- A Hyundai Elantra N owner from Canada claims the company won't honor his warranty due to 'Excessive Revving.'
- Hyundai says that the car 'experienced conditions exceeding its designed operational limits.'
- The owner could be on the hook for $10,000 CAD for a new engine.
The Hyundai Elantra N is one of the most affordable and most fun sporty sedans on sale today. But it's not perfect. It's been recalled twice for mechanical issues, authorities have cited its stock exhaust for being too loud, and now, it seems, Hyundai doesn't want to honor warranties on at least one owner's broken car. Or at least, that's what it looks like on the surface.
CTV News Toronto reports that college student Christian Matzoros was driving home in his Elantra N when the engine failed at 46,000 kilometers (28,580 miles). "It just stopped. I was stepping on the gas pedal and it wasn’t moving," he told CTV.
Matzoros had his Hyundai Elantra N for two years. It had been to Toronto Motorsports Park several times throughout his ownership, and up until then, he'd never had any issues with it. When the Elantra randomly suffered an engine failure, Matzoros was reasonably upset, but he had an extended warranty from Hyundai that he expected to cover the damage.
But when Matzoros took the car in for service, it wasn't so cut and dry. After reviewing the vehicle's telemetry recorded in the ECU, technicians at the Hyundai dealership determined the car had been abused. A statement provided to CTV from the automaker claims that the engine "experienced conditions exceeding its designed operational limits." It's unclear if specifics beyond that were provided to CTV, but we've since gotten more information from Hyundai.
Hyundai tells Motor1 that the engine was over-revved and jumped timing. "[ECU data] determined the engine experienced conditions beyond its intended design limits which resulted in undue stress and failure of the valve timing system," and Hyundai spokesperson confirmed in a statement to Motor1. "This damaged the valves in the cylinder head due to contact with the pistons while in motion."
The company then clarified how this could have happened. "The only possible way to rev the engine beyond the calibrated limit is to force the transmission into a lower gear than mechanically safe at a high rate of speed, and/or modification of the engine control unit software to allow for limits beyond manufacturer specification." In other words, Hyundai claims the driver either money-shifted the engine several times or modified the ECU to allow for a higher redline.
Hyundai suspects the latter, saying, "Upon inspection, the calibration in the Engine Control Unit did not match that of factory origin." Needless to say, damage from putting a tune on your car isn't covered under the warranty.
If Hyundai maintains that the car was abused, Matzoros will be out $10,000 CAD for a new engine. The company alleges that it has provided a "full explanation" to him regarding the situation and the reasoning behind its decision. This information was likely very similar to what it shared with us.
