NHTSA Complaint #11363210 — 2009 HYUNDAI GENESIS

A LITTLE OVER A YEAR AGO THE BRAKES ON MY 2009 HYUNDAI GENESIS COMPLETELY FAILED AND THE PEDAL WENT TO THE FLOOR WHILE ATTEMPTING TO EXIT THE FREEWAY. I WAS ABLE TO AVOID A COLLISION WITH ANOTHER VEHICLE AND GOT THE CAR TO A COMPLETE STOP. THE BRAKE PEDAL EVENTUALLY REGAINED PRESSURE AND BEGAN FUNCTIONING AGAIN. OVER THE NEXT 5-6 MONTHS THE BRAKES PROGRESSIVELY GOT WORSE EACH TIME I DROVE THE CAR. I WAS CONSISTENTLY HAVING TO PUMP THE PEDAL AND NEEDED TO KEEP GIVING MYSELF MORE AND MORE DISTANCE TO STOP THE VEHICLE. THROUGHOUT THIS PERIOD THE EXTERIOR BRAKE LIGHTS AND OTHER SENSORS ON THE CAR WOULD STOP FUNCTIONING ENTIRELY FOR PERIODS OF TIME. THOSE LIGHTS AND SENSORS EVENTUALLY QUIT AND NEVER TURNED BACK ON. AT THIS POINT VEHICLE BRAKES WERE GETTING WORSE AND WORSE AND IT HAD NO FUNCTIONING BRAKE LIGHTS SO I TOOK IT TO THE DEALER THAT I ORIGINALLY PURCHASED THE CAR FROM FOR REPAIRS. THE DEALER WAS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH THE MANUFACTURER AND WAS NOT ABLE TO MAKE REPAIRS TO THE CAR BUT THEY WERE ABLE TO DIAGNOSE WHAT WAS GOING ON WITH MY VEHICLE. THEY DOCUMENTED AND DESCRIBED SOME SORT OF CONTAMINATION IN THE BRAKE FLUID THAT HAD TURNED IT INTO A WHITE GOOEY SUBSTANCE AND THAT FLUID CAUSED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE AND WORE COMPLETELY THROUGH THE ABS MODULE. COINCIDENTALLY THAT IS THE EXACT SAME DESCRIPTION THAT WAS GIVEN FOR THE RECALLS IN 2013 THAT WERE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS MAKE AND MODEL OF CAR (NHTSA CAMPAIGN 13V489000). THE PREVIOUS OWNER DID HAVE THOSE 2013 RECALL REPAIRS MADE AT ABOUT 60,000 MILES BUT THE SAME ISSUES THAT CAUSED THE FIRST RECALL ARE OBVIOUSLY OCCURRING AGAIN WITH THE CAR CURRENTLY AT ABOUT 120,000 MILES. THE MANUFACTURER DEALER WANTS $2500 TO REPLACE THE ABS MODULE AND TO RESET THE COMPUTER WHICH IS OVER HALF OF THE BLUE BOOK VALUE. THAT ALONG WITH THE $1000 ALREADY SPENT TO DIAGNOSE THE PROBLEMS, THE CAR IS NOW BORDERLINE TOTALED AT THIS POINT.