poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

I was told I had a transmission leak by the person who did my last oil
change. Sounded kind of odd on such a new car (06 Sonata, 6k miles) so I
took it in to have it looked at. While I was there I asked for a few
other things to be looked at. One was the automatic door locking at
5mph. The other was a really funky smell coming from my A/C vents. The
odd thing is, this is the exact same smell as in my 03 Elantra.

I just received a call from the fella I dropped the car off with. No
transmission leak, which is good. The other things he said disturbed me
a bit. Firstly, the door locks. He said they "managed to get it to work
the way I wanted." He also said that normally they charge $90.00 for
this service, but he'd kindly waive that fee for me. Additionally, he
told me that the air conditioner smell was a normal problem that exists
on all Hyundais. The only thing they could do would be to do the "fresh
air" service or some such thing. Of course that costs 49.99. This car is
less than six months old, has 6000 miles on it. I'm supposed to just
cope with a god-awful-smelling A/C problem? How can my warranty not
cover that? Is this just a crappy dealership?

-B

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

On Tue, 09 May 2006 22:18:41 GMT, Blair <"axis of weevil"@gmail.com>
wrote:

>I was told I had a transmission leak by the person who did my last oil
>change. Sounded kind of odd on such a new car (06 Sonata, 6k miles) so I
>took it in to have it looked at. While I was there I asked for a few
>other things to be looked at. One was the automatic door locking at
>5mph. The other was a really funky smell coming from my A/C vents. The
>odd thing is, this is the exact same smell as in my 03 Elantra.
>
>I just received a call from the fella I dropped the car off with. No
>transmission leak, which is good. The other things he said disturbed me
>a bit. Firstly, the door locks. He said they "managed to get it to work
>the way I wanted." He also said that normally they charge $90.00 for
>this service, but he'd kindly waive that fee for me. Additionally, he
>told me that the air conditioner smell was a normal problem that exists
>on all Hyundais. The only thing they could do would be to do the "fresh
>air" service or some such thing. Of course that costs 49.99. This car is
>less than six months old, has 6000 miles on it. I'm supposed to just
>cope with a god-awful-smelling A/C problem? How can my warranty not
>cover that? Is this just a crappy dealership?
>
>-B

Are you sure the smell is not the one typical of Korean plastic? There
has been a long history of a nasty new car smell on the korean cars.
It goes away with time like all new car smell. Detroit uses a
prettier smelling plasticizer. I don't know which one is less toxic.

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

On Tue, 09 May 2006 22:18:41 GMT, Blair <"axis of weevil"@gmail.com>
wrote:

>I was told I had a transmission leak by the person who did my last oil
>change. Sounded kind of odd on such a new car (06 Sonata, 6k miles) so I
>took it in to have it looked at. While I was there I asked for a few
>other things to be looked at. One was the automatic door locking at
>5mph. The other was a really funky smell coming from my A/C vents. The
>odd thing is, this is the exact same smell as in my 03 Elantra.
>
>I just received a call from the fella I dropped the car off with. No
>transmission leak, which is good. The other things he said disturbed me
>a bit. Firstly, the door locks. He said they "managed to get it to work
>the way I wanted." He also said that normally they charge $90.00 for
>this service, but he'd kindly waive that fee for me. Additionally, he
>told me that the air conditioner smell was a normal problem that exists
>on all Hyundais. The only thing they could do would be to do the "fresh
>air" service or some such thing. Of course that costs 49.99. This car is
>less than six months old, has 6000 miles on it. I'm supposed to just
>cope with a god-awful-smelling A/C problem? How can my warranty not
>cover that? Is this just a crappy dealership?
>
>-B

Are you sure the smell is not the one typical of Korean plastic? There
has been a long history of a nasty new car smell on the korean cars.
It goes away with time like all new car smell. Detroit uses a
prettier smelling plasticizer. I don't know which one is less toxic.

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

On Tue, 09 May 2006 22:18:41 GMT, Blair <"axis of weevil"@gmail.com>
wrote:

>I was told I had a transmission leak by the person who did my last oil
>change. Sounded kind of odd on such a new car (06 Sonata, 6k miles) so I
>took it in to have it looked at. While I was there I asked for a few
>other things to be looked at. One was the automatic door locking at
>5mph. The other was a really funky smell coming from my A/C vents. The
>odd thing is, this is the exact same smell as in my 03 Elantra.
>
>I just received a call from the fella I dropped the car off with. No
>transmission leak, which is good. The other things he said disturbed me
>a bit. Firstly, the door locks. He said they "managed to get it to work
>the way I wanted." He also said that normally they charge $90.00 for
>this service, but he'd kindly waive that fee for me. Additionally, he
>told me that the air conditioner smell was a normal problem that exists
>on all Hyundais. The only thing they could do would be to do the "fresh
>air" service or some such thing. Of course that costs 49.99. This car is
>less than six months old, has 6000 miles on it. I'm supposed to just
>cope with a god-awful-smelling A/C problem? How can my warranty not
>cover that? Is this just a crappy dealership?
>
>-B

