Complaint 2176875

Complaint Summary

POWER TRAIN

Owner Narrative

I moved to Reno, NV where I need to merge onto route 80 everyday. During several attempts to merge onto 80, my Genesis GV70 stopped accelerating at 42 MPH, roughly 5000 RPMs and I was almost rear ended on two occasions because of the 'stalling' of the vehicle. An 18 wheel truck almost hit me because I couldn't accelerate past 42 MPH. Luckily, I was able to pull off the road. There was no warning light or check engine light on the dashboard. This was not a one time issue. Everytime I tried to merge at high speeds the car would not respond. I've attached a video that shows the issue. Genesis towed my car to a dealer in Mountain View CA. I did notice that I was leaking radiator fluid in the days prior to my incidents but when I checked the overflow tank, it was full. Again, there were no check engine lights on the dash. The Mountain View Genesis service manager replicated the issue and discovered that a small rock had come through the bottom grill and damaged the intercooler radiator. He unequivocally stated that "it's a design flaw in the lower grill. The grill has such a wide opening that foreign objects can enter through the lower grill." He went on to say that the intercooler radiator sits below the regular radiator and is made of a softer metal than the regular radiator which makes is more susceptible to damage. He also said that another Genesis GV70 came into his shop the same day with the exact same issue. The cost of the repair was $2,200 dollars to replace the intercooler radiator. (the intercooler was on backorder which may be demand) I opened a case with Genesis and they say that the repair is not covered under a warranty. The Genesis owners forum has numerous complaints of 'lack of acceleration' issues. Someone polled owners and 28 people responded that they experienced a similar lack of acceleration dangerous situation. Video of problem: [XXX] INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Owner-submitted narrative on file with NHTSA. Complaint narratives are self-reported and have not been verified.