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Sonata, Elantra driving down Hyundai quality scores

Hyundai was the butt of many jokes in the auto industry when it first entered the US market, but since then, it has forged ahead and built cars that stand with the best in their respective segments. The 2011 Sonata and 2011 Elantra were seen as the apotheosis of the brand's forward progress when they were introduced, but falling J.D. Power and Associates Dependability Study results may actually cause them to hurt the company's hard-earned reputation.
J.D Power's study examines three-year-old vehicles for problems per 100 vehicles. Since the 2011 study for 2008 model year cars, Hyundai has fallen from 10th overall with 132 problems to 27th in the 2014 survey of 2011 model year vehicles with 169 problems. It was also Hyundai's second consecutive year of an increase in reported problems. According to Automotive News, many of these problems are due to faults with the Sonata and Elantra, but J.D. Power didn't identify specifically what issues caused Hyundai's dependability to tumble so far down the list. However, the study found that, on average, reliability fell throughout the industry for the first time since 1998.
Getting the Sonata and Elantra right are vital to Hyundai. In 2013, they were the company's best-selling cars. "We'll be closely going through the data to see where improvements need to be made. Hyundai's goal is nothing short of quality leadership, and the report shows we have work to do," Hyundai spokesperson Jim Trainor said in an email to Autoblog.

Did a US automaker blow the whistle on Hyundai, Kia fuel economy issue?

In all of the most hotly contested mainstream segments of the motoring universe, the difference of one mile per gallon averaged on a widow sticker can mean the difference between a sale and a walk-off - to say nothing of two or three mpg. So, when Hyundai and Kia were forced to reveal that many of their 40-mpg ratings were actually 38s and 37s, well, it made for big news.
It also, conceivably, made for a competitive disadvantage immediately, when the Korean automakers' products were being shopped versus the guys down the block. And it's that disadvantage that makes a recent story from Automotive News so juicy.
AN is reporting that Margo Oge, former head of the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Transportation and Air Quality, got a tip in 2010 that Hyundai/Kia were "cheating" to get its impressive fuel economy numbers. The tip, said Oge (who retired from the EPA this past September), came from a senior vice president from a domestic automaker. The source was credible enough for Oge to launch an audit of the Hyundai figures, which ultimately lead to the debacle that we reported on a few months ago, and that the Korean company has been trying to bounce back from ever since.

Baby wildebeest thinks this passing car is its mother

Seeing this lost baby wildebeest mistake a Hyundai Tucson for its mother is equal parts cute and pitiful, but don't worry. There's a happy ending. The young wildebeest (also known as a gnu) was part of the yearly migration in Africa, when it got separated from its mom. The calf's herding instincts kicked in, and it began to follow passing cars, according to National Geographic. Someone grabbed their video camera as the creature struggled to keep up with a passing Hyundai Tucson crossover. At one point, when the vehicle stops, the animal attempts to suckle from its tire. A sad "Aww" is appropriate here. As NatGeo states, wildebeests migrate northward in large herds in May and June in search of greener pastures. For younglings, their herding instinct causes them to follow large moving objects, which would usually be an adult of the same species. In this case, it happened to be a passing car, but luckily the herd showed up to reclaim their young sojourner. At the end of the video, the calf reunites with its mother and can be seen getting that sip of milk the Hyundai was unwilling to give up. Then they trot off together. (Happy "Aww" time). Related Video: News Source: National Geographic Auto News Weird Car News Hyundai Videos animals