We decided to conduct our own investigation, which you can read in today’s article - why the Hyundai Creta rusts. Every more or less experienced car owner knows that steel, due to the characteristics of its chemical composition, begins to rust. Considering the current pace of automobile production and the speed with which motorists change cars, no one is surprised by the abundant pockets of corrosion that arise even during the warranty period. But when something like this happens in the first few months of operation, it is, to say the least, puzzling. In the following paragraphs we will try to find the root of the problem - the Creta is rusting, using the example of the trunk of the most popular crossover on the Russian market.
At the beginning of 2017, complaints systematically began to appear from owners of Korean crossovers whose Hyundai Creta was rusting. Interestingly, the main foci of corrosion appeared on the trunk lid, namely on its outer part. When the Creta rusts, the paintwork swells in problem areas - this is the first alarm bell. It is worth noting that among the “defective” Gretas there were many new cars that had been in use for 2-3 months. It was also not possible to establish any pattern with the colors of the problem bodies. At first, suspicions were aroused by white and silver color, but later the entire palette was negatively distinguished.
Owner reviews
Based on reviews from real SUV owners, the most vulnerable point in terms of corrosion is the rib under the car trunk glass. Traces of rust are clearly visible on light colors body
Employees of the official dealer centers of the Korean company calmly accepted the requests of dissatisfied customers, offering to paint over them for free. problem area. But there have been cases when company specialists blamed the car’s owners for the Creta rusting, arguing that it was unregulated mechanical intervention. In February 2017, employees of the Hyundai technology center informed engineers that the Hyundai Creta was rusting. The plant gave the order to paint over or replace problematic elements, and then send them for examination.
Ordinary Greta owners did not realize the real scale of the problem, because the manufacturer did not report exact figures until recently. Car enthusiasts are of the opinion that the percentage of rusting Hyundai Cretas is negligible compared to the total number of cars sold. Enterprising administrators of automobile forums began to create topics related to this problem. This caused a lot of controversy and discussion. The survey results were shocking - Creta rusts in 25% of owners. It is not strange that a petition was sent to the manufacturer’s address, which, unfortunately, did not collect very many signatures.
Among other places where corrosion appears, we note the spoiler and the surface near the additional brake light. Rust often occurs near the lantern. Less often - at the place of contact between metal and plastic.
Fortunately, the Korean company offers a long-term warranty on the paintwork - 5 years. And in general, manufacturers are very loyal to customers in this regard. But it’s not even a matter of loyalty and prompt assistance from specialists - motorists are interested in the cause of rust. It’s scary to imagine what could happen to the body in a year or two if the trunk lid gave up after just a few months. The situation worsened further when car owners began posting photos of the Creta rusting on forums. The corrosion spots on the inside of the body looked especially scary. The photographs with swollen paintwork did not add optimism - mainly in the area rear lights and panel covers. Real panic was caused by reports from some motorists that rust reappears even after repainting.
Let us repeat once again: the most common place where the Hyundai Creta rusts is the ribs under the headlights.
In May 2017, it became clear that Korean manufacturers were not sitting idly by - they conducted an internal investigation and issued a bulletin Maintenance car. According to the document, all Hyundai Greta cars produced from July to December 2016 are subject to free inspection at branded services. If even minimal traces of corrosion are detected, the auto repairman must replace the element. If removing rust from body panels brings any effect, repainting is also an option - it all depends on each individual case. No matter how hard we tried, we were unable to find information in the bulletin regarding the causes of rust - it remains a mystery.
All that remains is to collect the available information bit by bit and compare it with your own guesses.
The fact that the bulletin applies to cars manufactured before December 2016 adds to the optimism. This may mean that the developers were able to discover the root of the problem. Judging by reviews from owners, crossovers assembled in 2017 do not rust like that. The developers did not want to open the curtain of secrecy - this is a little unfair to clients.
We present to you real review one of the owners of the crossover: “The Hyundai Creta rusts as follows: several swellings have appeared on the surface of the trunk lid paint coating. The car was built in August 2016, and to be honest, I was surprised by these pimples. Fortunately, thorough examination the body surface did not reveal any other rust spots. It’s interesting that my wife has a Creta, released around the same time, but only in blue – I couldn’t find anything like that on her. Well, how can you guess here?”
The real extent of the problem is still unclear. If you believe the survey results, only a quarter of car owners have encountered the problem of corrosion. But no more than 1,000 people took part in these issues, which certainly does not add objectivity.
A collective petition sent to the manufacturer collected only 427 signatures. To understand the comical nature of the situation, just look at the figure for crossovers sold in 2016 – 22,000. Dealers took advantage of these statistics and claim that the percentage of “infected” cars is tiny. That is, in theory, the chance of purchasing a rust-prone 2016 Creta is no more than 25%.
