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Weird issue with my dad's Hyundai i20 AT leads to no throttle response

10th July 2024, 10:29 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

The ignition was on, the battery and check engine light lit up and the throttle response was zero. This has happened randomly on 3 different occasions.

BHPian Nonstop-driver recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Hi guys, I am looking for some advice. My father drives a petrol 2021 Hyundai i20 AT. His car developed a strange issue about 3 weeks ago.

Issue occurrence 1

He was driving from Rohini to Noida (almost 40kms) and stopped to buy something. The ignition was on but when he tried to reverse, the throttle didn't respond. The car was in gear, he pressed the accelerator but the car didn't move. Battery and check engine lights lit up. So he turned the car off and tried to turn it on again but the car won't turn on.

So we called an FNG who took about 30 minutes to arrive. Until then the battery was on so it got drained and when the mechanic arrived, he couldn't even run a scan. So the mechanic then jump-started the car and the ignition responded. He scanned via OBD but there were no issues at all. We all agreed it might be a battery issue and drove it home.

Issue occurrence 2

The car was fine for a few days. My father drove from Noida to Chandigarh without any issues and made some local runs. Yesterday he was driving in Chandigarh when he felt that the throttle response was reducing so he quickly parked on a shoulder Then the same thing happened. The ignition was on, the battery and engine light lit up and the throttle response was zero.

He called another FNG and the mechanic came in 30mins. He said the battery connection had some white deposits which was hindering the power supply. He cleaned the battery connection, turned on the car and it worked. By now we know the issue is not battery related but he was far from home so he decided to return immediately.

Issue occurrence 3

The same day while returning home, the exact same thing happened in the middle of the road. He somehow pushed the car to the shoulder. The ignition response was zero. He realized it's not related to the battery and apparently, if he leaves the car like that for 30ish minutes it works again. Fortunately, he was close to home so he parked the car and returned home and then went back after 2 hours to get the car. The car worked in the first crank and drove home without a fuss.

By now we realized it's related to fuel supply line or fuel quality.

So he visited Hyundai ASS today morning who ran the scan and said there are no errors. They dismissed it saying they didn't see an issue but decided to do a long drive. About 25kms around the city but the issue didn't resurface. The mechanics weren't willing to do anything further but upon assistance, my father met a senior person and explained the issue. The senior guy instantly ordered to replace the fuel pump but mentioned they were out of stock and were awaiting 7 fuel pumps for AT variants of various models

So my questions are:

Is fuel pump breakdown a common issue with i20 / Hyundai petrol cars? Even when they are relatively new?
While Hyundai ASS refused to check, could this issue actually just relate to bad quality of fuel / water in the fuel tank / garbage in the fuel tank?
The car runs out of the 3-year warranty in September, does it make sense to extend the warranty to 5 years given a potential manufacturing defect with the fuel line?