ATLANTA — Channel 2 Action News is looking into thousands of complaints about the paint falling off of late-model cars from a popular automaker.
Carrie Francom only has 10,000 miles on her white 2019 Hyundai Sonata.
“When it rains, it will just start coming off,” Francom said.
Channel 2 consumer investigator Justin Gray spoke with Francom on a rainy day, which means more paint was likely to come off.
“I can’t even wash it now because if I try to wash it, more paint comes off of it,” Francom said.
The first time the paint started flaking off, Francom was at a hotel and thought someone had scratched or scraped the car.
“It’s embarrassing. I don’t like driving around like this. It looks like a Dalmatianlate-model,” Francom said.
And Francom is not alone, a Hyundai peeling paint Facebook group has thousands of members with similar stories and pictures. Cars of many Hyundai models and colors, but predominantly white.
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Pamela Rainey shared a picture of her car, writing “It has been garaged since 2020. Came out of work to see this. Thought I was vandalized until I read about the paint issues Hyundai is having.”
Another woman shared her story on TikTok.
“I spent $48,000 and at 50,000 miles, my paint started peeling,” she said.
They are taking to social media because many are not getting help from Hyundai.
In a letter denying Francom’s claim, Hyundai wrote, “We do not believe the paint failed because of a defect.”
“They came back and said I was out of warranty and that their material wasn’t defective, which is obviously false because there’s thousands of Hyundai’s running around with paint missing,” Francom said.
A proposed class action lawsuit about the peeling paint was filed in federal court in New York earlier this year.
Gray reached out to Hyundai who told us in a statement:
“A manufacturing issue with the paint on Hyundai vehicles is extremely rare and has only occurred in isolated incidents.
“Owners experiencing paint issues are advised to visit their local dealership or contact the Hyundai Customer Care Center.”
“The fact that they said it was not a defect, that’s ridiculous,” Francom said. “It’s really upsetting because I take really good care of my vehicle.”
After Gray contacted Hyundai, the company agreed to schedule an inspection of the paint, and after that inspection, has now agreed to pay for a new paint job for her Hyundai.
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