It’s not a foreign concept that vehicles require regular maintenance to remain in top condition.
Maintenance does sometimes require us to shell out some extra cash to have something replaced or repaired, just because we may not have the tools or time to do it ourselves.
There are a lot of moving parts, delicate sensors, and electronic systems in our vehicles, and all of them have to work together to make them run smoothly and efficiently.
But, apart from burned out headlights, balding tires, and the oil needing to be changed, things like transmission problems, a broken timing chain, or even a faulty fuel pump are issues that don’t normally arise within the first five or six years of car ownership.
If your vehicle is fairly new and is showing signs of engine problems, transmission failure, or electrical system issues, it needs to be checked and repaired, if necessary. Often, issues with such major vehicle systems are covered under warranty if your vehicle is under a certain age or amount of mileage.
Of course, some vehicles, just because of the way they were designed, are more prone to major issues than others. Some engines are built better than others. Transmissions are the same way, and new technology has a larger rate of failure than older, more proven technology.
In fact, recall numbers seem to be on the rise as a general trend in the past few years.
Here are five of the most common major issues that vehicles encounter today which aren’t normal for vehicles with less than about 100,000 miles.
Excessive Burning of Oil:
Engines that consume excessive amounts of oil are seemingly becoming more common.
If you can keep replacing the oil you lose, you shouldn’t have any issues – in theory. Engines that do burn oil to the tune of 1 quart every 1000 miles or so is generally considered excessive. Unless you have a vehicle with a rotary engine, you shouldn’t have to refill your oil that much.
Some manufacturers are claiming that this amount of oil usage is normal, and that the engines are designed without any flaws. Among the most common manufacturers with vehicles known to burn a high rate of oil are Subaru, Audi, and BMW, among a few others.
The reason we know this isn’t normal is because there is a precedent set with other manufacturers’ engines that don’t burn as much oil over a certain period of time. It might be normal for a little engine oil to be lost over time, but not to this extent.
If this problem goes unnoticed or isn’t addressed, engine failure could occur due to the lack of lubrication, which will cause cooling issues and premature wear of engine components.
Transmission Failure:
Technology might be better than it was one or two decades ago, but it’s also more complicated.
The decline in simple manual transmissions and the rise of more advanced transmission designs have led to a higher rate of premature transmission failure.
Continuously variable transmissions, dual clutch transmissions, and those transmissions with nine or ten different gears are common in just about every new vehicle you could buy, all for the sake of better efficiency or quicker shift times.
The Nissan Altima, Ford Focus and Fiesta, and some Honda vehicles are notorious for having transmission failure or problems much sooner than expected.
Even “advancements” in the way that gear selectors work have caused issues. Buttons have replaced levers and levers are no longer simply moved to the selected gear. Rather, many selectors return to a central position with a lit up indicator showing the current gear.
Safety mechanisms are mandatory in vehicles with these setups, but bugs and other issues covering very specific situations sometimes cause the safety systems to fail or not work at all.
Needless to say, seeing one’s vehicle rolling down the driveway is, at the very least, quite frightening, and at most, extremely dangerous.
Infotainment system Failure:
When you think about it, infotainment systems in vehicles, especially newer ones, aren’t too much different than a cell phone or computer mounted to your vehicle’s dashboard.
That being said, it isn’t that difficult to imagine that your phone would freeze or randomly turn off every once in a while, and you might have to reboot it to get it back up. I’m sure it’s happened to you before, right?
That’s exactly what happens sometimes with vehicles which are moving to all digital dashboard displays and controls. We shouldn’t really expect that kind of thing not to happen if our phones don’t always work perfectly all the time.
In the best case scenarios, screens are unresponsive and will sometimes freeze for a little bit before snapping back to life.
Worst case scenario problems occur when the display goes completely dark.
If this just happens with the radio and climate controls or the center console display, it could be inconvenient but won’t affect your driving.
On the other hand, if it happens on a digital display which includes the speedometer, fuel gauge, and other information about the vehicle’s vital systems, you may not be so fortunate.
More vehicles are having these types of issues as manufacturers increase interior features and amenities.
