Water Bottle Spill Bricks Hyundai SUV - $12K Repair Bill

Don't spill anything in your electric vehicle. Or let sand get into the car. Water bottle spill blamed for $12,000 auto repair bill

File this under "No one does proper systems design anymore." Engineers at Hyundai apparently don't think that anyone will ever spill anything in one of their vehicles. I wonder how many cup holders are in a Hyundai SUV.

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.

“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.

Interstate 4 is the highway that connects Tampa and Orlando. Lakeland isn't quite halfway, being about a 35 mile drive from Tampa and about a 55 mile drive to Orlando.

A trip to the dealer, ensued, and they told him "a liquid spill was likely to blame and told him sand on the floorboards could have also contributed to the problem."

Not a warranty issue. "External factors" not a manufacturing problem. Apparently they don't cover design problems.

The insurance company also took a pass, since the problem was due to “corrosion building over time” not an accident.

The total estimated cost is $11,882.08.

And I would like to note that if you live in Florida, you are probably going to end up with sand in your vehicle at some point.

That bill was not unique. There are a number of people on Reddit and in other places who have had $10,000 repair bills due to similar issues with the Hyundai Ioniq 5 all-electric SUV.

I thought I was in a bad way when I had to have the transmission rebuilt (after only 230,000 miles) in my previous SUV. I really did like that vehicle. Didn't quite make it to 300K miles, which was the goal.

So, how does the average person with a car loan, pay for an $11K auto repair bill? The vehicle in question was "a couple of years" old. Take out another loan? I doubt this kind of thing is unique to the Hyundai Ioniq 5, but I certainly would not be buying that vehicle.

This is the MGUY Australia video ASTRONOMICAL EV repair bill for spilling a WATER BOTTLE!