I really appreciate and thank you all for your concern.
Yesterday evening(September 30), people from Hyundai came down to my residence. The gentlemen included the Area Manager, Works Manager and three gentlemen(Steering Systems specialists) from Delhi, who said that they had specially come down from Delhi to see the car, as my car was giving the company the most complaints.
We took the car out on a TD around the town. These included some rough patches where I could clearly hear the rattle. They had a camera and a mic to capture the steering rattle sound. I was driving and whenever the car went over a rough patch of road, I could hear the rattle coming from the steering column area. The sound that I heard was pointed out them, but the person who was sitting next to me could not hear it initially. I was told mockingly where is the sound? I thought " Man, this is it even they will simply say rattle is not there!!!!"
After a while, one the way back home, one of them took over to drive the car. I sat in the back seat. I was shocked and dumbfounded that the steering rattle just could not be heard from the back seat no matter how heard I tried to hear it( it was the same roads where I could hear the rattle clearly from the driver's seat). All this while, I was the one who used to drive the car and could hear the rattle clearly. I seriously doubt whether the person sitting on the co-driver's seat can hear the rattling sound.They still maintained that the steering rattle is not there.
However, after we reached home, the person who drove the car started looking under the steering column area and opened up the bonnet. After some talk, they claimed that they could hear some noise but that it was dashboard noise. I still feel that is the same steering rattle noise( the distinct "kat kat kat" sound which will get louder as time passes by), but they claim that it is dashboard noise and that it can be fixed easily at the workshop. If it indeed is dashboard noise, it should not come back again or atleast not crop up for some period of time. Lets see. The point I want to make is that the person who drives the car daily can easily note abnormal noises coming from the car, something which passengers cannot identify. The driver can sometimes struggle to make the co-driver hear what he is hearing or feeling abnormal in the car.
They also claimed that the telescopic tilt steering also does cause some rattle. Some play will be there between the steering rack and column causing some rattling sound and that the sound cannot be eliminated. If it is tightened too much, the car will be hard to steer, it it kept loose, the rattle will increase. When questioned that why my Old Swift never had such an issue, they said the Swift did not have a telescopic steering hence such steering rattle did not exist on the Swift. How far this argument is true, I don't know.
I also told them that during all these visits during which all the things were done of the car, initially no sound could be heard but as the car ran for a few kms, rattling sounds begin appearing.He said it is because of the rough roads, noting else.
They also said that some rattle in the steering will be there and that it should be ignored. However, they also said that if the rattle does get louder(which I believe it will), it should be reported and action will be taken.
About the defogger, they said the defogger lines have got "cut" and that power supply is not reaching the bottom defogger lines. They initially said that it may because I kept some heavy sharp object on the parcel tray and that it scraped against these lines causing it to fail. We assured that no such thing was ever kept on the parcel tray to cause such a cut in the lines. Then one of them said it could also be due to the fact that sunfilm was installed on the car, to which I replied it was fitted in the Hyundai workshop...end of argument. Anyway, they had agreed to replace the whole glass before these arguments began. After they left, it struck me that the cut lines are one the places in the glass where the company fitted stickers were there before the sunfilm was installed - the "5 Stars Safety" & Hyundai helpline number stickers. I will try and post some pictures tomorrow. Whether these lines got cut while removing the stickers (to install the sunfilm), no one will ever know. They said the glass will be ordered and I shall be informed.
I would also like to say that the car is no lemon. The dealership was not fussy at all in replacing the parts, for which I have to give the credit to them.Agree that the car has gone so many replacements, but still it does not qualify to be a lemon, atleast not yet
. I love my car and take great care of it. It would be heartbreaking to see her turn out to be a lemon. I can only hope and pray that no more problems crop up.
We are happy that these people came down all the way from Delhi to have a look at the car. Since they have said that the rattling sound, which they claim to be from the dashboard, can be eliminated and since they came down to my residence, the car will be sent to the workshop one more time to fix the issue.
Looking at the works manager and area manager and the fire that they had been under for the past so many months, I was actually feeling sorry for them yesterday.
As for going to consumer court, well, we had seriously considered it and today we were supposed to meet a lawyer about the issue(planned much before). But after yesterday's incident, we have put it on hold for the time being.
Lets see how things go in the next one month.
Thank you once again for reading and showing interest in this issue
@vnabhi,
please see the attached picture pointing out the problem in the brake disc