The 2013 is very much affected by the engine failure issue.

Drop the the dealership with the VIN and see if the engine has been replaced, or if it is covered by any warranty.

I know used cars are hard to find, but I would keep looking if it were me. Whatever car you are interested in, have it checked out by a mechanic before purchase.

Good luck.

 

My 2013 Hyundai just blew. I was driving it- sputtered, no warning lights , and died. I bought it with 42,000 miles on it. I brought the records of all the oil changes I did on it-they said they needed the records from 15,000 to 47,000. I went to the person I bought the car from and got 4 more oil change records( the original owner died) they said there's too much of a gap in records! This is the third Hyundai I've bought- so much for customer loyalty. They won't replace an engine with a recall that died at 89,000 miles. The Hyundai Assurance is nonsense

 

Try going to another dealer and see what they say. I don't think much will change, but it is worth a shot and you may get lucky or at least get more information.

Then, see what formal appeal or arbitration action through Hyundai corporate is available to you and pursue that. Your warranty manual will be a good place to start. Pursue that.

As for the original dealer, make an appointment with a decision maker, the service manager and/or general manager, and ask if this is the final word on this. Be polite. Ask if there is any possible compromise.

If the answer is no, say you are going to pursue this through a lawsuit. You can file a small claims lawsuit by yourself without an attorney, and there may be an attorney who will take your case for a share of the damages. If you are a senior citizen or of limited financial means you can contact your state bar association to see if there are any pro bono legal avenues.

You can research the Theta II engine debacle through Google.

Also tell the dealer decision makee (and again be polite and don't bother with a service writer who has no authority) that you are going to make a formal complaint about them to Hyundai stating the dealer did not adequately tell you about the known Sonata engine problem nor offer an extended warranty to you to cover this known problem (there was a big class action suit). Tell the manager you will pursue this with Hyundai corporate as far as possible.

Then, tell the manager you plan to post multiple complaints on their web page, through social media, and dealer rater sites, Yelp, and other review sites. Tell the manager you plan to contact your friends and neighbors about the poor service you received from the dealer and the poor quality of Hyundai cars.

If you can, have a list of online sites you will use. Do some research beforehand to find those sites that review car dealers.

Again, be polite and don't get angry or threatening, but emphasize you plan to make it your long-term mission to inform their potential customers not to use that dealership.

(In one case I know of a disgruntled dealer customer parked his dead car across the street and facing the dealership with the word LEMON written largely on the windshield.)

Remember, your goal is to show them an accomodation is less problematic than your actions.

Before you leave the meeting, politely ask if they can make any accomodation. Leave the door to a compromise open. If not, leave your phone number and say you will talk with them anytime. Then, go to war. It may take time, but if they begin to see their reputation soiled, they may call you and talk a deal. One or two lost customers by your actions will equal the cost to replace your engine. Going to small claims court is something no one wants to do

In your social media/review posts don't accuse the dealership of any fraud. State that your car engine failed prematurely due to a known mechanical defect that is affecting all Sonatas and that the dealership won't help you resolve the problem. Put the full dealership name and city in your first sentence and the full name twice more in the body of your post to impact Google searches.

The dealership will see all of this. They monitor these sites carefully.

If you wish, once you have initiated your small claims or other legal action and begun your social media/review blitz, contact the manager via email and ask if there is any possible compromise in your engine situation, and that you will be happy to post favorable reviews about any agreeable compromise.

As you can probably tell, I've lost patience with Hyundai and Kia. I was an early adopter of Korean cars and have owned four of them. Hyundai chose not to proactively do right for their customers when the Theta II debacle blew up. In my opinion, they lied about the cause of the failures, saying it was a manufacturing defect cured in 2013 even though later cars are having engine problems too. Hyundai had to be dragged into helping their customers through a class action lawsuit. I have no sympathy.

I currently own a Kia Forte. My car insurance has shot up because of a rash of thefts nationally due to a lack of an anti-theft engine immobilizer that 90 percent+ of other manufacturers include. Kia has made steering wheel Clubs available through certain police departments in hard hit cities. They gave 200 to St. Louis, a hard hit area. Big deal. Too little. Looks like another $2 billion class action suit for Hyundai-Kia.

Good luck.

 

Try going to another dealer and see what they say. I don't think much will change, but it is worth a shot and you may get lucky or at least get more information.

