Hyundai Problems

This is another of those "get the vehicle scanned" situations. There are about a thousand things that can cause an engine to stop in its tracks the way you’ve described, and only by scanning the computer to see what fault codes have been logged can you even begin to make a diagnosis. You cold be looking at anything from a crank-angle sensor, to a blocked fuel-tank breather, or a faulty throttle-position sensor to damaged coil-pack. Or anything in between. Modern engines are complicated beasts and the days of checking for spark, fuel and compression as a simple roadside diagnosis are long gone.

By the way, you haven’t told me whether you have the four-cylinder or V6 versions of the Tuscon. Without that information, I’m flying even blinder.

The first thing to do here is to make sure the sensors are clean and free of spider webs, dust or anything else that they might confuse with a parking obstacle. If that doesn’t stop them false-alarming, I’d be letting a Hyundai specialist take a look, as it doesn’t sound like something that can be fixed in the driveway at home. Perhaps you’ll need to replace one or more of the actual sensor units.

But there’s one other possibility that, although it’s a bit of a long shot, might explain what’s going on. Does the problem occur when you’re in traffic and another car ranges up behind at the lights? If so, is the car behind you likely to be one with active cruise-control. If it is, you might find that the radar signal for the other car’s cruise control is actually triggering your parking sensors. I’ve heard of it happening.

This has cropped up before in relatively new Hyundais and seems to be a software – rather than a hardware – problem. The solution is to take the car to a Hyundai dealer who will be able to reload the unit’s software and all should be well.

I’ve also heard of the odd case where the entire head unit was replaced by Hyundai, but reloading the software (which should take only a few minutes) seems to be the most common fix.

A Golf with that mileage after just three or four years on the road is a bit of an anomaly. How has the car been used? Was it a delivery vehicle in a previous life? I’d be asking some tough questions and diving deep into the vehicle’s service history to find out how it’s been driven and serviced before taking the plunge, because that mileage is about double what I’d expect from this make and model.

The biggest potential reliability glitch with this car is the DSG transmission. While VW claimed that all the evils were fixed by the time the Golf 7 came out in 2013, experience suggests that there are still some examples of this gearbox giving trouble. Symptoms include a loss of drive, poor shift quality, shuddering on take-off and a gearbox that seemingly loses the plot on occasions.

And I’m afraid your alternative rings a few alarm bells as well. The Hyundai also uses a double-clutch style transmission and while it hasn’t suffered the litany of problems that the VW unit has caused over the years, it’s still a bit of an unknown quantity. Certainly, some customers seem to be unhappy with the unit in terms of its longevity and replacement clutch packs are not unknown.

Also, you seem to have a knack for finding cars with double the expected kilometres on board. I’d expect a 2018 i30 to be showing closer to 25,000km than the 50,000km on the one you’re considering. Cars with higher than expected mileage can be bargains, but you’ve really got to dig into their past to ensure they haven’t been abused or suffered from poor servicing.

It sounds like you have a bit of a thing for French cars right now, Carmel. In fact, you could argue that the French brands are experiencing a bit of a resurgence in Australia, particularly as each brand gets its quality act closer to the mark and the factory warranties have never been better than right now.

All three of the cars you’ve nominated have their strong points, and it will really come down to your personal preferences when it comes to which one is right for you. And let me guess; it was the Peugeot 2008’s odd dashboard/steering wheel relationship that put you off. That’s particularly true for shorter folk who have trouble looking over the wheel at the instruments. But then, such quirkiness has always been part of the charm of French cars, no?

In any case, it would also be wise to sample the Japanese and South Korean contenders at this end of the market, too, as there are some interesting offerings there as well. The Toyota C-HR would be one, the Honda HR-V another. Don’t forget, either, the Hyundai Kona, Nissan Juke and the Mazda CX-3. All have their strengths and weaknesses, but all are worth short-listing.

As for the MX-5, it’s true that Mazda has stuck to the original formula for the new latest little convertible. And, yes, that dictates a small, low car that is huge fun to drive but isn’t for everybody physically.

It’s tempting to draw the same conclusion as you have, Peter, but it may not be that simple. The fact is, there are numerous reasons a car will throw up a warning light on the dashboard and, in the case of the electrical power-steering in your car that certainly holds true.

Also, Hyundai was very clear that the recall for the faulty power-steering only concerned those vehicles built between November 1 2009 and April 30 2010. Your car was built after that date, so it shouldn’t be susceptible to the same problem. However, there is often confusion about build dates, so another way to check whether your car was one of the affected ones is to see if its VIN falls within the list of affected VINs according to Hyundai.

For your references, the affected cars all had VINs between: KMHDC81TMAU064300 and KMHDC51TMAU267226.

If your car isn’t within those numbers, then the likely cause is something different and a decent workshop should be able to scan the car and discover what is causing the warning light. It could be something really simple.

Cars generally have a set of protocols that shuts down the entertainment and other systems to avoid the car’s battery going flat. If, for example, you were listening to the radio without the engine running, eventually, the car would switch the radio off to maintain the charge in the battery.

It’s quite likely that the message you’re seeing is something to do with this process. Why doesn’t it send the message every time? Perhaps it only does so after short runs where the battery isn’t fully recharged after starting the car. Maybe your battery is starting to feel its age. See if you can find a pattern to the message appearing; short runs, cold weather, wet weather, air-conditioning on or off, etc.
 

The answer all depends on what you call off-road driving, Javed. The Ford Everest, being based on the Ranger, is a very competent off-roader. In fact, it’ll handle anything most owners would ever throw at it, while the Endura is more of a replacement for the Ford Territory. Meaning it has abilities better matched to a trip to the snow, not a true log-jumping, river-fording off-road journey.

The Sante Fe is more of the same (as the Endura) that is; a car that can cope with gravel roads and slippery surfaces, but not the rough and tumble of the Aussie bush. So it really comes down to how far off road you need to go. And if the answer is a long way, even if it’s just occasionally, then the Everest is your best choice.

This sounds awfully like a sensor problem of some sort. Electronic sensors really do control every aspect of a modern car, from the engine to the dashboard and everything in between. So, it’s conceivable that your problem is the fault of a single sensor that is throwing multiple things out of kilter and causing the problems.

But why the engine and dashboard at the same time? Because a car’s computer will often take its cues from a variety of sources. Without a properly functioning dashboard (and the information on road-speed the speedometer supplies to the computer) some engines won’t even run at all. The rough running and hard starting could be another symptom of this.

But don’t rule out something simple like a battery or charging system that is not pulling its weight. Low battery voltage can do strange and random things to a modern, electronically-controlled car.