This is a guest post.
We bought a new 2019 Hyundai Elantra. Initially everything seemed fine. But it wasn’t long before we noticed the average MPG was resetting every morning and after refueling. Further, there was no multimedia manual; so, we weren’t sure if there were other electronics issues.
After talking to the dealer, they agreed to have someone look at the car but refused to give us the multimedia manual. We met with the dealer’s service representative, and he said he would investigate. Eventually he got back to us and insisted that despite what the owner’s manual stated, the car is suppose to automatically reset the average MPG as our car was doing, and that they would not be repairing the vehicle. Also, still no multimedia manual.
So we wrote a letter to the credit card company about the defective product which was purchased partially with credit. The credit card company reversed the $3000 charge. We might have been satisfied with this solution; however, the dealer was able to convince the credit card company to reapply the charge.
Then we contacted the EPA. After all, the dealer and manufacturer asserted the car was intentionally hiding the average gas mileage from us; so clearly they don’t want anyone to easily ascertain what the true gas mileage is. It took a bit of cajoling, but a guy from the EPA did go and contact the manufacturer. The manufacturer eventually fed the EPA guy some tale about how there were field complaints that the vehicles were providing inaccurate average gas mileage; thus, to address that problem, they opted to automatically reset the average MPG after four hours off key. Not sure how that solved the inaccuracy problem, but this explanation seems to have satisfied the EPA’s concerns for the moment. But this is where things get really bizarre.
The owner’s manual provided at sale doesn’t actually say anything about the average MPG automatically resetting; yet the manufacturer just told the EPA that they are indeed intentionally resetting it in model year 2019 Hyundais. So the manufacturer printed us a custom owner’s manual, an exact replica of the original with the same binding and size, but with one small change that says the average MPG is supposed to reset when off key for four hours. It still does not reflect what the car actually does, but I guess it’s good enough for Hyundai work. They then tried to get us to return the old manual. And finally, they manage to give us the multimedia manual.
Apparently, when you sell a defective product under warranty, all you have to do is print a new manual that states the defect is a feature. Problem solved! But seriously, why the cover-up? Why invest so much effort to document your own misdeeds and risk the ire of the government or a lawsuit? Wouldn’t it have been so much easier and less likely to bring attention to the problem if they had simply repaired or exchanged the vehicle for another? So now here is the idiocy documented on the internet.