Acceleration Issue

[Silent_Blue]

Hi All!

I've read quite a few threads about this on the forum, but figured I would post my experience here as a comparison.

I am a new Genesis Owner of a 2023 GV70 2.5T Sports Prestige. I recently purchased my car last month. I do quite a bit of highway driving for my commute, and over the past month, I've gotten pretty used to how my car handles on the highway. I currently have about 2,500 miles on the car.

Just over a week ago, I started to notice that I am now having to give my car more power (having to press the pedal more) when I am passing a car, merging on the highway, or exiting an off ramp onto a main road. In the past, I've only had to lightly press the pedal when doing those things. I've noticed this issue is worse if I am merging onto a highway where the road is on a slight incline (again, I've driven the same route over the past month, and this has not happened in the same area in the past). I've also notice a slight acceleration lag of about 2 seconds when I am exiting an off ramp, slowing down, then trying to accelerate to merge into main road traffic. At times I am even having to floor the pedal to get a response. If I am at a complete stop, and then take a turn to merge into traffic, the acceleration delay only happens on occasion. Again, this has not happened in the past when I first purchased the car.

When I first purchased the car, I drove it in the default settings at start up: Comfort Mode with Auto Stop/Start on. I am now having to drive the car in Sport Mode, but even in Sport Mode, I am noticing I am having to press the pedal quite far to achieve the acceleration I am looking for to merge onto the highway. I also tried Sport Mode with Auto Start/Stop Off and am still having the same issue. I have only ever used 91 or 93 Octane fuel. I have not (yet) noticed that my car has stalled or not responded when accelerating, though with the current recall on the 2022s and older for fuel pump issues, I am feeling a bit worried that this might evolve into a bigger issue.

I reached out to the dealership where I purchased my car. Unfortunately, their first available appointment for a Genesis diagnostic is 3 months away! I left voice messages with both the manager of the dealership and with sales with no response. I reached out to another Genesis/Hyundai dealership whose service center was able to take my car in at the end of the month. They could not guarantee a Genesis loaner, but could give me a Hyundai loaner. I could care less what loaner I have, I just want to have this looked at.

While this might seem like a minor issue, the major reason why I traded my car in was because I was looking for a car with higher horsepower and good acceleration/limited lag specifically for highway driving, so this has become quite an annoyance. My prior car was a 2019 Mazda CX-5 as a comparison, and, at times, I feel like my good old Mazda gave me more power with acceleration in these same situations.

I will post an update once this has been looked at.

 

[dhuhtala]

I have noticed this as well - it got very bad for me in the city driving about 30 KM/H - like entering a traffic circle and having to accelerate - it's a scary thing when you press the accelerator and nothing happens...then after a couple of seconds it kicks in and takes off. That isn't safe. I took it in and they diagnosed that the throttle body needed to be replaced. That was a few thousand kilometres ago and now I'm noticing this again, but not as bad as it was when they replaced the throttle body...but still there. Something isn't quite right...

 

[Silent_Blue]

I have noticed this as well - it got very bad for me in the city driving about 30 KM/H - like entering a traffic circle and having to accelerate - it's a scary thing when you press the accelerator and nothing happens...then after a couple of seconds it kicks in and takes off. That isn't safe. I took it in and they diagnosed that the throttle body needed to be replaced. That was a few thousand kilometres ago and now I'm noticing this again, but not as bad as it was when they replaced the throttle body...but still there. Something isn't quite right...

Thanks for your comments about this. I actually found your prior posts to be very helpful in reference.

I have noticed over the last 1-2 weeks that it tends to happen when I am already going about 30 mph, then trying to accelerate beyond that. It takes about 2 seconds for the car to realize I want to accelerate between 30-40 mph. Once I hit 40 mph, the engine revs and I accelerate pretty rapidly, so I feel like I always have to gauge how hard and how long to press the gas pedal. This did not happen before. It's even worse when I am trying to merge on a road that is on an incline. The other day I had to floor it in Sports Mode, but it took quite some time for me to go from 30 to 60 mph - much longer than it did when I first got the car in Comfort Mode.

