Well, it's been a bad week for my wife's '19 Santa Fe. We were running some errands with her car (I was driving) when we started hearing a metallic sounding "rapping" coming from the front of the car. I realized the sound WASN'T related to engine RPM and seemed more related to transmission operation--I could make the sound stop by shifting from drive to neutral or park. We were only about 1/4 mile from our Hyundai dealer so I wheeled into the service department and had one of the mechanics take a listen--this guy had never heard that particular sound before, but recommended that we don't drive it, so we left it there.
While waiting for the initial callback from the dealer, I recalled that shortly after getting the car I had taken it for service because I thought that the transmission didn't seem to downshift quick enough (hesitating to accelerate from a stop), and it didn't seem to want to downshift when going up moderately steep hills--at that time the mechanic told me that it's just how the powertrains are tuned nowadays to stay in higher gears for fuel economy etc. Sounded plausible, so I dismissed it. Now I'm wondering if that was an indication that something wasn't right with it.
The following day they called and said a Hyundai field engineer had authorized removal / replacement of the transmission. Today they ordered a NEW transmission and said it'll be delivered tomorrow (quicker than I would have thought). Installation of the new transmission will happen next week. While I'm not happy that the transmission failed at 21,000 miles I can't complain about how Hyundai is handling it--there were no questions asked about maintenance or anything else, and my wife is driving a '21 Elantra until her car is repaired.
I asked the service manager if they see many problems with these transmissions (8-speed auto) and she said they're rare in her experience and she chalked those few instances up to production / manufacturing problems. This is my third Hyundai Santa Fe--the others only required preventive maintenance, oil changes, tires and brakes. I'm thinking this is an oddball failure and Hyundai's quick response is somewhat reassuring despite the inconvenience.
Are there any Hyundai mechanics on here that can comment on this failure? Rare? Cause? I'll update when we get the car back.
While waiting for the initial callback from the dealer, I recalled that shortly after getting the car I had taken it for service because I thought that the transmission didn't seem to downshift quick enough (hesitating to accelerate from a stop), and it didn't seem to want to downshift when going up moderately steep hills--at that time the mechanic told me that it's just how the powertrains are tuned nowadays to stay in higher gears for fuel economy etc. Sounded plausible, so I dismissed it. Now I'm wondering if that was an indication that something wasn't right with it.
The following day they called and said a Hyundai field engineer had authorized removal / replacement of the transmission. Today they ordered a NEW transmission and said it'll be delivered tomorrow (quicker than I would have thought). Installation of the new transmission will happen next week. While I'm not happy that the transmission failed at 21,000 miles I can't complain about how Hyundai is handling it--there were no questions asked about maintenance or anything else, and my wife is driving a '21 Elantra until her car is repaired.
I asked the service manager if they see many problems with these transmissions (8-speed auto) and she said they're rare in her experience and she chalked those few instances up to production / manufacturing problems. This is my third Hyundai Santa Fe--the others only required preventive maintenance, oil changes, tires and brakes. I'm thinking this is an oddball failure and Hyundai's quick response is somewhat reassuring despite the inconvenience.
Are there any Hyundai mechanics on here that can comment on this failure? Rare? Cause? I'll update when we get the car back.