Misrepresented horsepower

[Dunnrad]

What is the name of your state? FL

In January of 2001 I purchased a new, 2001 Hyundai SantaFe SUV from a local Hyundai dealership.

As you may know, Hyundai has recently acknowledged their misrepresentation of the horsepower on many of their vehicles, including the SantaFe model SUV's. I recently received a letter signed by the President and CEO of Hyundai America explaining the misrepresentation and requesting that I agree to one of three available warranty enhancement options in order to "affirm Hyundai's apology". A customer reply card was included which required my signature and acceptance of their proposed offer.

I am reluctant to agree to any such offer at this time because I have encountered many service problems with this vehicle since its' purchase and would like to explore other options such as returning the vehicle. Specifically, the vehicle transmition completely failed and had to be replaced by the manufacturer (with a reconditioned model) with less than 30,00 miles on the vehicle and it being less than one year old. I was told in confidence, by one of the service technicians that the 4 cylinder SantaFe seems to lack sufficient horsepower for the weight of the vehicle and will therefore always cause an excessive strain to the transmition. Currently, at less than 40,000 miles I have been noticing a strained performance and hesitancy in shifting and I am concerned the transmition is headed for another failure.

I have also had the vehicle serviced several times for Air Conditioning problems, which they have addressed each time by adding freon to the system, although they claim they can not locate a leak. It is my theory that this too is related to the diminished horsepower, causing the vehicle to run too hot and impact the air conditioning, etc...

What recourse do I have in this situation? I would like to get out of this vehicle, however I financed the purchase with very little down payment and therefore currently owe more than the market value. Should I pursue my case directly to the manufacturer or through the local retail dealer? What liability does the manufacturer have by admittingly misrepresenting the vehicle specifications? I purchased this vehicle under false pretenses and I feel that I should have a right to rescind or void the contract. Please help!

 

[rmcnellis]

First, I would contact Hyundai customer service with regards to the horsepower/warranty issue and tell them that none of the offered warranty options are acceptable to you (in a nice way) and see what they can offer you instead.
Second, a service technician at a Hyundai dealership or anywhere else is NOT qualified to determine whether or not the engine horsepower is sufficient for the GVW of the vehicle OR whether or not this is the cause of transmission strain - that is only his or her opinion and nothing more.
Third, when you say you had the car serviced "several" times - how many exactly do you mean? Lemon laws are very specific about the number of times your vehicle must be in the repair facility for the same concern and also, they are very specific that the vehicle must be in service for no more than 24 months or 18,000 miles at the time the lemon law is sited.
As far as the manufacturer misrepresenting the horsepower of the vehicle at the time of purchase, I think you're out of luck there unless you can prove that they intentionally mislead you into purchasing the vehicle based on the misrepresentation of horsepower. I am not positive about this and will do some further research.
Finally, you could try to make a trade or work out a deal with the local retailer. Oftentimes, the retailer will try to work out a deal with you to avoid harm to their reputation and they will do almost anything if they think you will be a return customer.
Best of luck.

 

[Dunnrad]

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yummy-juice_25

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