safe about.
Have you ever parked on a steep hill or heard someone else as they pull it out of Park after being on steep hill without the parking brake? Have you ever heard that loud clunk? Well that is that tiny pawl slipping out of the slot with all that force exerted on it. As it passes the leading edge of the slot, imagine all that force is now on only a tiny 'edge' of the pawl. It is like taking a file or chisel to the end of it. And guess where the metal bits go?
As long as you believe that, it is not and never was, designed to lock the car down without the parking brake used in unison, then you can see why if it has these huge forces induced on it, it can fail or the part it fits into can fail..little by little, causing metal debris. Your owners manual clearly states when parking the car to put tranny in PARK and set the PARKING BRAKE, right?
And tell your girlfriends and have them tell their hubbys. If the word was spread better, people would have a lot fewer auto tranny failures way down the road.
If you want my opinion, carfreak and others here have given you good advice....and you owe them an apology.
And "carfreak"....you had a snotty and sarcastic attitude from the start. I didn't come here to be criticized about buying a $16K car. I came here for advice and options because this had never happened to me before, nor has it happened to anyone I know.
Telling me "what do you expect from a $16K car?" was good advice? LOL
Now, some folks will be lucky and won't experience any problems in the first 3 months of ownership. But for every owner like that, there'll be an owner with at least 2 problems. Many of these problems will be minor. But some won't be--as in a failed transmission.
The law of averages work against car owners expecting perfection. It's just not possible to mass-produce machines of the complexity of a modern automobile, at the price of an economy car, and make all of them perfect. Consider that about 100,000 Elantras are sold in the US each year. If the rate of a major failure such as a transmission failure were just 1/100th of 1%, that would still be 10 such failures a year.
The real marvel is that with the technical complexity of cars today, there aren't MORE major component failures. And the automatic transmission is the most complex mechanical component of a car.
I asked her whether it was a std or manual but I see my post got lost during the change over to the new format.
I feel bad for the next customer that walks into her dealer after they have just chatted with her though.
I wondered how many Elantras were sold in the US. Interesting..I wonder what the number is for NA.
Of the new cars I have owned with tranny problems, I had a 74 Pinto that had a bad 2nd gear syncro that Ford never fixed for me. I was young and got pushed around. Today I would clean the parking lot with the guys coattails. And coincidently an 85 S10 with a similar problem but not as severe. I also have had a Matrix AWD auto that I think had tranny trouble trying to happen. I traded it while still under wty with around 25k miles or so. Most of my vehicles have been manual though.
Secondly, what exactly do you mean "I feel bad for the next customer that walks into her dealer after they have just chatted with her though." Was I supposed to just bend over and accept this without putting up some kind of fight? "Oh okay...the transmission broke on a brand new car. No problem." WTF?
And make up your mind...two paragraphs later you wrote "Today I would clean the parking lot with the guys coattails." So it's okay for YOU to get upset but I'm not allowed?
What I didn't do was get upset with the people who were trying to help me.
Just because #12 wasn't directed to you, you didn't find that useful info to help ensure that when you get your new tranny, you want it to last as long as possible? It won't always be under wty ya know..
Since something like this is very rare, I assume it hasn't happened to any of you. Perhaps if/when it does, you can understand my anger and frustration.
Yes, post #12 was good info but I always use my parking brake regardless. And yes, my car is an automatic.
I did not tell you that. On that I happen to agree with you. Some posts you have to weed out the good info and drop the other I guess. Glad they got you fixed up so quickly. Wow, that is fast to re and re a tranny. They must have had one in stock. It sounds like they might have given you a br new tran? Either that or the problem wasn't huge inside it.
A major problem on a new car can be frustrating. But maybe it can help to focus more on how the problem is dealt with, vs. the fact it happened (since problems WILL happen on cars). If the dealership doesn't react properly to a problem like that and take care of you, then that's something that can be complained about with some hope of correction, since it's all about human and corporate behavior. Machines are another story... they can and do fail sometimes, and not much we can do about that except take good care of them as they grow old and hope they will take care of us.
Its great that they gave you a br new tranny and delivery of the part was pretty quick. Impressive really. So what extra deal did you get them to reward you with cuz of the stress and hassle?
Assuming they did a good job, I'd say you have yourself a pretty good dealer. Made the issue as stress-free as is reasonably possible. Some would want to 'fix' the tranny, and have u in a loaner Accent for weeks on end while they do it. And then you get it back and the interior smells of shop smells include exhaust smells etc. In very small town shops you might even get body shop dust migrating over. And while they are suppose to have your windows up and the HVAC controls set on recirculate, this doesn't always happen.
All in all, I have to say I was very impressed with the quick service...it is a good dealership. They put me in a Sonata loaner for four days..that was nice.
To compensate me, Hyundai is paying two of my car payments for me.
I probably wouldn't have been this upset if I hadn't had all the problems going on in my old car. I had been driving a 1999 Acura Integra...80K miles on it and for the last year I was starting to have problem after problem. At first it was general maintenance (tires, brakes, etc) then over the summer I had to replace the exhaust system, then a month later the computer in the transmission went. That's when I started to look for another car. A lot of people I know recommended the Elantra, and once I researched it and then finally test drove it, I knew that was it. I was so tired of breaking down every other week in my Acura, the relief I felt after I drove away in my new Elantra was indescribable. Then two months later, this happens.
Anyway, I hope I don't have to deal with something like this for a very long time. I know it was a fluke, that this was extremely rare, but it was just frustrating as hell.
IMO you got really good service from that Acura, to have one part fail after 11 years.
