Blue Link Failure

Last Friday I moved up from a 2011 V6 tech/premium to a 2013 V6 tech/premium. The new car has Blue Link and for the past few days I have been testing it out. I have remote started the car, remote unlocked the doors, and sent POI info to the car a few times. I also pressed the "B" button and went through the first connection with a live agent. Everything has been working well until this afternoon.

This afternoon I decided to try connecting to Blue Link to download gas station data and restaurant data. I pressed the "B" button and the car dialed Blue Link... It rang, and rang, and rang. After 30 seconds with no answer I gave up.

I called Hyundai and they couldn't explain why the system never answered. They asked me to try again while on the phone, so I did. Just like last time, the system never answered when my vehicle called. What's worse is they asked me to try the SOS button, and that call also failed. Not good at all.

I'm livid. Hyundai insists that they will get the system working, and promised to compensate me for the down time, but as I explained to the rep, compensation is the least of my worries. What has me furious is the notion that if I run into a situation where my life depends on SOS working and it fails, well...

So, while I'm waiting on Hyundai to fix this issue, I am wondering if anyone else has experienced a similar failure.

Realistically what are your expectations of them to make you happy? It's written in their warranty in black and white what they will do, which is fix the issue. No company could possibly guarantee that no part on the car will ever break. That's why warranties exist.

I doubt your life will ever be dependent solely on Blue Link. There have been other ways to get help since before it was invented.

I get his frustration though, if your going to release a technology to compete with On-Star etc. make sure it works. I have used it a few times to speak with a representative and it did the same thing to me. I haven't had to use the SOS button, but if I did it's because of a bad situation and it not working correctly in a time of need is unacceptable.

The application is very clunky/slow to respond at times and I'm still not getting any vehicle diagnostic information 3 months after purchase. I have taken it into the dealer about this issue and it's still not corrected.

Also the remote start is semi-retarded in functionality, if my doors happen to be unlocked and I hit remote start it fails; telling me I need to first lock the doors. Now color me stupid but why wouldn't they just design it to lock the doors and start the car if it happens to be in an unlocked state, it is after all monitoring what is going on with the car to begin with


The list of flaws with the current Blue-Link are numerous and I'm fairly sure that Hyundai will not do anything soon, if at all to fix them in the current Genesis sedans. I wrote a very polite letter to them explaining my concerns with the operation of the system but haven't heard back from them and most likely wont lol. /rant off

Gameday I'm stumped. Your car is basically a copy of mine and while I usually have the worst luck with cars, mine has had none of these issues. I do agree that the remote start should in fact lock the doors and then start the car, but really, other than a rare shut off of the adaptive cruise, it has been reliable.

I've used the remote start almost daily until I started garaging the G (won't work inside). I have noticed that the Bluelink app is dependent on the quality of cell signal. With a Wifi connection things are very quick. With a poor cell signal, slow and spotty. How's your data connection?

I sincerely hope Hyundai pays attention, it is the only way they will ever hope to compete in the luxury market, at any price point.

Good luck to you and the OP.

gameday22, I feel your pain. brfatal, you're missing the point.

I tested the system the next day and it worked. However, that's not the end of the story. Hyundai told me on the phone that they would send me an e-mail shortly as a notice of the support request, and that they would send me a second e-mail when the issue was resolved. I only received the first e-mail several days after the phone call, and I have yet to receive the second. Not surprising.

I did receive a follow-up phone call a few days later, however, and learned some interesting info. The car does not require your own cell phone to work, counter to the claims that the dealership made to me. Instead, the car has its own cellular radio built in, and it has the ability to use any of the major US cellular networks to connect and does so based on location of the vehicle and strongest signal. More specifically, the system uses a third-party mediator to negotiate the best cell signal for the area whether AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, etc.

Furthermore, the system is designed to recover from a failed connection like I experienced. According to the tech that called, had I allowed the call to continue to ring for approximately one minute, the call would have automatically ended and the system would have placed a new call to a different system. The theory is that between the two systems (primary and backup) one should be able to connect each and every time.

It's disappointing that the first rep didn't explain any of this to me when I originally called as the explanation would have gone a long way to ease my frustration over the failed connection. It's also disappointing that I never received the first e-mail in a timely manner as it was suggested I would, and that I never received the second e-mail at all. It might sound like a minor issue, but as I see it, Hyundai needs to improve their follow through, especially when dealing with technology designed to save lives in an emergency.

Fast55, my 2011 was a great vehicle. It really didn't have anything wrong with it except the drooping steering wheel, but I avoided the issue by turning off the easy exit setting. This 2013 is a much better vehicle, but it seems to have a few more obvious issues. My biggest complaint at the moment is that the radio sounds very slightly fuzzy, but I can't nail down why, and I can't seem to be able to point it out to anyone else at the dealership. All I know is that my music sounded fine in the 2011, and "off" in the 2013 under the exact same conditions.

Ah well, overall I am as satisfied with the 2013 as I was with the 2011 and am happy to drive a Genesis. Great car.