I'll be interested in finding out if this does end being a throttle body issue as well once it has been looked at.

 

[Silent_Blue]

Hello All. As promised, I've returned to post an update on the issue with my car.

I brought my car in to the dealership today to figure out what is going on with the acceleration. I left a detailed written note about the issue I am having along with print outs from two other Genesis owners who have had similar issues here on this forum. I was able to get a 2024 GV70 3.5T loaner in exchange.

I received a phone call later in the day. They had found the issue. Apparently, there is a hole in my radiator and the coolant ended up leaking out. I have been driving around in car for the last 3-4 weeks with no coolant in the radiator. Apparently, the car automatically went into "limp mode" as a result. They told me that there possibly was something that flung into the grill, pierced the bottom portion(?) of the radiator, hence the issue. I was too caught up in the notion that I had been driving around in a car for the last 1500 miles with no coolant in the radiator that I didn't dwell too much on the how. I ended up freaking out worried that I might have damaged the engine. They told me my engine was fine, but I need to replace the radiator. They told me it is not covered under warranty, and I could try to go through an insurance. I recently had to deal with insurance for a simple rear ender, which was a month's long nightmare, so I told them, no, I will pay out of pocket and go through insurance for reimbursement after. I want this fixed without delay.

The most concerning issue here was NEVER in the last 3-4 weeks when I had been having this issue did I ever receive any warning lights or notifications on the dash that there was no coolant in the radiator or that my car was in limp mode. NEVER!

This is a serious safety issue. Because, how would I know in the future if there is an issue with the car, or if fluids are low if I don't get a notification on the dash? I expressed as much on the phone with the dealership and asked what could be done. They gave me a verbal shrug and told me to contact Genesis corporate. I went ahead and opened a claim with Genesis corporate. If I can't get this resolved, I will push to have this car replaced, because they cannot seriously ask me to drive a car that cannot give me any warnings on the dash for something as simple as NO COOLANT IN MY RADIATOR!!! Never mind not receiving any notifications that I am driving in limp mode wondering why the heck this car won't accelerate appropriately. On a side note, I had also been checking my Genesis app for any diagnostic errors for the last 3-4 weeks. None registered.

I will update again once I hear back from Genesis corporate.

 

[EdP]

Hello All. As promised, I've returned to post an update on the issue with my car.

I brought my car in to the dealership today to figure out what is going on with the acceleration. I left a detailed written note about the issue I am having along with print outs from two other Genesis owners who have had similar issues here on this forum. I was able to get a 2024 GV70 3.5T loaner in exchange.

I received a phone call later in the day. They had found the issue. Apparently, there is a hole in my radiator and the coolant ended up leaking out. I have been driving around in car for the last 3-4 weeks with no coolant in the radiator. Apparently, the car automatically went into "limp mode" as a result. They told me that there possibly was something that flung into the grill, pierced the bottom portion(?) of the radiator, hence the issue. I was too caught up in the notion that I had been driving around in a car for the last 1500 miles with no coolant in the radiator that I didn't dwell too much on the how. I ended up freaking out worried that I might have damaged the engine. They told me my engine was fine, but I need to replace the radiator. They told me it is not covered under warranty, and I could try to go through an insurance. I recently had to deal with insurance for a simple rear ender, which was a month's long nightmare, so I told them, no, I will pay out of pocket and go through insurance for reimbursement after. I want this fixed without delay.

The most concerning issue here was NEVER in the last 3-4 weeks when I had been having this issue did I ever receive any warning lights or notifications on the dash that there was no coolant in the radiator or that my car was in limp mode. NEVER!