Airbag Inflation Issues:
Chances are that you’ve heard about the massive recall concerning the Takata airbag inflators. If you haven’t, let’s get you up to speed…
Back in 2014, it was reported that Takata, a parts supplier that provided the airbags used by multiple manufacturers in multiple vehicle models, had supplied defective airbags and airbag parts to Honda and Ford.
The inflator part of the airbag, when discharged, could send metal pieces flying through the air. Being an airbag designed to prevent injuries during a crash, you can see how that would be counterproductive.
Since 2014, the scope of the recall has continued to expand, encompassing around 50 million total vehicles today, including those from additional manufacturers.
Though this issue isn’t really the result of a new vehicle prematurely suffering an unexpected component failure, it is the largest recall in automotive history, and something like airbags are expected to be life-saving devices.
Because of the size of the recall, manufacturers are still replacing defective parts, though measures have been taken to do this as quickly as possible.
If you don’t know if your vehicle has been affected or not, you can go HERE to read about the recall, receive further information about it, and even see if your vehicle has been affected.
Head Gasket Failure and Engine Failure:
One of the bigger news stories in the automotive industry right now has to do with engine fires in certain Hyundai and Kia models.
Reported incidents have been on the rise, and consumers with affected vehicles are starting to gain some traction in getting recalls issued and the underlying problems sorted out.
In particular, this has generally effected various 2011-2015 models, both cars and SUVs, equipped with the 2.4 liter and 2.0 liter turbocharged inline 4 cylinder engines.
Being that the Sonata, Elantra, Sorento, and Optima – among others – are all pretty popular vehicles, this problem affects quite a large number of vehicles. Still Kia and Hyundai aren’t the only two manufacturers that have dealt with some major engine issues.
Blown head gaskets are nothing to laugh at either, especially since repairing one requires extensive labor. Ignoring the signs of a blown head gasket could lead to major engine damage and consequently an engine rebuild.
One of the most notorious vehicles that were known for head gasket failures was the Jeep Cherokee XJ.
That vehicle is older though, so we can’t really include that one here.
Subarus are notorious for head gasket failure because of their engine configuration. Other vehicles that run hot and those with increased internal engine pressures – often, vehicles equipped with turbochargers and superchargers – are also more prone to head gasket failure than those without forced induction.
This is one reason why the door has been opened wider for increased instances of head gasket failure in recent years as many manufacturers have begun turbocharging their vehicles for the sake of better efficiency.
Even vehicles prone to head gasket failure can be taken care of to decrease the chances of failure or avoid it altogether.
Electronic System/Battery Failure
As cars and trucks become more complex, there will inevitably be more opportunity for one piece of the electronic system to fail.
Whether there is a bad sensor, a wire that gets destroyed through wear and tear, or a glitch in some software. Just like software and hardware you might have in your phone or computer, the more complicated things become, the more opportunity there is for things to not stopping functioning correctly.
Tesla is a good example of this.
They are really cool cars – rather, they are computers on wheels – but they are also extremely complex.
All it takes is for one battery cell to fail and the entire car is dead. One line of bad code in some software could prevent a system from working correctly or at all.
Consumer Reports even rated the Model X as one of the most unreliable models because of electronic issues, most notoriously, because of the many issues encountered with its falcon-wing doors.
Of course, not all Teslas have issues with this and doors aren’t as important as brakes and steering, but it doesn’t change the fact that Teslas are some of the most advanced vehicles on the market today, and any small issue could cause major problems that come with an enormous price tag.
And no, Tesla isn’t the only manufacturer with which electronic troubles could happen.
Luxury vehicles with more features are also going be prone to these types of issues.
Basically, the more complicated a vehicle is, the more likely it will be to have problems, especially with the electronic systems.
All in all, we expect the vehicles that we buy to be reasonably reliable and problem free within about the first 100,000 miles of ownership.
We all know that some have a reputation for being better than others, and we all know that no matter how good a car is, depending on what kind of life it lives, how we take care of it, and what we use it for, there will be an increased or decreased chance of problems.
Still, when a transmission fails after 30,000 miles or the engine of our brand new SUV starts billowing smoke out of the tailpipe, we know that we aren’t always the ones who caused the issue.
Fortunately, manufacturers usually have some kind of warranty for up to 3, 5, or even 10 years depending on the model.
After that, it’s up to you to keep up with normal maintenance and try to keep your vehicle running as long as you can without any major problems.