Measuring the thickness of the paint coating clarified the situation a little: it turned out that in problem areas this indicator less. After this information bomb, all experts agreed that the main problem lies in the unevenness of the paint layer. Almost immediately, videos appeared on the Internet in which a paintwork thickness measuring device showed only 80 microns - this is very little. Of course, everything can be attributed to incorrect settings of the device, but the presence of a problem is confirmed by many other facts. Most likely, this is the main reason why the Creta is rusting.
We decided to conduct an experiment, independently measuring the thickness of the paint coating of problematic cars of the Korean company. Of course, we were not able to detect extreme indicators of 80 microns, but the unevenness of the layer did occur. For the purity of the experiment, we chose cars of different colors produced in 2016 and 2017. Oddly enough, all the “participants” showed approximately the same results.
The average thickness of the Creta paint coating is 110 microns. A little subtle, but this value cannot be called critical. In general, the thickness of paintwork on the surface of various body elements ranges from 120-150 microns.
This is the norm for a car with factory paint. But there are examples that demonstrate a large contrast in terms of thickness.
On one of the cars, the paint thickness under the mirrors is 160 microns, and above the door handle - 120 microns. It is unknown how this happened, because the painting process is completely automated. This moment The developers also left no comments.
Almost every automobile concern has faced similar problems. In most cases, the most problematic area was the trunk lid, namely the niches under plastic covers. Literally after a year or two of use, rust began to spread to the entire body. This is true for the first Ford Focus and Mazda CX9. The Toyota company stood out noticeably, offering new cars with rusting hoods. In the situation with Ford and Mazda, the problem area was simply repainted. The Toyota dealer, known for its loyal attitude towards consumers, has created a large-scale service promotion offering free replacement of problem elements.
Conclusion
If we carefully analyze all such cases, we can conclude that the Creta rusts in one specific place - other body elements are not susceptible to such a “sore”. The biggest disappointment was the concealment of the causes of the problem and the careful suppression of facts - this is unfair to clients. Everyone makes mistakes. Similar mistakes happened at both Ford and Mercedes. But unlike Hyundai, these dealers immediately admitted their mistakes.
Those who noticed pockets of corrosion on the trunk lid appeared in early 2017. Basically, clear traces of swelling of the paintwork were on the outer panel of the body element. Moreover, trouble often overtook fresh cars that had been in use for only three to four months. In the initial period, it seemed that the problem affected only owners of cars of certain colors (white and silver), but the rest of the palette quickly became noticeable.
The employees of most dealership centers behaved correctly and, after inspecting the cars, decided to repaint the suspicious part. Although there were plenty of cases when careless warranty engineers managed to find mythical traces of external mechanical influence (microchips) and turned the owners around. According to representatives of one of the dealer services, already in February 2017, technical centers began sending information on this problem to the manufacturer. The plant gave instructions to repaint or change the covers depending on the specific case, and also to send the parts to it for examination.Alas, ordinary owners were in an information vacuum, and the manufacturer did not indulge in comments, limiting itself to saying that the percentage of problem cars is tiny compared to the volume of all cars sold to that point. As a result, passions and disputes flared up on the forums in an attempt to independently understand the issue and understand the real scale of the disaster. According to the results of questionnaires on websites, about 25% of owners encountered this problem. A logical continuation of the story was a collective electronic petition addressed to the manufacturer. True, she did not collect as many signatures as expected.
Hyundai, including paint coverage (5 years or 150,000 km) has a generally friendly dealer policy in this matter. However, the owners were very concerned about the nature of the rust problem. If the trunk lid gave up so quickly, then what could happen in a year or two to the rest of the body?! In addition, messages and photographs of corrosion on the inner edges of the body element began to appear on forums. Swelling of the paintwork appeared in the rolling areas of the lid panels and on the edges of the niches under the lamps. Reviews from some owners did not add optimism either, saying that rust would reappear after repainting the cover and even after replacing it.
The result of an internal study of the issue was the release in May of this year of a technical bulletin prepared by the manufacturer. The document prescribes mandatory inspection of cars manufactured between July 26 and December 15, 2016, which come to the service for any work. If corrosion is detected in the areas described above, the dealer must repair (repaint) or replace the cover. The issue is resolved in each specific case after removing the rust. If its traces cannot be completely removed, then the body element must be replaced. Unfortunately, the bulletin does not contain information about the causes of the defect and changes in production.
ON THE COFFEE GROUNDS
Alas, the manufacturer did not give any comments to the request from the editors of Za Rulem about the details of the rust problem. Therefore, we can only make assumptions, comparing the information received from some dealers and on owner forums, as well as the experience of operating the Crete in our fleet.
