[MAS]

Lucky that your dad was only driving slowly and was alone in the car. If the car was on a highway and fully loaded, it would have been a different story.

This looks like a manufacturing/material defect. I am worried if this was the case with any particular batch of beams. Please keep us updated on the developments.

[mayankjha1806]

Looking at the cut, at least in the pictures it looks straight and smooth (Mostly). Such a smooth cut is difficult to achieve unless its a not only a bad quality part and it gives an impression that two pieces of the bar were joined at that place which eventually gave up upon stress.

A broken when it hits something while on the move and hard will first have a dent and twist and then it will not have smooth ripping off and eventually break.

In short this clearly looks like a faulty part, or it almost seems like someone took a hexa-blade and started cutting at that specific place.

[ghodlur]

Originally Posted by Sankar

Underbody coating was done, they even gave the 3M warranty slip. If it hadn't been for this crack i would've never saw the lack of coating in many places! I think this is how they fool the customers, spray the wheel well with antirust coating and few other places so that when the customer takes a casual peep it looks properly done.

Was the under body coating done from Hyundai itself? Then you have all th more reasons to make Hyundai accountable for the damage due to rusting. I am sure Hyundai might have fudged during the services assuring that the anti rust coating is all but well. I hope you must have already written to the Hyundai mgmt for this glaring lapse of servicing.

[deepfusion]

Sankar,

I am sorry for the state the car is in, and thank the Almighty for his blessings on your Dad.

I think it is a clear case of material defect/malfunction that has gone into the car.

Hyundai is into making and selling cars, touted to be safe. If this is the kind of safety they have to offer, then God save all hyundai owners.

They are all the more responsible to make good the damage caused, in the first place.

Second, they have a pecuniary liability to you for having gone through the mental agony and pain due to the danger the car has exposed your Dad to.

Third, they owe you an official apology for this condition of the car and the embarrassment it has given to you.

Last but not the least, they are liable for the deficient and negligent service they have done to the car.

I think you must pursue the matter strongly and bring Hyundai to book.

[suhaas307]

This is a bad, bad one.

It's good to hear that your dad is safe and that he wasn't going really fast either.

Have you undertaken any suspension modifications or have you changed any suspension-related parts in the past? Has the car been a part of any accident that required you to change the parts?

My 8 year old Santro Xing had a bent tie-rod at the back. The rear right-wheel had gone in a bit and was not aligned with the body-work/fenders, just like your i10. It needed replacement, of course. 5k is what we had to spend to get it replaced. It had done 38k on the odo and was in good condition when I'd discovered this. Oh, and yes, we had driven it around the city, over rough roads and pot-holes, but nothing out of the ordinary.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by souravc

Its a tear of a suspension bar which shows that its not due to rust or corrosion . There must have had been a manufacturing defect in that bar . The area of failure - left side rear - which was possibly bearing the least weight ( since you mentioned that your dad was driving it alone ) further proves that the material was defective.

Yep, its not due to corrosion probably material problem.

Originally Posted by MAS

This looks like a manufacturing/material defect. I am worried if this was the case with any particular batch of beams. Please keep us updated on the developments.

It could be, but so far none else has reported such a problem either.

Originally Posted by ghodlur

Was the under body coating done from Hyundai itself? Then you have all th more reasons to make Hyundai accountable for the damage due to rusting. I am sure Hyundai might have fudged during the services assuring that the anti rust coating is all but well. I hope you must have already written to the Hyundai mgmt for this glaring lapse of servicing.

Yes it was done by the HyASS during first free service. The suspension crack was not due to rusting it seems, and looks like material defect. We have not mailed Hyundai yet, the service guys seem to be handling it promptly this time (Called twice to update us).

Originally Posted by deepfusion

Sankar,

I am sorry for the state the car is in, and thank the Almighty for his blessings on your Dad.

I think it is a clear case of material defect/malfunction that has gone into the car.

Hyundai is into making and selling cars, touted to be safe. If this is the kind of safety they have to offer, then God save all hyundai owners.

Lucky we were Thank god for that!
Yes looks like its due to material defect. I hope this to be a one off case but it'll be wise for other i10 owners of the same year-month to keep an eye out for their torsion beams. Just to be sure and to avoid any nasty surprises. Also watch out for metal clanging kind of noise from under the car.

Originally Posted by suhaas307

Have you undertaken any suspension modifications or have you changed any suspension-related parts in the past? Has the car been a part of any accident that required you to change the parts?

My 8 year old Santro Xing had a bent tie-rod at the back. The rear right-wheel had gone in a bit and was not aligned with the body-work/fenders, just like your i10. It needed replacement, of course. 5k is what we had to spend to get it replaced. It had done 38k on the odo and was in good condition when I'd discovered this. Oh, and yes, we had driven it around the city, over rough roads and pot-holes, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Sad to hear that your Santro too suffered rear suspension damage. But even a little bit of rough usage shouldn't have caused it unless the wheels were impacted laterally. Quality issue?

Our i10 is bone stock no modifications whatsoever, except high wattage bulbs and a pair oaf additional horns fitted at HyASS. In our i10's case the rear wheels are aligned perfectly with the body work so visible signs were not there. The car was not involved in any accidents either apart from minor parking dings and dents.

---------

Good news is that there is a good chance that this will be replaced under warranty as there was no other accidental damage to the car.
The HyASS said that they do not have the part in stock so they said they're placing the order for the same with Hyundai. We can expect the car back only after Onam, which means on the third week of this month, due to Onam holidays. So for the first time in two years the car is going to be at the HyASS for an extended period of time.

