This isn’t an April Fools joke, sadly, for Hyundai and Kia Motors. After years of investigations and the recall of over 2.3 million models, Hyundai’s engine controversy has sparked a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Agency probe into nearly 3 million vehicles.
Immediately preceding the weekend, Hyundai recalled 16,487 Velosters to mend a software glitch that could lead to stalling and fires. The automaker just can’t seem to turn down the heat on a quality issue that simmered for years before boiling over.
We’ll cover the safety probe first. The NHTSA claims its investigation is a direct result of the advocacy efforts of the Center for Auto Safety, which has rung the alarm bell on the spate of non-crash fires in older Hyundai and Kia vehicles.
After receiving reports of 3,100 fires, 103 injuries, and a single death “based on the agency’s analysis of information received from multiple manufacturers, consumer complaints and other sources,” the federal safety agency launched a two-pronged investigation; one for Hyundai, another for Kia. Vehicles under scrutiny are the 2011-2014 Hyundai Sonata and Santa Fe, 2011-2014 Kia Optima and Sorento, and the 2010-2015 Kia Soul.
In its petition to the agency, the Center for Auto Safety outlined how certain Hyundai and Kia models, in the absence of crashes, pose a greater fire risk than other vehicles. It isn’t just the product of the automaker’s well-publicised engine debris issues, either. While some owners complained of engine fires, other reports noted fires involving tail light housings, wiring harnesses, and light bulbs.
Last November, the U.S. launched a criminal investigation into the automaker to determine if it handled the recall process in a timely enough manner. The impetus came from a South Korean whistleblower who shed light on the company’s handling of the matter, raising concerns that the recalls were unnecessarily delayed — and covered too few vehicles.
As for last Friday’s recall, the callback covers 16,487 2013 Hyundai Veloster hatchbacks. Hyundai claims faulty software could lead to engine stalls or a fire. The electronic glitch could lead to the premature ignition of the fuel-air mix, leading to higher-than-normal pressures and potential engine damage.
This problem isn’t related to the engine issue that plagued millions of vehicles equipped with the automaker’s Theta II four-cylinders. With those engines, engine debris left over from the manufacturing process can prevent proper oil flow, damaging connecting rod bearings.
[Sources: Associated Press, Reuters] [Image: Hyundai]
They’ve recalled Kia Sedonas too, over a clip holding a wiring harness underneath the passenger seat. Us fatass Americans distend the seat cushions too much and sever the wire.
I passed through the back lot of a local Hyundai dealer recently while looking at a Jaguar XF I was interested in. I don’t know what was more disappointing, finding body damage on the Jag that wasn’t shown in the photos, or the crate full of Hyundai short blocks rusting in the snow at the exit gate.
Buying a Jag from a Hyundai dealer? I didnt even go there to look for Accords and Camrys when helping a friend car shop recently. Her mom said it best: “yeah, because who would trade in a perfectly good late-model Accord or Camry on a Hyundai”.
(Yes, they could have picked up some ex-rental Camrys at auction, but they wanted to avoid former rentals.)
I traded a “perfectly good” lemon Honda for an old used Dodge, so there’s that.
But yes, the horse-trading that occurs to bring used cars to a dealer lot is a bit scary. Carfax is a joke, as are the “103-point inspection” and “driven-on-Sunday” stories. Lately, an increasing number of cars are returned simply because the owners can’t afford them.
SCE,
What’s the Carfax joke? (Serious question.)
I don’t know exactly how Carfax works, but it depends upon voluntary submission of repair information. There have been articles about this before on TTAC.
When my former Leaf went away after its lease was up, the car reappeared on a used car lot website 4 states away (I checked the VIN), proclaiming its “clean Carfax”. Meanwhile, under my ownership the vehicle had sustained $4000 worth of body damage which was repaired at a Nissan-approved body shop. Obviously neither the shop nor the Nissan dealer wanted to report this.
I let the used car dealer know about this, but they never responded. Big surprise.
…don’t know exactly how Carfax works, but it depends upon voluntary submission of repair information…
Voluntary? No, your data is stolen from you every time you go to a repair (including non-crash repairs) via the barcode on your car and sold by data collection firms to outfits like Carfax. Why do you think oil changes are still cheap at places like Jiffy Lube? They are given money for your data.
