[speedz]

I bought a Hyundai Getz CRDi in September 2009.
I have used the car for almost 8000 kilometers.

Issue:- I will give a brief description of the problem. On a drive on the outskirts of the city, the car started wobbling suddenly and I managed to control the car and pull to the side. It was , quite frankly, a life threatening situation and happened at speeds in the range of 120 kmph or so. Actually, the car pulled over to a side and came to a stop only with a lot of persuasion from the braking coupled with the fortunate absence of any other vehicle in the immediate vicinity. Pulled over and stepped out of the car and to my horror saw that the two tires had disintegrated in patches on the tread patch. One tire looked as if a angle grinder had been put to use on it. Had to drive around 50 kilometers to get a to a wheel balancing center to balance the wheels. The car was wobbling badly and drifting. The tires on my car had uneven wear in patches The tire tread has clumped up and the wheel balance goes out of balance. Technially, in tire parlance, the tires had uneven wear and 'chipping'.

I have had the car checked thoroughly at authorized service center (Advaith Motors, Vishweshwarayya Industrial Area, Mahadevapura Post) in Bangalore. The Service Manager attended to the car trouble and pro actively called in the Goodyear dealer for inspecting the tires. The dealer representative came and inspected the tires and refuted the warranty claim. He suspected the car to have balancing, alignment issues. The service manager verified the alignment as being perfect.

Now, interestingly, my mails to Hyundai went unanswered. The whole issue was ignored by Hyundai for almost 15 days. Now I wonder how they can claim for good customer service. Hyundai claimed that the tire warranty is dealt by the vendor, Goodyear, and that Hyundai cannot do anything.

Visited the service center at least 6 times and the situation is so bad that the wheels lose balancing every 100-150 kilometers. So I am spending more time at the service center and at wheel balancing than driving the car.

After repeated calls, Hyundai offered to replace two of the tires only but at 25% of the cost to be borne by me. But they are behaving perfunctorily without any regard for a customer who has bought a Hyundai product.

The dilemma is that Goodyear refuses to honor warranty. And Hyundai refuses to do anything productive about the whole issue. Thus forcing me to risk my limbs and more driving the car with such tires.

Now, I am forced to drive around in a car whose tires wobble and make a thumping noise. And I am very sure it is not safe to drive the car at all. It is commonly accepted at the service center that Goodyear tires will always have uneven wear and tear and are not suited to the Getz CRDi at all.


My questions are:

1) How can a car manufacturer use a loophole that the components in the car will be provided warranty by the respective component vendor? Is this, "I will pass on the warranty buck", thing done only in INDIA? Is it the same elsewhere, in USA, EUROPE etc?
2) I understand about the small print about what Hyundai has inserted in the user manual; tire and battery warranty related. But how 'correct/justifiable' is this?

Are we paying lakhs for cars only to hear that their warrant will only be valid under certain circumstances and for certain components only? For example...rubber parts are not covered, clutch is not covered, fuel pump warranty covered by Bosch/TVS etc, battery warranty covered by the battery vendor, tires warranty covered by the
tire vendor........

So effectively we are paying XYZ lakhs to Hyundai to get a vehicle that is a sum of parts whose warranty is covered by the respective vendors? Come on, give us a break Hyundai. A manufacturer choses the component in the car and should stand by the choice/decision. Arent you taking us for a ride by giving us a vehicle that has components chosen by you and yet you do not want to honor the warranty? Isn't this a classic case of passing the buck? No wonder they aren't offering extended warranty on this car.

What can I do in this situation....And I do know which tires are the best substitute for my car. Its just that the attitude shown by Hyundai is really unacceptable and I would like to know what the opinion of members is regarding this and similar warranty issues.

[vigsom]

This issue is related to a faulty suspension - under the scope of Hyundai

Uneven tyre wear is not because of poor tyre quality;it is because wheels are misaligned-and that could be due to a faulty suspension.Get this checked thoroughly - if need be even from a trusted good private mechanic

Do you have the last alignment report?