This is a serious safety issue. Because, how would I know in the future if there is an issue with the car, or if fluids are low if I don't get a notification on the dash? I expressed as much on the phone with the dealership and asked what could be done. They gave me a verbal shrug and told me to contact Genesis corporate. I went ahead and opened a claim with Genesis corporate. If I can't get this resolved, I will push to have this car replaced, because they cannot seriously ask me to drive a car that cannot give me any warnings on the dash for something as simple as NO COOLANT IN MY RADIATOR!!! Never mind not receiving any notifications that I am driving in limp mode wondering why the heck this car won't accelerate appropriately. On a side note, I had also been checking my Genesis app for any diagnostic errors for the last 3-4 weeks. None registered.

I will update again once I hear back from Genesis corporate.

Why replace the radiator? There are shops that specialize in repair of them.

 

[resdoggie]

You had coolant in the radiator. Without coolant, your engine would have overheated and blown. It didn't. Something is amiss here.

 

[joegr]

...I will push to have this car replaced, because they cannot seriously ask me to drive a car that cannot give me any warnings on the dash for something as simple as NO COOLANT IN MY RADIATOR!!! Never mind not receiving any notifications that I am driving in limp mode wondering why the heck this car won't accelerate appropriately. On a side note, I had also been checking my Genesis app for any diagnostic errors for the last 3-4 weeks. None registered.

I will update again once I hear back from Genesis corporate.

I think that you are misunderstanding. Your car has two cooling systems and two radiators. One is for the engine, and clearly that one was and is fine. The other is for the intercooler. That must be the one that was punctured and leaked all the coolant out. Failure of that system will cause no harm, It just reduces the amount of power available to you.
Shame on the dealer for not explaining this to you.

 

[GeeVee7T]

To the OP's point, with the vast array of sensors in this vehicle for everything from someone in the back seat to closing the fresh air intake if the washer fluid is sprayed... I'm shocked something of this severity would not have a barrage of alarms!

 

[lagobert]

Very interesting. I was noticing some very strange delays in shifting. Looked under my hood and the intercoolant coolant was empty. Like you NO warning lights, no alarms, ran the safety check and it didn’t show up. This is very disappointing/concerning. Thank you for posting this info!

 

[Silent_Blue]

Hello All!
I've decided to update on what has happened since I last posted. After I contacted Genesis Corporate, they opened up a case about my issue. However, I didn't have much faith in what they could do for me as I had to explain to the Genesis agent(?) what "limp mode" was. After I spoke with the dealership again, they further clarified the information about the two radiators. They stated that the lower one was the one that was cracked, and it had a pretty good crack in it from the hole that a ?rock made. Unfortunately, the crack had expanded. If I had been able to bring it in sooner (which was impossible since the first appointment at this dealership was in 3 weeks and at the dealership I purchased the car at was 3 months), I likely would have been able to patch it up, but because this is still a brand new car that I wanted to hang on to for some time, I asked if I got it repaired rather than replaced whether it would hold over the next 5ish years. They couldn't guarantee this, so rather than take a risk of paying little money now, running into issues, then pay more money later, I'd rather just pay the money upfront for a brand new radiator and have peace of mind. I again asked if there was a reason why I received no warnings on my dash. They stated that they did scan for any diagnostic codes, but there were none. Basically, it appeared my car was functioning fine according to its internal computer, but it was still driving in a modified version of limp mode.
It took about a week to fully repair the damage. They did send me photos of the radiator and the damage once they removed it from the car, so once I saw those, I was glad that I decided to just replace it. They also confirmed that I indeed had no intercoolant left in the damaged radiator. Luckily the upper radiator was not damaged. When I went to pick up the car, they told me it was running just fine, but also wanted to let me know that this was becoming a common issue with these cars. After my car came in, two other cars came in for the same issue - holes in radiators - one overheated and the other was in limp mode like mine.
I contacted corporate after I received my car back to follow up on the car's failure to detect no intercoolant. They were not very helpful. First, they asked me if I knew if there were other warnings on the dash that were not working. I told her, how would I know what warnings don't work, if I don't know if there is something wrong with the car? In other words, If something is wrong with the car and no warnings come on the dash, how would I know that the warnings on the dash don't work? The only way I picked up on the fact that I had an issue was because I was able to determine that the car wasn't accelerating as quickly as it did when I first purchased it, which was a very subtle finding. I had my first included maintenance coming up for the car a month later, so they made a note to the same dealership to check the dash. When I brought it in for its first maintenance, they double checked that all fluids were topped and that the new radiator was still undamaged. They double checked for any diagnostic codes and also the dash, still nothing. I contacted corporate, and they didn't know what else to do. I told them that this needed to be filed as a major complaint as this could be a safety issue for people who don't realize that their car is in limp mode if they are out of intercoolant. They closed my case. So, end of story, there as been no satisfying conclusion about the absence of a dash warning for low or no intercoolant. However, my car has been running perfectly fine since the radiator replacement.
If anyone knows where I can file a formal complaint about this in writing, I would appreciate it!