The 2011 Sonata and Optima, and the 2009 Soul, were ground-breaking cars for Hyundai/Kia, and resulted in huge gains in market share for them.
Basically, I think they rushed the designs without proper design and testing validation and verification steps.
My son’s 11 Sonata has been recalled over 13 times, while my 13 Optima Hybrid has been recalled a few times. My other son’s 07 Sonata (prior generations) has only had a couple minor recalls (I think) and it soldiers on with little fanfare.
I’ve been a H/K partisan for a decade, but this parade of shame gives me pause about their future in my garage. Of course, the Ioniq EV now there is still fine, but it’s new.
“My son’s 11 Sonata has been recalled over 13 times,”
well, according to the B&B Hyundais are great cars, while the Escape is a piece of junk because it’s had five recalls.
+1
@JimZ: Well, I still like them – irrationally, I suppose.
I remember briefly considering a new 2011 Sonata vs. 2011 Mazda6. At 121k trouble free miles, I’ve been very happy with my Mazda6. It did have a recall for spider webs though!
H/K Are about $2000 less than a comparable Honda or Toyota. But, 5 year depreciation data shows they ll lose 4000$ more in depreciation.
Lower quality.
Worse dynamics.
WOrse resale.
Rapidly decomposing interiors.
Higher Recalls.
You are crazy to buy a H / K. I d buy a GGM product before H K .
Yeah but first to the BHPH wins!
We had a house fire locally last week caused by a 2018 Elantra that decided to immolate itself at 1 am in the driveway.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/fire-vehicle-recall-transport-canada-1.5075790
Something’s not right in the H/K empire. I have a personal theory that the “debris” causing 2.4l engines to seize, some at well over 100,000 miles, is linings from shot main or connecting rod bearings. Hard to find out for sure though because Hyundai are hardly holding public teardowns of seized engines.
The lawyer in one class action lawsuit against H/K in Canada says :””Their difficulty is that they can’t fix the problem. They don’t know what to do about the problem. So a recall where there’s no fix is really no recall at all,” Merchant said.”
You’re conflating two different issues, and your theory is wrong.
Latent chips that weren’t cleaned by the 3rd party mfr of the crankshafts are killing even very young engines, which wouldn’t have had the time to wear out their bearings. Some of these engines were wrecked at 30k miles.
As for the fires, of course that has nothing to do with the engine issue. To me, that seems like a much more difficult problem to root cause.
I have to imagine that part of that is that Hyundai uses “3rd party manufacturers” that are basically completely owned by and solely supply Hyundai. That’s one of the many issues with Korea’s chaebol. Because all the smaller companies are owned by the bigger companies, they have an exclusive buyer which prohibits other buyers, which both limits profits and disincentives both innovation and investment in expensive quality control; why bother when they know that they have someone who will buy their products? It’s a little incestuous, and not beneficial to anyone but the owning families.
That having been said, I’m still going to buy the gorgeous new generation Sonata hybrid coming out next year, barring driving dynamics or powertrain capabilities that fall dramatically short of the Accord hybrid.
FWIW, the suspect cranks were US-made.
Yeah but Korean cars still are made with higher quality than American cars, especially Ford. And more reliable too. I had 2011 Kia with 320,000 miles which had no issues and did not even require oil change or tire rotation. I passed it to my grand son who added another 200,000 miles with no issues and zero maintenance. Try that with Ford or GM.
Hmm… a thousand miles a week for ten years on a Kia, with no maintenance?
Yep, it’s April Fools Day all day today.
(I’d like to see the spark plugs with 520,000 miles on them… and the air filter, too!)
“did not even require oil change”
I’ve seen a car that went 40K with no oil change, and it wasn’t pretty. The oil in the valve cover looked wet until you touched it and it crumbled.
If that was an attempt at an April Fools’ Joke, it was pretty bad.
Damn, I’ve been seriously looking into getting a ’13-14 Sonata as my daily beater. There so much cheaper than anything else of a comparable age/mileage. Since there have been massive recalls, wouldn’t this mean that most of these have has their issues addressed?
Maybe.
The 11 Sonata I mentioned above was purchased used in 2013, from the same dealer who sold it new. When I asked if the recalls had been addressed, it turned out that there were already 4 recalls (at the time) which had *not* been. The dealer had done nothing about them.
There should be a law requiring all used cars to have their recall work done and documented prior to sale.
DCT investigation and recall next?