2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid Gets Lifetime Battery Warranty

To further convince customers that Hyundai knows how to build a proper hybrid, the carmaker has announced that its 2012 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid sedan will now come with a lifetime battery warranty.

That means Hyundai will ensure that the lithium-polymer battery works for the life of the vehicle. If the battery fails, the company will replace it and take care of any recycling costs. The new warranty replaces the previous 10-year/100,000-mile warranty for the battery.

Hyundai says the battery has lasted up to 275,000 miles in company tests, which should be more than enough time for normal motorists. The automaker recently announced a base price of $25,850 for the 2012 Sonata Hybrid.

Editor's Note: Today, Hyundai released additional details on the lifetime battery warranty. The lifetime guarantee applies to all 2012 Sonata Hybrids. The coverage is not transferrable and does not apply to lease or commercial vehicles, or vehicles sold outside of the U.S.

Comments

Wow, that's one heck of a guarantee. It's great when you see automakers willing to stand behind their product. This should put people's worries at ease regarding replacing the battery.

Not new news, but the point is - READ THE FINE PRINTS. (If cars.com can find out, that'll be great).

Anyhow, batteries of any hybrid are warrantied for 10 years, 100K miles already in CA. The questions are - is this warranty transferrable, and what about parts that are associated with the battery, but not part of the battery itself (eg. say, wires to the batteries)?

This is a great marketing ploy nonetheless, esp if the warranty isn't transferrable! WIth new car ownership less than 5 yrs, vehicle life avg around 10, and the overall # of hybrids sold, this change will cost Hyundai barely anything at all!

with batteries in cabs going hundreds of thousands of miles without any hiccups, it seems to me that the battery should be the last thing a hybrid buyer should worry about. I agree with Amuro- good marketing ploy.

Broq

Does it transfer to second/third owners, or is it like Hyundai's power train warranty where it's cancelled after the original owner sells it?

@amuro ray

I think you may be confused on the car ownership and life numbers. The average age of owned vehicles(published recently all over the place) is 10.8 years which is a new record. That's not the life of the vehicle....that is how long the average owner drives their vehicle. Being an average that means there are a whole of of people that keep them longer and a whole lot that keep them less. I have three vehicles and two of them are approaching ten years old and when I trade them I'm sure they will go for another 5+.

I see they've told other outlets they don't know the details yet. One other site had linked the press release from the Hyundai media site, but it seems to be gone from there now. I think additional refinements to the car might have been a better way to boost sales.

@Derrick G
You're right; the press release is gone now. We're working on finding out more details.

The "cached" PR is still available on Autoblog Green,

http://green.autoblog.com/2012/01/11/hyundai-offers-lifetime-battery-replacement-guarantee-for-sona/

But as you can see, nothing on the fine prints on how the warranty really works, esp in the case of ownership transfer).

If the battery is bullet proof, then this is a great idea - that won't cost much!

Maybe they are betting on one of the battery advances, like the cheaper metal air batteries being available in 10 years? There are a few of them traveling down the pipeline, and they are cheap, with up to 15 times the energy density.

The guy in marketing who thought this up should get a big bonus, and I bet he will!
Is it a good deal for the consumer, only from the peace of mind angle.