Are you sure the smell is not the one typical of Korean plastic? There
has been a long history of a nasty new car smell on the korean cars.
It goes away with time like all new car smell. Detroit uses a
prettier smelling plasticizer. I don't know which one is less toxic.

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

Blair wrote:
> I'm supposed to just cope with a god-awful-smelling A/C problem?

The issue is one of mold growth in the A/C system. I've heard it can be
remedied by turning the A/C off for a few minutes before exiting the
vehicle, so the system can dry out, but I imagine that's a bit of a
hassle since you're in Arizona and need to use it a lot. I haven't had a
problem with my car yet, but I rarely use the A/C.

> How can my warranty not cover that?

I don't know, but they don't cover it in Elantras, which are somewhat
infamous for the problem. I've also heard that freshening treatments are
a temporary solution at best. For fifty bucks, they're probably just
going to spray something akin to Lysol into the intake in the hope it
will kill the mold for a while. One thing you can do is to locate the
drain tube for the A/C system and make sure that it's not crimped or
plugged. If your vehicle drips after you use the A/C for a while, that's
a good indication that the drain is working.

> Is this just a crappy dealership?

It sounds like that's probably the case too, based on the description
about the lock problem. Whenever you have any questions about service,
contact Hyundai directly before paying for anything. Do not accept any
explanations that don't seem reasonable. A lot of dealerships will try
to scam you if they think they can get away with it.

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

Blair wrote:
> I'm supposed to just cope with a god-awful-smelling A/C problem?

The issue is one of mold growth in the A/C system. I've heard it can be
remedied by turning the A/C off for a few minutes before exiting the
vehicle, so the system can dry out, but I imagine that's a bit of a
hassle since you're in Arizona and need to use it a lot. I haven't had a
problem with my car yet, but I rarely use the A/C.

> How can my warranty not cover that?

I don't know, but they don't cover it in Elantras, which are somewhat
infamous for the problem. I've also heard that freshening treatments are
a temporary solution at best. For fifty bucks, they're probably just
going to spray something akin to Lysol into the intake in the hope it
will kill the mold for a while. One thing you can do is to locate the
drain tube for the A/C system and make sure that it's not crimped or
plugged. If your vehicle drips after you use the A/C for a while, that's
a good indication that the drain is working.

> Is this just a crappy dealership?

It sounds like that's probably the case too, based on the description
about the lock problem. Whenever you have any questions about service,
contact Hyundai directly before paying for anything. Do not accept any
explanations that don't seem reasonable. A lot of dealerships will try
to scam you if they think they can get away with it.

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

Blair wrote:
> I'm supposed to just cope with a god-awful-smelling A/C problem?

The issue is one of mold growth in the A/C system. I've heard it can be
remedied by turning the A/C off for a few minutes before exiting the
vehicle, so the system can dry out, but I imagine that's a bit of a
hassle since you're in Arizona and need to use it a lot. I haven't had a
problem with my car yet, but I rarely use the A/C.

> How can my warranty not cover that?

I don't know, but they don't cover it in Elantras, which are somewhat
infamous for the problem. I've also heard that freshening treatments are
a temporary solution at best. For fifty bucks, they're probably just
going to spray something akin to Lysol into the intake in the hope it
will kill the mold for a while. One thing you can do is to locate the
drain tube for the A/C system and make sure that it's not crimped or
plugged. If your vehicle drips after you use the A/C for a while, that's
a good indication that the drain is working.

> Is this just a crappy dealership?

It sounds like that's probably the case too, based on the description
about the lock problem. Whenever you have any questions about service,
contact Hyundai directly before paying for anything. Do not accept any
explanations that don't seem reasonable. A lot of dealerships will try
to scam you if they think they can get away with it.

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

On Tue, 09 May 2006 22:18:41 GMT, Blair <"axis of weevil"@gmail.com> wrote:

> Additionally, he
>told me that the air conditioner smell was a normal problem that exists
>on all Hyundais. The only thing they could do would be to do the "fresh
>air" service or some such thing.

Was the odor there from day 1?