And as I and others here have tried to tell you... NO car is indestructable. Unreasonable expectations are likely to lead to disappointment, whether it's one of the most reliable car brands ever (Acura) or a Hyundai.
And you got a free loaner (a better car than your Elantra) while yours was being repaired, plus two payments! Wow. I would be very pleased with that kind of dealer response to a problem if a similar thing had happened to me. I've owned new cars that I had to have in the shop several times in the first year for multiple problems. Never got a free loaner or car payments or anything like that. Hyundai took very good care of you.
*Sigh*....I had quite a few problems with the Acura through the years, sorry I didn't name them all. I SAID....this last year it was just one thing after another.
Excuse me if my expectations were "unreasonable". How SILLY of me to think the transmission would work on a brand new car.
Good lord.
Of course I got a free loaner. I've never heard of anyone that had to pay for a loaner when something like this happens.
Sorry you didn't get payments or a free loaner. Sounds like you are the type of person to keep your mouth shut because you expect these things to happen.
And you are twisting what I am saying. I never said you were being unreasonable for expecting a transmission to work in a new car. What I think is unrealistic is your stated expectation that every new car be "perfect".
I have a pretty good idea what kind of a person you are also. But I won't say it here. First, I could be wrong. (I have a feeling you aren't wrong very often, true?) Second, it would probably be offensive.
Good luck with your Elantra.
P.S. When I had a serious problem (a design/safety issue, not a component failure) with my first Hyundai, several years ago, I took it up with the President and CEO of HMA. Did you talk to any Hyundai executives about your problem?
You have to admit that the whole thrill of new car ownership gets a kick in the teeth if you have a major failure in a short period of time. Or not...I don't personally care if you admit it or not.
I am not one for kicking when someone is down and has admitted defeat. But i'm not you. Anyway, that's the last I'll say on this. She is more than capable of defending herself. I just think it is more fair to acknowledge someone's effort to see the bigger picture, even if at first they didn't.
And quite honestly, I don't give a crap what you think of me. You actually think I care what someone over the internet thinks of me? LOL!!
BTW, I'm not twisting anything. Apparently you expect cars to break down as soon as you buy them. I don't.
I never once called you a name or suggested anything bad about you, but you ripped into me for suggesting a $16k car isn't perfect. I was merely stating a fact. If you thought I was degrading you for "only" being able to afford a $16k car, you would be wrong as that would be calling the kettle black since I can't even afford a car that costs that much. I bought a 2010 Accent GS hatchback the same day you bought your Elantra. The funny thing is you ended up taking my advice even if you didn't want to and look who won. You let Hyundai honor their warranty and even got a few car payments thrown in. I bet you just feel peachy keen now don't you? LOL My posts to you were not meant to degrade you in any way, only to try and figure out what answers you were looking for. And there was only one answer, let Hyundai fix your broken car. I'm sorry that answer didn't sound so hot to a frustrated person, but there was no need to be nasty towards me.
Host, can we please shut down and delete this obviously unneeded thread? After all, it is a duplicate thread since there is already a transmission discussion for the Elantra and the person who started this one has seen her problem resolved.
Not all posters start at the most recent post and reads from there. Many of us start at the beginning and work their way through. I see miscommunication and redundancy happen all the time on this site, due to someone jumping in in the middle or near the end of a thread. I'm not saying that happen this time, my point is that while some parts of a thread may appear to be over there are other parts of use. There is also the info that Sarah provided about how well her dealer treated her. This might be useful to someone else down the road. And I don't see any post like it in the other tranny thread.
Please understand that when people first experience a major issue, they often arrive here pretty upset. I've seen it time & again - they're mad, and then a little time passes, and if things work out, they calm down. It's OK to come here and vent, and regardless of the vehicle, we all know they aren't perfect - but it's understandable to experience frustration when it happens to YOU. Showing a little empathy doesn't hurt, nor does it cost anything.
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I will say though, that I find comparative comments about other competitive vehicles in any thread, is always interesting and informative to me. And even if it is a plea for help with a problem with the car, sometimes solutions are still found off brand. Granted, you can't sway off brand for so long that you have to go back a few pages to be reminded what thread you are in..
Was the driver seat any more comfortable or supportive? Headlight vision on lo beam, similar between both cars? Was the stereo better? More or less wind and road noise? Ride/handling/steering? That sorta thing..
Here's a hot tip: If your post contains the word "you," especially more than once, it's probably about another person rather than the issue or content of the post.
If you have questions or comments about *this* post, please handle it via email rather than posting here. Some off-topic comments and comments that violate our Membership Agreement have been removed.
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One thing to ask them when you bring it to the new dealer (maybe you have already tried this): of course, ask the service writer to get in the car with you so he/she can see first-hand what you are describing. PLUS... ask if you can both try out an Elantra of the same year--or at least the same generation. They will likely have a new 2010 on the lot, or at least a used 2007-10 with automatic. (Try to get the new car if possible.) Then try exactly the same things on that car. If it demonstrates the same behavior as yours, it's possible the car is "acting as designed" (even if that isn't the way you want it to behave). It's also possible both cars are messed up, but less likely that a car picked at random will have the same problem yours does, if it is in fact a defect. And if this other car does NOT act like yours (i.e. acts more like you expect it to act) then the dealer has clear evidence to fix it under warranty.
As for you and the issue you think you have with your car?...I am a proponent of karma on this one..
I am so outta here.
Ive got two dealers in my area for Hyundai...one(the selling dealer) essentially gave up on me and my 2009 Elantra Touring issues, and the other who seems to be more interested in helping me, but havent resolved much of anything( yet).
What fun!! I'm SO glad I bought a new car!!