As regards the warranty clauses,we all accept these when we get a car.When something goes wrong,we begin to find fault.Not fair.

[speedz]

The suspension, wheel bearings, hubs, wheels have all been ruled out as being possible causes. The service manager got the alignment done in the presence of the tire dealer and everything was ship shape. I do have the report. However, the tire dealer implied that Goodyear never does honor such warranty claims as these tires are sold dirt cheap and that only Hyundai can replace the tires for me under "goodwill". Although, obviously, he was not willing to put any of his esteemed opinions/implications in writing.

Now Hyundai is treating this scenario like they are giving alms to a street side beggar and this after one month of calls and mails.

And except for cr@hmil.net and one customer care number there is no process in place to escalate the issue if a customer is displeased with the sales/service/warranty issues. Looks like a very well developed loop in which mails and calls keep circulating.

[speedz]

And chunks of tire tread porting breaking off, called chipping, cannot be caused by the suspension. The worst parts is that three tires dont look visibly damaged. But they do have uneven tread depth, wear as certified by the tire dealer/vendor.

Whats the worst part of this whole issue is the apathy shown by hyundai. I went in for Hyundai only because the horrible experience with TATA. But looks like Hyundai is no better. They have one customer relations front and the rest are sitting enclosed in a insulated fort. How can I escalate the issue. I am hoping that this forum is being monitored by Hyundai and the thread manages to at least wake them up.

[naman07]

Hey Speedz,

Regarding your mails to cr@hmil.net, these mails are actually forwarded by Hyundai to the dealer from whom you have purchased the vehicle. The dealer now has to sort out the issue with you and reply back to Hyundai. Hyundai company in itself doesn't do anything nor does it reply you back even after waiting for a month .

How do I know ? I wrote a mail to Hyundai asking whether they provide the duplicate keys if I give them the key number. Yes or No. Simple. I sent 4-5 reminder mails and waited for a month for answer as simple as yes or no. Later on when I went to the service station I found that Hyundai has forwarded my mail to the service station saying that they are unable to satisfy the customer

So I would suggest that you work out a solution with the service manager because from my experience I found he is the one who will provide you the final solution.

Naman

PS - Hyundai does not provide the duplicate keys. Instead they give you blank keys which you have to take to computerized key maker to get the duplicate key made.

[speedz]

Correct naman07. I found that the service manager is refuting any "rights" to replace my tires. He claims that he only does what the regional office tells him to do. But I find that difficult to believe as I think he is just trying to avoid a confrontation and is passing the buck to an imaginary "higher up" where as he himself is taking the decision to replace only two tires. And I have to bear 25% of the cost of the tires....which I don't see any justification for. is effectively a waste of my time. How many more times should I keep running around to the service center for having committed the folly of choosing a Hyundai car?

Whats the solution?

I agree with naman07. The service manager is probably trying to pass the buck to an imaginary "higher up" and he is doing this to avoid a direct confrontation in the premises.

[nairrk]

imo, Hyundai, as a manufacturer of the car responsible for full warranty of the car as
prinited out in the owners manual. As such Hyundai has to deal with Tyre company and sort this out, if the problem is because of tyre damage. I think car Manufacturers give comprehensive warranty and not part by part warranty?
If Hyundai/dealer is not willing to listen the problems, then whom to approach? Legal formalities -not a immediate solution to the problems facing by the car owners?
Very sorry situation !

[shazikon]

Speedz, this whole issue is a outright disgrace to how a car manufacturer must process post sales claims. Its appalling to see a top rated manufacturer in India reputed for customer satisfaction not having a proper escalation setup in place. I am sure fellow T-Bhpians can throw light/contact on the proper channels.
all the best for your warranty claims.