Then, see what formal appeal or arbitration action through Hyundai corporate is available to you and pursue that. Your warranty manual will be a good place to start. Pursue that.

As for the original dealer, make an appointment with a decision maker, the service manager and/or general manager, and ask if this is the final word on this. Be polite. Ask if there is any possible compromise.

If the answer is no, say you are going to pursue this through a lawsuit. You can file a small claims lawsuit by yourself without an attorney, and there may be an attorney who will take your case for a share of the damages. If you are a senior citizen or of limited financial means you can contact your state bar association to see if there are any pro bono legal avenues.

You can research the Theta II engine debacle through Google.

Also tell the dealer decision makee (and again be polite and don't bother with a service writer who has no authority) that you are going to make a formal complaint about them to Hyundai stating the dealer did not adequately tell you about the known Sonata engine problem nor offer an extended warranty to you to cover this known problem (there was a big class action suit). Tell the manager you will pursue this with Hyundai corporate as far as possible.

Then, tell the manager you plan to post multiple complaints on their web page, through social media, and dealer rater sites, Yelp, and other review sites. Tell the manager you plan to contact your friends and neighbors about the poor service you received from the dealer and the poor quality of Hyundai cars.

If you can, have a list of online sites you will use. Do some research beforehand to find those sites that review car dealers.

Again, be polite and don't get angry or threatening, but emphasize you plan to make it your long-term mission to inform their potential customers not to use that dealership.

(In one case I know of a disgruntled
customer parked his dead car across the street and facing the dealership with the word LEMON written largely on the windshield.)

Remember, your goal is to show them an accomodation is less problematic than your actions.

Before you leave the meeting, politely ask if they can make any accomodation. Leave the door to a compromise open. If not, leave your phone number and say you will talk with them anytime. Then, go to war. It may take time, but if they begin to see their reputation soiled, they may call you and talk a deal. One or two lost customers by your actions will equal the cost to replace your engine. Going to small claims court is something no one wants to do

In your social media/review posts don't accuse the dealership of any fraud. State that your car engine failed prematurely due to a known mechanical defect that is affecting all Sonatas and that the dealership won't help you resolve the problem. Put the full dealership name and city in your first sentence and the full name twice more in the body of your post to impact Google searches.

The dealership will see all of this. They monitor these sites carefully.

If you wish, once you have initiated your small claims or other legal action and begun your social media/review blitz, contact the manager via email and ask if there is any possible compromise in your engine situation, and that you will be happy to post favorable reviews about any agreeable compromise.

As you can probably tell, I've lost patience with Hyundai and Kia. I was an early adopter of Korean cars and have owned four of them. Hyundai chose not to proactively do right for their customers when the Theta II debacle blew up. In my opinion, they lied about the cause of the failures, saying it was a manufacturing defect cured in 2013 even though later cars are having engine problems too. Hyundai had to be dragged into helping their customers through a class action lawsuit. I have no sympathy.

I currently own a Kia Forte. My car insurance has shot up because of a rash of thefts nationally due to a lack of an anti-theft engine immobilizer that 90 percent+ of other manufacturers include. Kia has made steering wheel Clubs available through certain police departments in hard hit cities. They gave 200 to St. Louis, a hard hit area. Big deal. Too little. Looks like another $2 billion class action suit for Hyundai-Kia.

Good luck.

Thanks some of this is very useful. I am going to keep pursuing this. The problem with small claims is both parties have to be from the say county. I had posted on social media but your point of mentioning their names clearly is well taken. I'm having such a hard time believing a car repeatedly mentioned in a class action suit isn't getting fixed. .

 

Ok

 

So in the end Hyundai did agree to replace the engine. The 2013 is mentioned in a class action suit in Ca. where they found that Hyundai continually denied help with "inadequate" maintenance records when they knew full well it was a faulty engine. That suit was on behalf of Navy employees. In the end it was these forums, a little leg work to find the rest of the oil changes, and the suggestion that I was not going away that changed their minds. I am now told this is a common practice- just say no and see if the customer goes for it. It is after all a 10 year old car now. That's not a great business model but they did repair mine, did all the call necessary safety recalls and replaced the starter which blew with the catastrophic engine failure. So a mixed rating for Hyundai. I love their cars, but this could have been handled better.

 

My Hyundai sonata 2013 was parked as I was in bank smoke then fire from engine front end total .fire department ripped open the hood to destinsh fire onlything I know was the computer need to be reset for passing om reading in inspection .