2002 Hyundai Sonata GLS review from North America

We are now bringing our car in for the 3rd time for the same problem. The power window regulators fail and/or break. A few months after our purchase the front drivers side window failed. The window went down, but failed to go up with out me having to pull it at the same time. I heard cracking and grinding sounds as I tried to roll up the window. I called the dealer and they knew the problem just as I was explaining it. He practically finished my sentence as I was describing it. He said he had replaced several this week alone. I live 50 miles from the dealership and I do a tremendous amount of driving. This is why we went with this car and its warranty. You don\'t realize how you take for granted your window being able to roll down as you approach a toll booth or a drive thru at a bank or restaurant.

In July of 2003 the passenger side window failed. The exact same problem. The window fell down and would not go up. I heard cracking and grinding noises as I tried to roll it up. I called the dealer and they set up a time for me to come in for service. They ran out of the parts since they were doing so many of these he said and would have to order them. He was able to have the part the next day, but that would not fit my work schedule. When I got to the dealer on my scheduled day, the part was not there. Apparently they used it to fix somebody else\'s car. I made a 100 mile round trip for nothing. I had to wait a week for the part and for my schedule to open up to bring it back (and eat up another 100 miles of my warranty.)

Now here I am 10/29/03 and my rear drivers side window regulator has failed. This time the window is ceased in the down position. I called and spoke to the Sales Manager and informed him of all my past problems. The service dept. was closed and he said he would call me back in the morning. The next morning around 10 a.m. I had to call back since I heard nothing. He had not talked to the service dept. as of yet. I called back around 3 p.m. since I had still heard nothing. He transferred me to service and I tried to schedule an appointment. I overheard the person on the phone if they had anymore regulators in stock and could hear somebody in the background say we just used the last one. I was told the part will have to be ordered. It would not be to the middle of next week. I was not able to get a day to go in there for 10 days due to my schedule. Now I am stuck with a car with a window that will not roll up. I can\'t really use if for work due to rain and a chance of it being broken into. If the Sales Manager had called me first thing like he promised me, I believe the part could have been there in the morning just as they said the could on my prior service. The last time I was there they said the part could have been there the next day. This time I was told the part is shipped in a manor that takes several days. I am currently within my warranty at 55,000 miles. At 60,000 miles the warranty ends on these parts. With the miles I drive I will be out of warranty in 40 days. I was told that when the 4th window goes out if after warranty it will cost me $150 -$200 for repair. I asked since they know the track record of this and that it will more than likely go out just replace it now and save me the hassle. I was told it could not be done. I don\'t have kids. I rarely have any passengers in the rear seats. That window has probably been rolled down 10 times at the most. How can these break with such little use? I am realizing that my near $20,000 car is not as great as it sounded when I bought it and the quality is very poor.

Initially I liked the car, the styling and performance were impressive.

With all the headaches from the window problems, I am worried about the overall quality of the car after the 60,000 mile warranty ends in a month.