[rocky080]

hi speedz from what you have described about the problem. I would think that there is a very serious issue with the suspension setup. As you told that there is uneven wearing on all the other three tires also, not all the tires can be defective(if there was a defect with the batch of tires that are on your car then all three tires should have the chipping issue). Where did you get the wheel alignment and balancing done? If it is at the dealers place try getting it done somewhere outside. There is a really good place near shantinagar bangalore called Madhus enterprise.

Regards
Rocky

[speedz]

I have had the suspension checked up. Have had the alignment also checked outside. Everything adds up.

The wheels go out of balance every 100-150 kilometers of normal running. Once they go out of balance the tires wear out unevenly and leads to more wobbling and vibrations. I get the wheels balanced again and the issue disappears and the car drives rock solid for another 100 kilometers...and so on.

[speedz]

Another important aspect of this whole thing is, assuming any customer has an issue with his engine, clutch etc, the service center is free to take whatever decision that they like and *bleep* the customer. They will give a ready response that the wear and tear is not a warranty issue and the warranty cannot be honored.

In such a scenario, how does a customer escalate and who does he approach (apart from the consumer court)?

How does Hyundai even have the audacity to claim that they respond to customer complaints within 3 days?

[rocky080]

Originally Posted by speedz

I have had the suspension checked up. Have had the alignment also checked outside. Everything adds up.

The wheels go out of balance every 100-150 kilometers of normal running. Once they go out of balance the tires wear out unevenly and leads to more wobbling and vibrations. I get the wheels balanced again and the issue disappears and the car drives rock solid for another 100 kilometers...and so on.

In that case i think it is better to make a settlement with the service manager as others have suggested before me and get a new set of tires.There is no point fighting with these companies over warranty issue as they would have considered all such loop holes before writing the warranty statements. But make sure you file all the replacement bills and all the wheel alignment reports in case god forbid you have to go to court if problem persists after changing the tires.

P.S: Also check if all the tires are of the same size. one of my friends ikon tire got exchanged at a puncture shop with a esteem tire of same bridgestone potenza make but different size and it too suffered a similar fate till the tire was changed.

Regards
Rocky

[ph03n!x]

Post some pictures of the tires, and of the car in general too

This is strange, but this what you should do- have the car's suspension thoroughly checked by a 3rd party, reputed workshop. If you were in Chennai, I would recommend Raghav's Ignite garage.

Change the tires to a Michelin or a Yokohama - driving with the stock tires on a Getz CRDi is suicidal. Get at least a 185 profile tire. Have alignment and balancing done at a reputed dealer - again, if its Chennai, I'd recommend Tyre Store in Greams road.

The first thing I did after taking delivery of my Getz CRDi was to get Yoko S.Drives (195/55 R15) and alloys from Tyre Store. I have my balancing and alignment done by them every 5000 KMs. Though I take the car to Hyundai for regular service, my garage of choice is Ignite for anything apart from the free service.

The Getz CRDi is a special car - it is a monster of an engine is a normal hatch body (which is not even built like a tank like the Palio 1.6). Paying attention to every minute detail is a definite must to have this car give you that broad smile in the highway when you 'step on it'!

(I have done 12k in 3 months, but am in Philippines - missing the baby for 3 months now :( )

[animdas]

Can you not go to the consumer forums and register your complaint?

[mrwalker]

Originally Posted by speedz

Visited the service center at least 6 times and the situation is so bad that the wheels lose balancing every 100-150 kilometers. So I am spending more time at the service center and at wheel balancing than driving the car.

Thus forcing me to risk my limbs and more driving the car with such tires.

Now, I am forced to drive around in a car whose tires wobble and make a thumping noise. And I am very sure it is not safe to drive the car at all.

Hyundai's/ Goodyear's behaviour is unacceptable, but, pardon me if this sounds rude, so is yours. You really should be replacing those tyres immediately, whatever the deal offered, instead of taking the unacceptable risks that you are taking right now.

Again apologise if this sounds very rude and completely agree that Hyundai/ Goodyear should honour the warranty...