LAKELAND, Fla — A central Florida driver is stuck with a nearly $12,000 auto repair bill after a bottle of water spilled in the back seat of his SUV.
“I was shocked. I was panicked to be honest with you,” said SUV owner Michael McCormick.
His Hyundai SUV is just a couple years old, but the carmaker has refused to cover the repairs under warranty. His insurance company has denied coverage as well.
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McCormick loved almost everything about his sleek, quick Hyundai Ioniq 5 all-electric SUV.
He said, “It’s instant torque, instant torque. And it surprises a lot of people how fast it goes.”
But his faith in the car started to dwindle last month when traffic on Interstate 4 suddenly slowed down and he had to hit the brakes. There was a 20-ounce bottle of water in the back seat.
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“It flew forward. I felt it hit the driver’s seat, probably dropped out at that point, and I felt on my ankles a little bit of the water,” McCormick explained.
Within minutes, he said warning lights on his display started flashing. By the time he got home, he said the turn signals didn’t work and the car wouldn’t shut off.
He said, “Start/stop (button) nothing happened. Yeah, so the car was totally unresponsive to anything. So, I was probably lucky to get home.”
At his local Hyundai dealership, the service team determined someone sitting in the seat with wet clothes or a liquid spill was likely to blame and told him sand on the floorboards could have also contributed to the problem.
They let him know the floor and the driver seat wiring harnesses have to be replaced. The total estimated cost is $11,882.08.
McCormick said, “I was shocked. I was like, what am I… that’s a huge amount of money and not covered. I’m like, that’s not right, because I didn’t do anything wrong.”
According to McCormick, the dealership said Hyundai wouldn’t cover it under warranty because it isn’t a manufacturing defect and was caused by external factors.
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He then filed an insurance claim, which State Farm denied, determining it was due to “corrosion building over time” not sudden accidental damage.
“One of the hardest things is that cars are so complicated now fixing them as a result is so much more expensive,” said Action 9 Consumer Advisor Clark Howard.
Howard explained cars these days are basically computers on wheels and much more complicated to work on than cars from 15 to 20 years ago.
Other consumers have noted problems with costly wiring under the seats of the Ioniq 5. One posted on Reddit with the headline “Ioniq 5 $10,000 nightmare ‘Time Bomb’ Beneath the Front Seats.”
Forum users criticized the lack of space between the wiring and the floor, claiming it causes the wires to snag and get damaged. They pointed out that damage was also not covered under warranty.
Clark Howard said, “If other people are having the same problem with the wiring systems in an Ioniq 5, then you want to follow the same paths they are to try to get the issue resolved with Hyundai. I’m totally unconvinced that a bottle of water should have caused this kind of damage.”
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Michael McCormick believes it’s a design flaw that parts so critical to the operation of his SUV would be that vulnerable and costly to repair.
“Kids are always spilling things in the backseat, or, you know, people. You know, there’s a zillion cup holders everywhere. Things spill,” he said.
State Farm sent Action 9 Consumer Investigator Jeff Deal this statement:
Due to our company privacy policy, we can’t speak to the specifics of any individual customer claim. In general, if a vehicle shows evidence of long-term exposure to moisture, such as rot, rust, or corrosion, that type of damage is not covered by an automobile policy. For more information on standard industry auto coverage, www.III.org is a helpful resource. In this situation, we have been in communication with our customer and would encourage him to reach out to State Farm if he has any additional questions or concerns.
Hyundai hasn’t answered our questions, but did send Michael McCormick a letter yesterday saying it appears this was caused by an outside influence, not a defect.
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