So, several weeks ago I was in an accident due to trying not to crack the plastic grill on it over a critter. Anyway, ended up in a ditch. I was able to get out of the ditch but not without hitting a root on the way up.
This was necessarily bad at first. No initial indicators, no questions about leaking oil, or intermittent problems (dash lights coming on and off frequently).
Well, about a week after the incident, I was due to change my oil and while I’d done it myself the last time so I figured every so often have someone insured change it just in case something goes wrong or unexpected happens. So I stopped by the local Mr. Tire. Upon getting the vehicle on a lift they noticed that the radiator’s support beam was bent 90° to the rear. In order to change the oil, they had to remove it and couldn’t get it back in place. So, this initiated an insurance claim against the vehicle to cover the damages incurred (I still feel like animals and events to get away from them should count as acts of god).
So at this point, I take the vehicle to the local Caliber Collision. They do a good job with the required body work so it looks fine when I pick the vehicle up there are indicators illuminated. Which changed within my first 71 miles. That afternoon, I got the following:
So at this point I inform Caliber Collision what’s happening. They look at the vehicle, see that it still has indicators going odd and that those readings are wild. More precisely thatI have pictures and video proving that the MIL, ABS, Parking Brake Indicator, Down hill traction control, ambient temperature reading, and airbag deployability indicators are operating incorrectly.
The representative I’m dealing with asks to check what codes it has and sees the following:
P0070 – Ambient Air Temperature Sensor
U0109 – Lost Communication with Fuel Pump Control Module
U0121 – Lost Communication with Anti-Lock Brake System (ABS)
During our exchange I inform him that I’ve also seen my speedometer fluctuate between reading and not while I’m coasting, had the trip computer give inaccurate readings, had the odometer temporarily stop (the car has about 20 more miles than the odometer is showing) and generally it has been a series of recurring errors, most due to heat (i.e., on a cool day I can drive some distance without seeing errors, however, once the temperature is over about 80 degrees that is essentially not going to happen at all).
After this meeting with Caliber Collision, they directed me to bring the car to the dealership. This never quite goes well, not because a dealership shouldn’t have more intrinsic knowledge of their own vehicles but rather because the staff are constantly busy, uninvolved, and generally somewhere between ignorance in craft and just not caring about the quality of their work. So I get the Blind Spot Detection System recalibrated by them (this was useful, and corrected a more cosmetic/luxury issue but was not required vice other persisting issues).
When I picked up the vehicle they said they couldn’t duplicate any of the codes or issues I’d seen and informed me that it didn’t have any codes. At this point I walked out to the vehicle, connected an OBD-II reader and immediately saw 3 codes populate. I informed them of this and was told they would only check those codes if I agreed to pay out of pocket.
At this point I drove the vehicle back to Caliber Collision and informed them that the vehicle still had codes, that my dash had previously observed codes populating, and that the A/C wasn’t working. This was observed by my representative at their location. He spoke with his manager and they came to the agreement that they wanted Team Hyundai to do a more thorough look over the car, so they scheduled a new appointment.
Upon turning the car into Team Hyundai I was informed that I would be contacted as soon as they had any questions or it was ready to pick up. No one reached out toe until the afternoon, at which time I was informed that they had turned it on, looked at the dash, seen 1 indicator, checked a code it populated while on for barely a moment, and that was all that could be found.
At this point I informed them that the vehicle had more recently been experiencing problems at its nominal operating temperature or once being at that approx. temperature for a while (20+ minutes). So, David at Team Hyundai, allowed the vehicle to idle for 10 minutes then had one of his mechanics turn it on and observed the Parking Brake Indicator, fluctuating display of the ambient temperature display between ###°F and “—°F”.
Presently awaiting the outcome for this repair job, I will be taking the vehicle back for the weekend.