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[EdP]

. I told them that this needed to be filed as a major complaint as this could be a safety issue for people who don't realize that their car is in limp mode if they are out of intercoolant. They closed my case. So, end of story, there as been no satisfying conclusion about the absence of a dash warning for low or no intercoolant. However, my car has been running perfectly fine since the radiator replacement.
If anyone knows where I can file a formal complaint about this in writing, I would appreciate it!

How is it a safety issue? If the car is in limp mode you know you have a problem and you should get it fixed. Does it somehow cause you to crash into things or drive off a cliff?

Glad your car is running well.

 

[Silent_Blue]

How is it a safety issue? If the car is in limp mode you know you have a problem and you should get it fixed. Does it somehow cause you to crash into things or drive off a cliff?

Glad your car is running well.

Thanks! I am glad things got sorted out with the car.

I did not realize it was in limp mode until I had to try to accelerate and merge into traffic. I never received any warning lights that the car was in limp mode during the entire month that I had this issue. Also, the limp mode I was in felt pretty inconsistent at first. There were times I did have some moderate acceleration and other times when it downright wasn't there. I suspect this was during the time when I had some intercoolant left. So for the first week when it happened, I really wasn't sure if there was something wrong with the car or not. Over time, (probably as the intercoolant levels continued to decrease) the car consistently decreased in its ability to give me good acceleration. By then, I had already contacted the dealership.

When you expect your car to perform a certain way when you hit the gas, and it doesn't, it can cause collisions or near collisions. I almost got rear ended the first time I noticed the acceleration issue, because the car did not give me the acceleration I expected to merge into traffic on a busy street. Luckily, I wasn't merging onto the highway that time. After that happened, I was able to readjust the timing when merging into traffic. If I had some warning light that something was wrong with the car, I likely wouldn't have sat on it for a week wondering if there was an issue. At least a warning light to indicate that it was indeed in limp mode would have been helpful.

 

[steveinarizona]

How is it a safety issue? If the car is in limp mode you know you have a problem and you should get it fixed. Does it somehow cause you to crash into things or drive off a cliff?

Glad your car is running well.

But the OP couldn't get it fixed because the OP couldn't get a service appointment. To me, that is totally unacceptable. I can understand and accept delays in appointments for routine maintenance but not for sudden problems. On my prior BMWs, anytime something went wrong I would call and my SA would say "come on in" and there would be a loaner for me.

If this happened to me, unless Genesis corporate came up with a satisfactory resolution including making sure this doesn't happen again in the future, I would leave Genesis. At least where I live, there are luxury stores for every brand nearby.

I have not had that happen yet. But at my first maintenance visit, I did have the recall for the rear drive shafts. I told my SA that I didn't want to drive a car with a possible rear drive shaft failure (especially in a car with a rear drive bias like the GV60). He agreed without question. That was when I was given an almost brand new electrified G80 as a loaner. I kept that loaner for about a month while the dealership waited for the parts for the drive shaft fix. No problems with the dealership.