[dhawcash]

... it almost seems like someone took a hexa-blade and started cutting at that specific place.

That is the thing that came to my mind as well...Plz post a close up for us to have a closer look.

And do ask hyundai regarding what caused the anamoly..

[psp62in]

Sankar,
You are right.
One can rest assured that amount of rust/corrosion seen shall not cause this type of crack. Also corrosion will first cause thinning of the member which clearly is not the case as can be seen from your pics. Its either the material or the fabrication defect. If Hyundai were to do a metallurgical analysis they can easily find out the reason.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by psp62in

Sankar,
You are right.
One can rest assured that amount of rust/corrosion seen shall not cause this type of crack. Also corrosion will first cause thinning of the member which clearly is not the case as can be seen from your pics. Its either the material or the fabrication defect. If Hyundai were to do a metallurgical analysis they can easily find out the reason.

Don't you think its more of a material defect than fabrication defect? More so since the area of welds had not cracked. Hope to get an answer from HyASS on Monday regarding how it cracked. But i'm not expecting to get a proper answer from HyASS as to why it cracked, since it could be above their knowhow.

Originally Posted by dhawcash

That is the thing that came to my mind as well...Plz post a close up for us to have a closer look.

And do ask hyundai regarding what caused the anamoly..

I don't have macro close ups but i'm attaching crop from the original resolution image, this should be as good. Click on it to open fullsize.

[dhawcash]

Hmm.. it is definitely a crack. Earlier i had a doubt that some mischivious element might have hack sawed it. (and paranoid!)

While repairs are being carried out, also get the affected wheel's damper checked. it may have bent slightly..(its bush will definitely be replaced methinks...the bolt in the lower eye has put bending stress on the unit because of the collapse)

[suhaas307]

Originally Posted by Sankar

Sad to hear that your Santro too suffered rear suspension damage. But even a little bit of rough usage shouldn't have caused it unless the wheels were impacted laterally. Quality issue?

Our i10 is bone stock no modifications whatsoever, except high wattage bulbs and a pair oaf additional horns fitted at HyASS. In our i10's case the rear wheels are aligned perfectly with the body work so visible signs were not there. The car was not involved in any accidents either apart from minor parking dings and dents.

---------

Good news is that there is a good chance that this will be replaced under warranty as there was no other accidental damage to the car.
The HyASS said that they do not have the part in stock so they said they're placing the order for the same with Hyundai. We can expect the car back only after Onam, which means on the third week of this month, due to Onam holidays. So for the first time in two years the car is going to be at the HyASS for an extended period of time.

I really don't know how the damage occurred. The seemed to be fine. But at the same time, something felt wrong too. You would have known if you were there to see it.

Fellow BHPian and neighbour Krraj had seen my Santro before and after the replacement of the tie-rod. The right-rear wheel had sort-of gone inside and wasn't in line with the rear fender of the car. One would notice this when they stood behind the car and looked at the wheels. It didn't seem to sit properly either.

It could be attributed to an accident that had occured when it was parked.

Some drunk moron rammed into my car when it was parked by the side of the road, several months earlier. There was a lot of damage to the body. the driver's side door, the front fender, the rear door, the rear fender and the rear tail-light. He took the bumper off too! It was a pretty sad sight.

Insurance had covered 70% of the damages, but when we took it for repairs, we hadn't noticed that there was something wrong with the rear suspension. For about a 1000 km, I'd driven it, and it was very very bad. The ride was harsh, especially at the back. It may be a Santro trait, but this was unbelievably uncomfortable, even by Santro standards.

However, when I'd asked the service guys, they said it's because of rough use!

This car has never seen highway journeys. It has been on the better roads of Bangalore, for the most part of its life, barring the stray pot-hole that I generally avoid. (I keep a pictorial memory in my head, of each and every pot-hole and undulated surface on Bangalore roads )

So I would definitely say that it has something to do with quality. It may, or may not be substandard, but it sure isn't working right now. And that sucks, from a customer's point of view.

Perhaps Hyundai needs to learn something about quality before it can consider itself to be an established brand in the reckoning, especially in the larger and more mature markets of the World.

[aaggoswami]

This is clearly a failure. The underbody of your car is relatively clean as compared to the kind of dirty kind of underbody we have after a shower.
The cut is straight means the bar was not able to take the load. I dont think this is faulty fabrication but rather material fault.

• No signs of hit in underbody

• Straight Cut

• Failure at a point when only person sitting diagonally opposite to failure side

• No scratch or anything to bumper which means nothing hit the bar when it failed

• I have seen straight cut even when suspension had failed while car was on the move, the car Uno, but this is really first time I am observing bar failure

All the points above prove that the bar was defective. This is also NOT due to corrosion.

The rigid 3 link setup is better as its more rigid ( read durable and stronger ) overall and also capable of taking more abuse ( overloading will lead to shockabsorber failure at most ).

[mooza]

Metallurgical labs have facilities to study the failed part and find out whether the failure was due to material defect (blow holes / inclusions), sudden overload / static failure, or whether it is a case of fatigue failure, and so on.

Hope Hyundai does a proper analysis in this case, to allay apprehensions of other i-10 owners like me.

@ Sankar, glad your Dad was unhurt

[Sankar]

Update: Cost of this part is Rs7500/- It will be replaced under warranty.
Hope Hyundai takes the damaged unit and does a quality assessment.

[blackfire_9]

Good news Sankar, had been following your thread closely.

However, was it any trouble or the dealership (and further to them, the company Hyundai) accepted it as a defect without much ado?

Drive safe.