Today the dealership did a tuneup, replaced the timing belt, and put in a new battery. I started my car and the radio did not work. They went out and reset the radio but said it would not reset, they check the fuses and said they were all good. They took my radio out and put a different radio in and that radio worked which they said then proved to them that it was the radio itself rather than a problem in the vehicles wiring. They told me it must be a coincidence that it just broke on it’s own at the same time they were changing the battery. They assured me that nothing they did could possibly have anything to do with this. They want to send out my radio for repair and have me pay for it.
Is it possible they did not change the battery properly? Could something they did kill my radio?This just does not make sense to be but I did not want to cause a comotion until I have further knowledge on this subject.
My car is a 2003 Hyundai Sante Fe with 92,000 miles on it.
Some cars came with “anti-theft” radios that would self destruct unless you know the reset code if power is removed…Mostly German and luxury car models…Check your owners manual for the type of radio installed in your car. If it does not have the anti-theft feature, then you are out of luck…If it DOES have the feature, you may STILL be out of luck…So I guess you are just plain out of luck…
Check all associated fuses! Blowing a radio would be last on my list of probable results of a battery change. Check antenna connection also. I think Honda had the reset mode that needed to be enabled, is it satellite radio? Check the manual?
There may have been a power surge when the battery was hooked up, or the dealer may have connected the battery backwards briefly. They probably didn’t, as you’d likely have many more problems than just the radio if they had. If resetting it again doesn’t work, you may be better off either seeing if you can find a similar radio from a salvage yard, or going with an aftermarket radio from Crutchfield.com or elsewhere. If you go with an aftermarket radio, you can get a better sounding radio with modern features like USB, mp3/wma, Bluetooth, and XM or HD radio, and iPod integration.
Is the radio the OEM unit or an aftermarket radio? If its the OEM radio, the dealership should be able to look up the reset code based on the VIN. Normally they charge for this but in your case, since they changed the battery, they should do this for free.
You might find a small tag somewhere in the bottom of your glove box with the reset code on it.
The radio is almost 8 years old. If the radio is busted, don’t have the original fixed. Go to Best Buy or www.crutchfield.com and find a better aftermarket radio. You’ll get a better radio installed for less than the repair bill.
I’d suggest checking into Caddyman’s suggestion first. If you have one of these radios and the dealership replaced the OEM radion with an aftermarket unit that did NOT have this feature, the replacement unit working fine would not prove that your OEM unit was bad…only that it’s antitheft feature was working.
Your model year is about right to have this feature, so that’d be my guess. And, as keith said, they should be able to look up the reintialization protocol and get the radio working again.
You need the reset code and it SHOULD be in your glove box in the owners manual or on a little business card type of card in your vehicle literature/owners manual package…
Hop you dont have the systems that brainwashes itself w/o the code…they were stupid…usually you just enter the code and your good to go…
Also they can certainly cause the radio failure…they’re trying to cover their ass.