2006 Elantra Warranty Question

We just recently purchased a 2006 Elantra GLS 4-door sedan, and I have
a quick question on the warranty that perhaps someone could answer,
hyundaitech?? I will check with the dealer's Service Department on
this as well.

In carefully reading the warranty booklet, it states that within the 5
year/60,000 limited warranty period that "normal wear" items such as
belts are not covered under the warranty. When reading the section on
the 10 year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty, it states, among other
items, that all internal engine components, timing chains, etc. are
covered under the warranty.

OK . . . here is my question, since the Elantra uses a Gilmer
reinforced rubber timing belt, and not a chain per se, is the timing
belt covered under either the 5 year/60,000 limited warranty or the 10
year/100,000 mile powertrain warranty, or is it only covered for 12
months/12,000 miles as "normal wear" items are covered? If the latter
is the case, I'm concerned. Why, because if it should fail after
12,000 miles, and engine damage results due to the engine's
interference design, it most likely would void the covereage of engine
internals (pistons, valves) covered under the powertrain warranty.

Please excuse me for my specificity, but I'm trying to read this
warranty information from a legal perspective, and carefully looking
at all the verbage and its implications.

 

The timing belt is covered up to 60K miles, at which point the warranty
requires that it be changed. It is considered a maintenance item and the
replacement cost is not covered. Once the belt has been replaced, it is
covered against failure for the balance of the 100K mile powertrain
warranty.

 

The reason for the question is that I HAVE looked in my 2006 Owner's
Manual and the Owner's Handbook which describes the various warranties -
somewhat vaguely I might add. The Owner's Manual specifically states to
refer to the Owner's Handbook, i.e. warranty info for this information.
It says nothing about a warranty on the "timing belt," only a "timing
chain" or "timing gear." Thus, I feel the question asked in good faith
was a valid one.

Nevertheless, thanks for the info, as I have received conflicting
answers from a number of people, including the local dealer. They
stated the timing belt is considered a "belt" (a normal wear and tear
item as per the Owner's Handbook), thus it is only warranted for 12
months or 12,000 miles. Therefore, you can understand my confusion
regarding this.

I take very good care of my vehicles and will most likely perform
maintenance on a number of things, such as coolant changes, prior to the
specified time or mileage anyway.

Don

 

The dealer is either misinformed or lying. The timing belt IS covered,
as is any damage relating to a timing belt failure, provided that you
change it at 60K miles as specified in the Maintenance Log. The
likelihood of a problem is very low, so dont' stress over it. You know
your rights under the warranty, so you can defend them if necessary.

I would be very cautious about that dealer and would not accept anything
they say at face value. At best, they're misinformed and at worst,
they're crooks. Check into everything, know your rights and
responsibilities, and immediately go to Hyundai directly if you have any
questions, concerns or problems with them or their advise. Hyundai is a
VERY responsive company and they take customer satisfaction seriously.

All Hyundai cares about is that maintenance is performed according the
to specified schedule with the proper parts and consumables. There's no
need to do anything more frequently than specified, but doing the
scheduled maintenance a few miles early eliminates any questions about
whether you lived up to the requirements or not. Document your work in
the Maintenance Log and you're covered. Keeping receipts isn't
necessary, but it doesn't hurt.

 

The above posts left out the time interval. Unless Hyundai has changed
their requirements, the belt must be changed at 4 years/60k miles to
maintain the 10/100 warranty on the belt. I've seen one or two here that
were declined warranty coverage because they were over four years.