Hyundai Santro Xing - Crankshaft & engine repair/ failure-only 26000 Kms & 2 1/2years

[Murugan]

My Hyundai Santro was finally delivered at 8 PM tonight, 12.May.2007. It sounded perfect on the drive back home. KUN Hyundai, Chennai appears to have effectively completed the repairs. Will know more in the next few weeks/ months; will update my fellow members, who have been so supportive (all the posts on the forum and emails sent to me helped a lot; Many Thanks to all of you) if there is any problem.

Hyundai has sent a reply to the email I had sent, offering to bear a substantial amount (towards the repairs) as a special gesture of goodwill. I am very thankful for their gesture and quote their email below.

No payment amount has been fixed till today. KUN Hyundai will let me know the cost of repairs and the exact (substantial) percentage that Hyundai will bear, on Monday. What percentage would my fellow members and administrators reckon to be reasonable in this case of premature engine failure in a 2 & 1/2 year old car with a odometer reading of approximately 26,000 Kilometers? Would like to have your feedback.
__________________________________________________ ______
Dear Dr.Murugan,

This is with reference to your e-mail regarding your Hyundai Santro car bearing vehicle registration number TN02T****.

On receipt of your concern, we ascertained the details from our dealer Kun Hyundai, Chennai and advised them for complete inspection of your car and necessary action as required.

Further, we would like to clarify to you that since the vehicle is beyond the purview of warranty, all necessary repairs / replacement of parts, if any, have to be carried out on chargeable basis. Please do not have any apprehensions in this regard.

However, in your case, you shall appreciate that we have offered to bear a substantial amount, as a special gesture of goodwill.

Our customer care support shall be available to you at all times. Please feel free to contact us at 044 – 42119560, in case of any further assistance.

Thanking you

Yours truly,
N. Babu
Regional Parts & Service Manager
South Region

[risga]

Hi, my advice is do not settle for anything less than 100%. If required, threaten to expose the company's poor quality before the media. If you are persistent, they will get the message. Important point is to stay cool and persist with your demand for full 100%.

[Zappo]

There are a few things to note in this. It is true that on paper your warranty is over. However,
1. When a vehicle that costs lakhs in price fails just barely after completing the warranty (2.5 years) and that too with 26000kms on the odo it is unacceptable.
2. Something as major as engine failure does not happen all of a sudden "one fine morning". The process would have set in due to some poor quality components, in all probabilities during the warranty period itself.

In such cases I think it is reasonable on the part of the owner to expect to be fully compensated for the costs incurred.

IMO, if they ask you to pay some 10-15 thousands it is better to pay and settle (that too if this works out to a max of 20-25% of the total cost). Anything more and you should refuse to pay. The reason I think you should pay upto that extent is because it will be much more troublesome to get into a legal fight. However if they ask you to pay anything more it is a fit case for legal options.

Also, I would say if you get a good price you will be better off selling that car and buying a new one.

[Murugan]

My Hyundai Santro was delivered after repairs by KUN Hyundai, Chennai on 12th May 2007 as reported earlier.

My mileage now is 8+ Km/L, a significant drop from the previous 12-13 Km/L.

Overall I am not happy with the fact that the crankshaft etc., of the engine of my modern 21st century car failed prematurely around 26,000 Kms and around 2 1/2 years.

The series of delays in delivering the vehicle and escalating estimate of repair cost made me to:

1. Write to Hyundai Customer care service, Public relations and other departments in Hyundai India and South Korea.

2. Represent the problems to Hyundai through a friend at HMPL, Chennai.

3. Take the help of car magazines including AUTOCAR, WHATCAR, OVERDRIVE and TOPGEAR to deal with the problem at a professional level.

4. Present the problems on internet forums to take the help of the car driving members.

Eventually from the estimated Rs.35,000 the bill has been scaled down to Rs.6800 "as a Goodwill gesture" to quote Hyundai.

Thankyou Hyundai.

My Thanks to everybody (including team-bhp members) for their support.

[supremeBaleno]

Originally Posted by rahul_intlad

I am not a technical guy wrt to the automobile field so cant be of much help,but heres another link,
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/techni...n-40k-kms.html (Santro engine overhaul at less than 40K kms !!!)
PS: you could also pm supremebaleno and get more details

Hmm. So many cases of Santro problems and that too with not even 50K kms on the odo. And the recent case of Sam's new Verna mentioned in another thread.

A lemon as a rare occurence is maybe acceptable, but if their assembly line is dishing out so many lemons, then it is cause for concern.

