Just when we thought we’ve covered every consumer conundrum under the sun we met Angela Yuille. She says she has been crawling over and across seats since her driver’s side door handle fell off back in 2015.
After the front passenger side handle came off, Yuille started getting in through the passenger door on the driver’s side, going over the seat to start the car and roll down the driver’s window. Then she got back out and got into her car.
Can you guess what happened next? Handle number three jammed. Yuille says she contacted the manufacturer but Hyundai turned her away saying the car was out of warranty.
We wanted to know if what happened to her Sonata was a fluke? We found she’s not alone — 14 others have complained about door handles falling off on Hyundai Sonatas.
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In an emergency, Yuille would have no way to get into her car quickly. Which is why we asked Hyundai about reports of door handles falling off.
Hyundai explained in an email:
“Because this is such a rare occurrence there has not been a recall needed. We have sold about 2.7 million Sonatas since 2009. We will be happy to take care of this customer.”
Hyundai arranged for a local dealer to replace all three of the missing door handles on Yuille’s car.
While her days of crawling over her car seat may be over, anyone else with a similar problem should file a complaint with the National Transportation Safety Administration. Government regulators are the only ones who can force a recall.