Judging by the fact that the service bulletin applies to machines manufactured before December 15, 2016, there is hope that the causes of the defect have been found and changes have been made to the technological chain on the assembly line. At least so far there is no information about such problems on cars produced in 2017. The manufacturer did not want to reveal the secret, and dealership employees only have assumptions about the causes of such a strange problem.
The actual scale is also unclear. Questionnaires on two large forums showed that about 25% of owners encountered rust. However, only 850 people took part in these votes. The collective electronic petition has not collected much either - to date, only 427 signatures. To put this into perspective, almost 22,000 Cretes were sold in 2016. Some dealers also talk about the low percentage of “sick” cars identified during the service bulletin period. That is, on paper, owners of cars manufactured before December 15, 2016 do not have much of a chance of seeing rust on the trunk lid, but still no one is immune from this.
In the process of arguing about the nature of rust, a curious fact surfaced - the uneven and in some places too small thickness of the layer. There are videos on the Internet where instruments show only 80 microns on the edges of body panels, as if there is no varnish. At the same time, the video participants confirm on calibrated probes that the thickness gauge is calibrated correctly.
The thickness of the paintwork was tested on several machines. It was not possible to see examples with indecently low 80 microns, but thin and too heterogeneous places were found. The experiment involved two Cretas from our fleet (2016 model year) and several new cars (2017), which were still waiting for buyers. In general, all participants with different colors bodies showed similar results.
Indeed, the coating layer on the edges of the body panels is thin (100–110 microns), but these are not criminal values. For the most part, the thickness difference throughout the vehicle ranges from 120 to 150 microns, which is normal for a new car with factory paint. However, there are examples of very significant discrepancies on one body element. The most striking of them are the ribs of the front doors. Under the mirrors, the calibrated device shows about 160 microns, and above the handle - 120 microns. Strange numbers, considering that all modern factories are robotic. Alas, these facts remained without comment from the manufacturer.
Many auto giants were plagued by “rusty” problems in their time. For some it was famous weak spots on the trunk lid there are niches under plastic linings. After a couple of years of use, rust appeared in these places. This affected the second generation and the first Mazda CX-9. Toyota distinguished itself more clearly with rusting hoods on fresh cars. In the first case, when the owner complained during the warranty period and there were no traces of external influence, the part was repainted, and in the second, the manufacturer, known for its policy of recall campaigns, organized an entire service campaign to correct the defect on the cars sold.
Considering the many years of experience of similar vehicles, it is unlikely that problems with the trunk lid on Cretas indicate failures throughout the body. However, the Koreans could have shown more attention to the owners' concerns and lifted the veil of secrecy. Sooner or later, all auto giants make mistakes, especially for cars from the first years of production. No one has any suspicions or questions when the manufacturer admits some mistakes and announces that they will make adjustments to the production cycle, not forgetting about warranty obligations to the owners of potentially “sick” machines. But the information vacuum only cultivates fears and generates negativity.
Photo: Stas Panin and club-creta.ru
Why the new Hyundai Creta rusts - “Behind the Wheel” investigation Why do new ones rust? Hyundai Creta- investigation “Behind the Wheel”
Galvanization of Hyundai Creta body
The table indicates whether the body is galvanized Hyundai car Creta, produced from 2015 to 2019,and quality of processing.
| Treatment | Type | Method | Body condition | |
| 2015 | Partial | Cold galvanizing | Galvanization result: Poor The machine is already 4 years old. Considering the age and quality of zinc treatment of this machine (under normal operating conditions), the first corrosion will begin in 2 years. |
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| 2016 | Partial | Cold galvanizing | application of zinc-containing coating | Galvanization result: Poor The machine is already 3 years old. Considering the age and quality of zinc treatment of this machine (under normal operating conditions), the first corrosion will begin after 3 years. |
| 2017 | Partial | Cold galvanizing | application of zinc-containing coating | Galvanization result: Poor The machine is already 2 years old. Considering the age and quality of zinc treatment of this machine (under normal operating conditions), the first corrosion will begin after 4 years. |
| 2018 | Partial | Cold galvanizing | application of zinc-containing coating | Galvanization result: Poor The machine is already 1 year old. Considering the age and quality of zinc treatment of this machine (under normal operating conditions), the first corrosion will begin after 5 years. |
| 2019 | Partial | Cold galvanizing | application of zinc-containing coating | Galvanization result: Poor The machine was released this year. Considering the age and quality of zinc treatment of this machine (under normal operating conditions), the first corrosion will begin after 6 years. |
Types of processing
Over the years, the processing process itself has changed. A younger car - Galvanized will always be better!
