My wife called me 3 times during her running errands letting me know her car wouldn't start. I was running her through solutions on the phone, all the while thinking the battery might be dying. When she got home I was able to actually listen to the car try to start. Never before have I heard a starter begin starting the engine, only to stop turning the engine over while the starter was still spinning. The starter gear literally disengaged, which can be seen on this video: https://youtu.be/qVOs5nM6C4I. This is apparently a common issue and because I didn't have time to have a vehicle down for several days, I had to purchase a starter at my local auto parts store for $250 instead of just replacing the ~$10 part that was broken.

I am not happy about Hyundai's decision to use plastic in this environment. Plastic gets brittle with age, and also gets brittle with heat. A starter lives in a hot environment, and usually lasts nearly the life of the car. Hyundai instead used a sub-standard material for a very important job, costing their customers hundreds of dollars in repairs. This is a faulty part and Hyundai should issue a recall to fix their cost-saving mistake.

My 2012 Hyundai Sonata wouldn't start after I came out of a store at a shopping center a couple of days ago. The battery had been replaced recently and was strong and you could hear the starter turning over but the engine would not engage. With the help of another motorist I tried jump starting the car but, unsurprisingly, that did not work. By clicking the key switch on and off multiple times eventually I was fortunate to be able to get the car started and drove it home, where I parked it in my garage.

My car has only 44K miles on it so I was surprised that the starter would have gone out at all, much less so soon. I don't recall having a starter fail in a car previously, but perhaps I have been lucky. Some online research revealed that there are known problems with the starter on the Sonata. The arm on the starter is made of plastic and is not sufficiently durable. I was fortunate in that the failure occurred while the car is under warranty and there was no cost to me in getting it repaired, other than having the process take up about a full day of my time. (Neither did I have to pay for the tow to the dealership because I have Hyundai Roadside Assistance for five years.) Had I had to pay for the repairs they would have cost between $250 and about $450 dollars, the latter cost if the starter had to be completely replaced.

The repair Hyundai made was to dismount and disassemble the starter and replace the broken starter arm.

I’m pleased to have the car back on the road but, given how soon the starter unit failed, I wonder whether I’ll have to replace the starter arm, or the entire starter, again a couple of years from now when the vehicle will be out of warranty.

Hyundai is aware of the problem with the starter arm but has not issued a recall on it or offered to pay for needed repairs out of warranty. That is a disservice to its customers and is a strike against the automaker in my book. I will take that into consideration the next time I am looking for a new car in the future or when friends ask me whether I would recommend that they purchase a Hyundai product.

The above having been said, I want to commend the Hyundai of Escondido dealership. Their folks were great in helping me get the car fixed quickly and at no cost to me. I dealt with Jose and Kevin there and both were helpful, friendly, and courteous at all times. That is consistent with the quality of customer service I have received from the dealership in the past.