The only issue, if you want to call it that, that my wife and I have had with the 2016 Hyundai Tucson Limited were non functioning “welcome lights.” These are are LEDs in the door handles that come on when you approach the vehicle when you have the key fob in your possession. It seems that Hyundai forgot to enable this feature for Tucsons made up to roughly September 2016. There’s a very lengthy discussion about this topic on a third party forum called the Hyundai Forms and apparently Hyundai had a fix for it that is rolling out to US customers as I type this. The fix involves installing a wiring harness in the vehicle which allows the lights to work. But this fix was not available to Canadians until very recently. Within the last two weeks, Hyundai Canada has started rolling out the fix to Canadian customers. That might have something to do with the fact that Canadians were not happy that Americans got the fix way faster than they did.
In our case, we got the fix today after receiving a couple of calls from Hyundai Canada and our local dealer. The first one was to say that the parts were on order and our dealer would call us. The second call was from the dealer to make the appointment to get parts installed. I must admit that they were very flexible in terms of setting up the appointment which is handy as my schedule is highly fluid. The interesting thing was that while I was checking in with the service department at my Hyundai dealer, the service advisor asked a colleague “Does Hyundai want us to code this as campaign or should it be coded in a different way?” Then they remembered that I was in the room and hurriedly checked me in and directed me to the lounge so that I could set up and use their WiFi to work. I’m guessing that I wasn’t supposed to hear that. It makes me wonder if Hyundai is trying to deal with this quietly. I suppose that I’ll never find out the answer to that. The installation of the parts needed to fix this issue was supposed to take about two hours. They were done in just over one.
I’ve created a video to show the “welcome lights” in action. Look closely inside the door handle as I walk up to the Tucson:
Now, you’re likely wondering why my wife and I made such an effort to get this issue resolved. Simple. First, we paid for the feature, thus we should get it. Second, it’s a small touch that adds to the luxury feel of the Tucson. I am glad this is over.
One other thing that I’d like to update is the performance of the AWD system in snow. When I last updated you, I spoke about how the AWD system worked and the fact that we were going to swap the stock tires out for Nokian WRG3. But my wife and I made the decision to tough out the winter with the stock tires. That makes things interesting in slippery conditions. For example, when we were returning from a day trip to Arrowhead Provincial Park to skate on their skating trail, we took an on-ramp that was snow covered at 30 KM/h. The Tucson started to slide a bit sideways, but then it snapped back to its intended path without needing me to do anything. We were impressed. To further experiment with this, I went out after a snow storm and experimented with what the AWD and the other electronic overseers would do. I found that they acted very quickly to keep me shiny side up every time they interviewed. A good set of winter tires and the Tucson is going to be a great winter vehicle.
We’ve had no issues with the Tucson which is a very good thing. I’ll be back soon after our next oil change which should be within the next 30 to 45 days with another update. Stay tuned!