Types of galvanization
The presence of zinc particles in the soil covering the body does not affect its protection and is used by the manufacturer for the word “galvanization” in advertising materials. . Tests Test results of cars that came off the assembly line with the same damage (a cross) on the lower part of the front right door. Tests were carried out in the laboratory. Conditions in a chamber with hot salt fog for 40 days correspond to 5 years of normal operation. Hot dip galvanized vehicle(layer thickness 12-15 microns) 
Galvanized car(layer thickness 5-10 microns) 
Cold galvanized vehicle(layer thickness 10 µm) 
Car with zinc metal
Car without galvanization
It is important to know— Over the years, manufacturers have improved the galvanizing technology of their cars. A younger car will always be better galvanized! — Thick coating from 2 to 10 µm(micrometers) provides excellent protection against the occurrence and spread of corrosion damage. — The rate of destruction of the active zinc layer at the site of body damage is from 1 to 6 microns per year. Zinc degrades more actively at elevated temperatures. — If the manufacturer uses the term “galvanization” "full" not added This means that only elements exposed to impacts were processed. — Pay more attention to the presence of a manufacturer’s warranty on the body rather than loud phrases about galvanizing from advertising. Additionally
Many Korean fans model range I'm interested in the body design of the Hyundai Creta. Note that the development of the cart was carried out by specialists from several technology centers. What happened in the end? This is exactly what we will talk about in today’s article.
The body is one of the most basic parts of a car. But, oddly enough, Special attention Frame construction began relatively recently. If earlier the cart was no more than just a piece of metal, now it is an aerodynamic element made of high-quality materials.
Development process
As you know, the Hyundai company is not only an automobile manufacturing concern, but also a huge conglomerate, which includes a large number of enterprises, including metallurgical ones. This is very convenient, since when manufacturing the body of the Hyundai Creta, manufacturers have the opportunity to use steel of their own production.
The process of developing the frame of the Korean crossover took almost three years, because the first notifications about the start of work appeared back in 2011. We have already said above that the body of the Hyundai Creta was designed by specialists from several technology centers who closely interacted with each other.
Initially, the body structure of the Hyundai Creta was designed using computer programs, after which the developers produced several test samples that passed a series of tests. Ultimately, one option was chosen, which later formed the basis of the Hyundai Creta trolley. It is worth noting that the “Korean” frame has proven itself well in crash tests conducted by Chinese and Latin American specialists.
Body Features
The Hyundai Creta frame is assembled by welding, which is automated and performed by special robots, which completely eliminates the human factor. It is worth noting that before entering the welding conveyor, the Creta frame elements pass through the stamping shop, where they are pressed. Ultimately, a finished frame comes off the welding line, missing doors and a hood.
Several types of steel are used in the body structure of the Hyundai Creta:
- Anti-corrosion steel.
- High strength steel.
- High-tech metal used in the front of the car.
The use of these materials allowed manufacturers to increase the crossover's resistance to a frontal impact. In addition, the use of several types of steel helped reduce the vehicle's curb weight.
It is worth noting that in the area engine compartment a special transverse reinforcement was installed. In addition, the side pillars have been additionally reinforced.
As for the roof, it is equipped with 5 supports at once, which can prevent severe crushing in the event of a car rollover.
However, all of the listed features of the Hyundai Creta truck are only a small part of what the Korean developers have pleased us with.
Hyundai Creta owners began to complain about the quality of the metal and paintwork. Most often, on cars no older than 4 months, the fifth door begins to rust.
Dealers traditionally try as best they can to avoid warranty repair, but this is not often possible.
According to the Wordstat service: the problem appeared in December 2016 and the number of requests to Yandex is growing steadily.
Here is a selection of messages from Creta owners who noticed this problem:
Guys, a problem arose, two spots appeared on the fifth door, at first I thought it was dirt, tried to wipe them off and nothing happened, as a result it was rust. I’ll take a photo and post it, wow, the car is 4 months old.
I don’t believe that this could be allowed...
I'll wait for spring, and then we'll see. If nothing else comes out, I'll cover it with a sticker. Production September 2016, purchased September 23, 2016.
I have the same. Two red spots appeared on the trunk lid (next to the brake light) at 4 months. Everything was done under warranty without any questions asked. At first I was kind of upset new car...apparently I'm not the only one.
As expected, the main concentration of Crete owners affected by rust is on the forum of the same name. Participants have already created a petition. There are not many subscribers yet. It’s still too early to talk about a widespread problem, but the trend is noticeable.
From many photos posted on the forum, it is clear that the work of Hyundai craftsmen with metal body parts is not of the highest quality.