[DCEite]

Originally Posted by autoenthusiast

For those of you who had crankshaft failures in your car.

Do you ever start your vehicle when your AC is switched on ? This is known as one of the reasons for crankshaft failures.

Usually happens if you forget to turn off your AC after stopping your vehicle, before starting it you got to make sure the AC is switched off.

Can you explain the logic behind this? I almost always keep my A/C on, but touchwood no crankshaft problems as yet.

[vid6639]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Can you explain the logic behind this? I almost always keep my A/C on, but touchwood no crankshaft problems as yet.

It's something to do with the AC compressor load on the engine during startup. I follow that procedure ever since I remember.

AC off before starting, AC off before turning off, AC off while climbing up slope.

The AC load on the engine during start causes stress on the crankshaft. I am not sure about the technical details but I have been told by many many people including service engineers.

[hrag]

Originally Posted by DCEite

Can you explain the logic behind this? I almost always keep my A/C on, but touchwood no crankshaft problems as yet.

Same here. Haven't had crankshaft problems in 79000 km. I used to switch off and on till about 30000 km and then simply left the switch on. The car is an Indica.

[risga]

I dont think this is true about crankshaft damage due to cranking engine with AC switch on. Its just a myth. The max. load on the crankshaft is when engine is working the hardest, i.e. operating at max power. If at all anything component is bearing extra load, it is the starter motor.

Infact, its a good practice to start car with clutch pedal depressed. This way, load on the starter motor is less as gearbox is de-coupled with the engine.

[abhibh]

Originally Posted by Murugan

My mileage now is 8+ Km/L, a significant drop from the previous 12-13 Km/L.

I think you should get your Santro checked thoroughly. I recently went on a trip of around 800KM and the car returned 20 highway and city (delhi, faridabad and gurgaon) with 95% A.C.

I myself was amazed but yeah i calculated it like 10 times and the avg stood 20.XX.

After driving it for 800KM the only problem i feel the car have is:
1. Its seats are not comfortable for long drives.
2. Sometimes AC load is very much at start but as soon as you drive around 2 - 3 KM it reduces and car runs smoothly.
3. Dunno if that was there in that specific car but the car give jolts when i de press the accelerator @75-85 kmph only but not at 100 or 100+

Overall a nice car and i recommend it over Alto and Xeta now.

[rks]

Originally Posted by vid6639

It's something to do with the AC compressor load on the engine during startup. I follow that procedure ever since I remember.

AC off before starting, AC off before turning off, AC off while climbing up slope.

The AC load on the engine during start causes stress on the crankshaft. I am not sure about the technical details but I have been told by many many people including service engineers.

I also follow the same procedure. Although I think that even if AC is kept switched on and the engine is cranked, the AC compressor ought to start only after some time delay, hopefully after the engine has started. Maybe those who did not experience any problems were able to start their engines before the compressor actually came on line. Anyway I think it is not a good idea to keep even the blower running while starting the engine as this will put unnecessary load on the battery.

[theMAG]

1st hand observations from some vendors to Hyundai parts-suppliers was that they're a happier lot than Maruti suppliers due to fewer component batches getting rejected. Being a well-wisher of Hyundai, I'd wish for them to tighten their QC checks.

[Murugan]

Originally Posted by autoenthusiast

For those of you who had crankshaft failures in your car.

Do you ever start your vehicle when your AC is switched on ? This is known as one of the reasons for crankshaft failures.

Usually happens if you forget to turn off your AC after stopping your vehicle, before starting it you got to make sure the AC is switched off.

No, I never start my Santro with the AC switched on. In fact, I keep the front two windows of my car fully down for a few minutes till I reach the main road from my residence in an effort to freshen up the stale air in the car.

[milindpatels]

I have a similar problem with my santro purchased in july 2004.
My Hyundai Santro Xing suddenly giving me rattling noise from the enginel. Upon showing the problem into the hyundai workstation , technician told that the crankshft has defect. I am shocked that just in 3 year from the date of purchase the cranshaft has defect. I purchased Santro Xing in July 2004. It has only 18000 km running till date. I had regular service done and also good petrol used. Now the repairs cost me aroudn 25 K. They say the repair will be very expensive and can return the car only after another 7 days.
I read about a similar complaint about a Santro purchased in November 2004;
Hyundai spares are made of very very poor quality.
If anyone have this issue resolved then please assist me.
My mail id is milindpatels(AT)yahoo.com
Ph no is 9922124799

Milind Patel

[PatienceWins]

This is scary..I bought a getz 3 months back..clocked 73000 kms with my santro...