I drove my 2000 Sonata over a railroad crossing today. The radio came on all by itself. Two weeks ago, I drove a different 2000 Sonata each time I hit a moderate bump in the street with that car, the radio came on. In each case, the radio was an original Hyundai model. The radio in mine is the top model -- with both CD and cassette. I don't recall which model was in the other car, but it's a different model: mine is almost as loaded as it can get (only missing the traction control). The other one was a base model. I'm pretty familiar with electronics. This one's really got me stumped. What gives? Richard
Is the on-off switch/button particulary sensitive. If so, it may be just the vibration causing the switch contacts to close and turn the radio on.
| Richard Steinfeld wrote: | > I drove my 2000 Sonata over a railroad crossing today. The radio | > came on all by itself. Two weeks ago, I drove a different 2000 | > Sonata each time I hit a moderate bump in the street with that | > car, the radio came on. In each case, the radio was an original | > Hyundai model. The radio in mine is the top model -- with both CD | > and cassette. I don't recall which model was in the other car, | > but it's a different model: mine is almost as loaded as it can | > get (only missing the traction control). The other one was a base | > model. | > | > I'm pretty familiar with electronics. This one's really got me | > stumped. What gives? | | Is the on-off switch/button particulary sensitive. If so, it may be just | the vibration causing the switch contacts to close and turn the radio on. I wouldn't think so (note that I experienced this in two different Hyundais). The switch seems to require a good healthy push. On the other hand, that's the physical part of the switch -- the actual contacts may be loose and able to touch each other. Richard
I've seen this customer complaint numerous times. While I've typically been unable to duplicate it on road test, bopping the dash in the vicinity of the radio often causes it to come on or switch to cd or some other oddity. To fix it, replace the radio. Unfortunately Hyundai's warranty on the radio is only 3 years/36k miles in the U.S. (for no apparent reason).
| I've seen this customer complaint numerous times. While I've typically | been unable to duplicate it on road test, bopping the dash in the vicinity | of the radio often causes it to come on or switch to cd or some other | oddity. | | To fix it, replace the radio. Unfortunately Hyundai's warranty on the | radio is only 3 years/36k miles in the U.S. (for no apparent reason). | Tech... I understand how you feel about the factory radios. Too bad. I sense that there's a very simple reason why this happens -- it's bizzare. Perhaps the physical resistance of the switch (the mechanical toggle) is stiff whereas the actual contacts inside the switch are very loose and can easily short from a bump. Bad bad parts sourcing. My experience with Korean electronics is that the country's manufacturers can build to whatever quality criterion that they want to select. I've seen both brilliant and dumb products. I don't fully know this radio yet. I'm not sure that I want to. I guess I'll learn (and report back). I am tolerant of "understandable" failures. I detest stupid failures. Richard
