‘Hyundai falsely accused me of breaking new £22,000 car by filling it with diesel’

QAt the end of December I bought a brand new Hyundai Bayon for £ 22,000 from a garage in Huddersfield. It had just nine miles on the clock and very little fuel inside it. I live in Leicester, so I drove to a branch of Morrisons in Huddersfield to fill up with petrol before driving home.

However, after having done only 250 miles on the clock, on Jan 4, my Hyundai Bayon started to make strange noises while I was driving via the M5 to Cornwall for my mother’s 80th birthday, with my whole family in the car. I pulled off the motorway and when the AA came it was unable to get the car back on the road.

The vehicle was towed back to my local Hyundai dealer, where mechanics diagnosed a “mis-fuel”: they had found diesel in the petrol engine.

They explained they had done a “burn test” on the fuel taken out of the car by extracting some of it and trying to ignite it, and it didn’t catch light. Therefore, they deduced that it could not be petrol.

I was absolutely livid at this accusation. Never before in my life have I put the wrong fuel in my car.

I was 99 per cent sure I filled up with petrol on this occasion; however, because I paid at the pump and the machine did not dispense a receipt, I had no proof of this.

I was charged £1,000 to have the vehicle repaired and, to rub salt in the wound, I was told that as it was a “misfuel” it was not covered under the five- year warranty. I was also told the engine warranty on the car was now void.

I complained to Hyundai UK, insisting the car had not been mis-fuelled. It did an investigation and took the side of the dealer.

– IB, via email

Dear Reader

AYou sent a letter of rejection to the dealer to protect your consumer rights, which you said was subject to the results of an accredited lab test on the fuel inside your car, which you paid for yourself. You then spent £250 to get the fuel analysed in a bid to prove you did not misfuel your car, as Hyundai had asserted.

My dear reader, may I first offer some praise for the calm and practical way you have handled this case so far. If faced with such accusations, many drivers would have (understandably) flown off the handle in a fit of rage, but instead, you took the steps I would have recommended you do if you’d come to me sooner: you lodged a formal complaint in writing and then arranged for the scientific evidence to be collected as proof. All you could do then was wait for the samples to come back and hope for the best.

You were delighted when the results confirmed that Hyundai’s claims that you filled up the car with diesel instead of petrol, were categorically false. Rather, the analysis shows you did in fact fill the car with petrol, as you had insisted all along.

However, the lab test picked up something no one had anticipated: the petrol was “contaminated” with a small amount ( 0.29pc) of water. This was potentially significant, as according to European standards for petrol (EN 228), water is allowed to be present in consumer-bought petrol, but only up to the level of 0.2pc.

This is because the presence of water in petrol can cause problems with car engines. The results showed that in the petrol you bought, the level of water was present 0.09pc over the legal limit.

When you provided these results to Hyundai UK and the dealer, requesting your £ 1,000 for the repairs be returned to you, plus £250 for the fuel analysis, they refused to change their stance. You were livid, as you had ploughed your time and money into successfully proving it wrong, yet it still wasn’t enough.

Whereas previously Hyundai had rejected your claim on grounds that you filled up with diesel, it was now refusing to take responsibility because the petrol you bought was contaminated with water, which could have damaged the engine.

So if the fuel was to blame, what did Morrisons have to say for itself? Well, it insisted it had reviewed your case thoroughly, and its “wetstock monitoring providers” that monitor the quality of the fuel at its pumps, had confirmed that “no water was present”. Of course, as you don’t have the receipt for the fuel, we have no proof it actually came from Morrisons, but you have no reason to lie about this.

But apparently, there were no other reports of other drivers breaking down after filling up there, which to be fair, is what you’d expect if there had been water contamination at pump level.

I began to wonder whether the oil report’s findings could be a red herring altogether. Morrisons was denying the fuel contained excess water at all, and the lab was not able to say whether the level of water contamination it did detect could have caused your breakdown anyway. I did some research and according to an article by Kwik Fit, small amounts of water are considered “normal” in most fuel tanks.

It said: “Most petrol has a small amount of water dissolved into it (usually less than 0.5pc) and amounts this small don’t really cause any issues.

However, you’ll get serious problems with larger volumes of water.”

When I asked Kwik Fit about this it said small amounts of water “held in suspension” or dissolved into the fuel “usually causes no issues”. However, it said, “issues are more likely when water in the tank is not mixed with the petrol, as this will sit at the bottom of the tank as the fuel floats on top of it.

As the bottom of the tank is where the pickup for the fuel pump is, there is a risk of any of this “free water” being pulled into the fuel system, compromising the fuel’s ability to cool and lubricate the injectors.” Now, of course I am no mechanic, but the impression I’ve drawn from this is that if free water had been present at the bottom of your tank, this would have been sucked in first, meaning you would have been unlikely to have made it a full 250 miles before breaking down.

The unfortunate reality is we may never know the real reason why your brand new Hyundai Bayon broke down after just 250 miles on the road. Morrisons denies its fuel was contaminated, and Hyundai is still counting this incident as a “mis-fuel”, although of course it now recognises that this was through no fault of your own.

A spokesman said: “The fuel contained more water than normal and this is what our technicians believe led to the injector failing.”

However, in recognition that none of this was your fault, and following my intervention, Hyundai has changed its mind on putting this right for you. It has agreed to refund you £1,000 for the initial repair, cover the cost of the fuel report, and replace all the injectors free of charge, which would usually cost £ 1,250. You are also being paid £ 250 in compensation. Additionally, your five-year warranty on the car will be unaffected.

You’re delighted with this outcome, even though you are frustrated that it has taken so long to come.

The effect this whole saga has had on your well-being over the past 10 weeks has been significant.

You say you have been made to feel like a criminal, and proving your innocence has felt all- consuming at times. And all because one Hyundai employee accused you of mis-fuelling your car without a shred of evidence.

Now that your ordeal is over, Hyundai has a major lesson to learn: the least it can do before pointing the finger at its customers is to properly do its homework.

A Hyundai spokesman said: “The dealer has agreed to refund Mr B under goodwill. Realistically, there is no way of proving where the contaminated fuel came from so in order to expedite the most amicable outcome and restore Mr B’s faith in our brand, we have agreed with the dealer that the refund should be offered.

“At no cost to the customer, we will also replace all injectors, not just the affected one, to ensure peace of mind.”