I have a new 2013 Hyundai Accent (automatic, 4 cylinder) with less than 1500 miles on it. The day I drove it off the lot and up until today, it randomly smells like burning rubber. It happens whether it is hot or cold, driven two miles or thirty miles. The smell is coming from under the hood but I know very little about engines, so I’m not sure what it is. I have told the dealership and they don’t seem to care. I may not know much about cars but I know that that smell is not normal, especially in a new car. If anyone knows what could be causing this, please help!
I would say it is not normal, take it in with the complaint as you have described it and see what they can find and fix under warranty. It would be helpful if you can isolate any conditions that cause this to happen. You can always try another dealer.
The smell could be merely the odor of paint on the engine block “cooking” as the engine is exposed to high temperatures. Or…it could be something more ominous.
For reasons that I will never understand, all too many people fail to contact the manufacturer when they believe that a dealership is stonewalling them. If the odor persists, I urge the OP to…open the glove compartment…take out the Owner’s Manual…and find the toll-free phone number for contacting Hyundai of America. Your case will be assigned a reference number, and it will be followed-up by people above the dealership level, who can motivate the dealership to do more for you, and/or to bring the regional service supervisor into the picture.
Hopefully the odor is just the “burning off” of paint on the engine, but if it is not, at least the OP will have registed his/her complaint, and made it a case for warranty coverage.
I’ve brought the car into the dealership twice and they have said that it never happens when they drive it but I find that hard to believe since it happens every time I drive. Thanks for the tip about calling the manufacturer. I think most people believe (like I used to) that the dealer contacts the manufacturer when such things happen. Guess not.
I’ve also had problems with the car shaking, sometimes uncontrollably, in addition to acceleration problems. This car is an all-around crap chute.
VDC, you took the words right out of my mouth. I suspect that most people don’t use the “chain of resolution” because they don;t review the paperwork that comes with the nar and are unaware that it exists.
The only thing I would add is to besure to get all your requests for resolution (shop orders) in good detail and keep them on file. Should something happen, that’ll be your evidence that you tried to resolve it.
It’s also possible that there’s a sticker on an exhaust component that’s burning off, or that some of the protective crap that they’re supposed to take off once the car gets delivered wasn’t taken off and got onto something hot - but either way, the dealer should take care of it.
Hyundai is making a big push right now to bury their old (and well-earned in the past) image of being a craptastic junk car company. They’ve made huge strides in improving the quality of their vehicles and they will probably not be happy to learn that a dealership is letting a customer think their brand new Hyundai is a lemon. If the dealership keeps “not finding” the problem, then you should definitely kick it upstairs.
Are you familiar with the smell of burning brakes? If not, the next time this happens, very carefully check if one of the front wheels feels much hotter than the other one.
Any chance the parking brake isn’t fully releasing?
Did you ever figure out what it was? My car is doing the same thing and it’s a 2014
Had a plastic bag caught and melting on the exhaust system once.