01 Accent problem

I have a '01 Accent. Several times whilst in warranty I found that the car
would stall while idling, 'hiccup' whilst cruising on the freeway and jump
and fart whenever I demanded a little performance from it (by performance I
simply mean overtaking or moving off from a red light).

Each time I took it to the service agent they would either replace the
ignition leads/spark plugs or something called a Charcoal Filter. Their
advice to me was to not completely fill the fuel tank? Not real useful when
most of my long distance travelling is done at night with no fuel stations
open for over 500 Km's of my journey (Australia).

Shortly before running out of warranty it started playing up real bad and I
took it into a dealer in the ACT and they diagnosed a faulty Oxygen Sensor.
Since they couldn't get the vehicle in straight away and I had to make
another long trip that weekend, they supplied me with the part and I made a
booking with my local service agent back home. By the time I got there the
vehicle had run out of warrantly (over 130,000 Km's) but since the problem
had been diagnosed whilst under warranty they still fitted the part.

Shortly after I found that the repair had not rectified the fault, and now
any expenses were on my back. Since then I have had the vehicle back in and
had another Charcoal Filter fitted (it would be the sixth or so) and also a
'Two Way Valve'.

I now find myself thinking two things. 1 - Shouldn't the dealer have tried
to figure out why the vehicle constantly chews through these Charcoal Filter
things and fixed the problem, not just the symptom, and 2 - How much money
should I keep pouring into the car before I throw in the towel? It would
appear that the 'warranty' solution is to fix the sympton (the cheaper
option) until the warranty runs out and then miraculously discover the
reason for the symptom appearing and tell me how much it is going to cost
me. The car is in the workshop as I type so I am sure I will get some great
news this afternoon.

Anybody else had a simillar problem?

Stu wrote:
> I now find myself thinking two things. 1 - Shouldn't the dealer have tried
> to figure out why the vehicle constantly chews through these Charcoal Filter
> things and fixed the problem, not just the symptom, and 2 - How much money
> should I keep pouring into the car before I throw in the towel? It would
> appear that the 'warranty' solution is to fix the sympton (the cheaper
> option) until the warranty runs out and then miraculously discover the
> reason for the symptom appearing and tell me how much it is going to cost
> me. The car is in the workshop as I type so I am sure I will get some great
> news this afternoon.

Since the problem occurred while the vehicle was under warranty and you
have the receipts to prove it, the repair should still be covered. I had
a similar situation (different problem) and Hyundai agreed to cover it
under warranty. DO NOT pay for it. If the dealer won't service the car
under warranty, contact Hyundai directly and explain to them that this
is an ongoing problem that has never been rectified. Be polite, but firm
and I'll bet that they'll agree to cover it. If not, I would take it up
with your state office of consumer protection, as such a situation is
clearly unacceptable.