Does it have a musty or rotting smell, or a chemical smell?
--
Bob

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

On Tue, 09 May 2006 22:18:41 GMT, Blair <"axis of weevil"@gmail.com> wrote:

> Additionally, he
>told me that the air conditioner smell was a normal problem that exists
>on all Hyundais. The only thing they could do would be to do the "fresh
>air" service or some such thing.

Was the odor there from day 1?


Does it have a musty or rotting smell, or a chemical smell?
--
Bob

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

On Tue, 09 May 2006 22:18:41 GMT, Blair <"axis of weevil"@gmail.com> wrote:

> Additionally, he
>told me that the air conditioner smell was a normal problem that exists
>on all Hyundais. The only thing they could do would be to do the "fresh
>air" service or some such thing.

Was the odor there from day 1?


Does it have a musty or rotting smell, or a chemical smell?
--
Bob

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

1. The dealer is being nice to you by not charging you for setting up the
locks. There are (I believe) a few features on this car that can be
programmed to operate in different ways. What you desired was for the
locks to be programmed to operate in a way different than the factory
setting. This can be done, but it is not Hyundai's responsibility to do
so. Hence, they will not pay the dealer for this work.

2. The reason your a/c odor wouldn't be covered by your warranty would be
that there's no defect. While I haven't looked at your car to determine
there is indeed no defect, I can say that I've never seen a case of such
an odor be caused by anything other than some nasty growth in the
evaporator case. As for the $50, just say no. You can go to the store
yourself and purchase a spray air freshener and spray it in the intake
yourself. The air intake is at the bottom of the windshield on the right
side through the plastic cowl. Simply turn the heat and a/c on full using
fresh air and spray the freshener into the cowl.

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

1. The dealer is being nice to you by not charging you for setting up the
locks. There are (I believe) a few features on this car that can be
programmed to operate in different ways. What you desired was for the
locks to be programmed to operate in a way different than the factory
setting. This can be done, but it is not Hyundai's responsibility to do
so. Hence, they will not pay the dealer for this work.

2. The reason your a/c odor wouldn't be covered by your warranty would be
that there's no defect. While I haven't looked at your car to determine
there is indeed no defect, I can say that I've never seen a case of such
an odor be caused by anything other than some nasty growth in the
evaporator case. As for the $50, just say no. You can go to the store
yourself and purchase a spray air freshener and spray it in the intake
yourself. The air intake is at the bottom of the windshield on the right
side through the plastic cowl. Simply turn the heat and a/c on full using
fresh air and spray the freshener into the cowl.

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

1. The dealer is being nice to you by not charging you for setting up the
locks. There are (I believe) a few features on this car that can be
programmed to operate in different ways. What you desired was for the
locks to be programmed to operate in a way different than the factory
setting. This can be done, but it is not Hyundai's responsibility to do
so. Hence, they will not pay the dealer for this work.

2. The reason your a/c odor wouldn't be covered by your warranty would be
that there's no defect. While I haven't looked at your car to determine
there is indeed no defect, I can say that I've never seen a case of such
an odor be caused by anything other than some nasty growth in the
evaporator case. As for the $50, just say no. You can go to the store
yourself and purchase a spray air freshener and spray it in the intake
yourself. The air intake is at the bottom of the windshield on the right
side through the plastic cowl. Simply turn the heat and a/c on full using
fresh air and spray the freshener into the cowl.

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

Bob Adkins wrote:
> On Tue, 09 May 2006 22:18:41 GMT, Blair <"axis of weevil"@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Additionally, he
>>told me that the air conditioner smell was a normal problem that exists
>>on all Hyundais. The only thing they could do would be to do the "fresh
>>air" service or some such thing.
>
>
> Was the odor there from day 1?
>
>
> Does it have a musty or rotting smell, or a chemical smell?

Neither. Its really very difficult to describe. It is the exact same
smell my Elantra developed after about 5 months. Incidentally, I rented
a brand new Accent while my car was in the shop and it had the very same
yucky smell.

-B

Re: poor experience at Hyundai of Tempe....
 

Bob Adkins wrote:
> On Tue, 09 May 2006 22:18:41 GMT, Blair <"axis of weevil"@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Additionally, he
>>told me that the air conditioner smell was a normal problem that exists
>>on all Hyundais. The only thing they could do would be to do the "fresh
>>air" service or some such thing.
>
>
> Was the odor there from day 1?
>
>
> Does it have a musty or rotting smell, or a chemical smell?

Neither. Its really very difficult to describe. It is the exact same
smell my Elantra developed after about 5 months. Incidentally, I rented
a brand new Accent while my car was in the shop and it had the very same
yucky smell.

-B