I do understand the current supply chain problems that are affecting all car companies. Given that problem, I am satisfied if my dealership promptly provides me with a quality loaner. If I have to wait for extra weeks that is okay with me. But don't tell me there are no loaners or give me a Santa Fe. Again, so far Genesis of Scottsdale has been on Santa's good list.

 

[EdP]

But the OP couldn't get it fixed because the OP couldn't get a service appointment. To me, that is totally unacceptable. I can understand and accept delays in appointments for routine maintenance but not for sudden problems. On my prior BMWs, anytime something went wrong I would call and my SA would say "come on in" and there would be a loaner for me.

If this happened to me, unless Genesis corporate came up with a satisfactory resolution including making sure this doesn't happen again in the future, I would leave Genesis. At least where I live, there are luxury stores for every brand nearby.

I have not had that happen yet. But at my first maintenance visit, I did have the recall for the rear drive shafts. I told my SA that I didn't want to drive a car with a possible rear drive shaft failure (especially in a car with a rear drive bias like the GV60). He agreed without question. That was when I was given an almost brand new electrified G80 as a loaner. I kept that loaner for about a month while the dealership waited for the parts for the drive shaft fix. No problems with the dealership.

I do understand the current supply chain problems that are affecting all car companies. Given that problem, I am satisfied if my dealership promptly provides me with a quality loaner. If I have to wait for extra weeks that is okay with me. But don't tell me there are no loaners or give me a Santa Fe. Again, so far Genesis of Scottsdale has been on Santa's good list.

I agree with the poor service, but that does not make it a safety issue.

If your car goes into limp mode and won't get up to speed, you take the back roads to the dealer, not the highway. I did that on a car a dozen years ago.

I don't agree with this sentence:
I told them that this needed to be filed as a major complaint as this could be a safety issue for people who don't realize that their car is in limp mode if they are out of intercoolant.

 

[steveinarizona]

I agree with the poor service, but that does not make it a safety issue.

If your car goes into limp mode and won't get up to speed, you take the back roads to the dealer, not the highway. I did that on a car a dozen years ago.

I don't agree with this sentence:
I told them that this needed to be filed as a major complaint as this could be a safety issue for people who don't realize that their car is in limp mode if they are out of intercoolant.

It might not be a safety issue but it is a sudden problem (which is the term I used) and for my prior luxury cars, I always could bring it right in and get a loaner if anything went wrong. And after you take the back roads (as you suggested), the dealer won't accept the car and give you a loaner because you don't have an appointment. I might accept this treatment from a Nissan dealer but not from someone selling a luxury mark.

 

[Silent_Blue]

I agree with the poor service, but that does not make it a safety issue.

If your car goes into limp mode and won't get up to speed, you take the back roads to the dealer, not the highway. I did that on a car a dozen years ago.

I don't agree with this sentence:
I told them that this needed to be filed as a major complaint as this could be a safety issue for people who don't realize that their car is in limp mode if they are out of intercoolant.

However, I need this car to drive to work. There are no backroads that can get me from my house to my job without adding an additional hour to my commute. I just don't have the luxury to commute 3 hours each day or more with traffic.

If there is an issue that could potentially cause an accident, then to me that is a safety issue.

 

[GeeVee7T]

How is it a safety issue? If the car is in limp mode you know you have a problem and you should get it fixed. Does it somehow cause you to crash into things or drive off a cliff?

Glad your car is running well.

Sorry EdP, I'm with the OP on this one - everything on the dashboard is a *warning* or *information* of some sort. I would argue that having no coolant is definitely one of those two. Also "limp mode," is what you do to avoid further damaging a vehicle, meaning driving it in that condition in the absence of any indicators (warning or otherwise), presents a risk to damaging the vehicle ("safety" of the vehicle) or complete failure ("safety" of the occupants). So... ya, I get it. Safety issue for sure in my books if the car is sufficiently upset to not want to drive normally, but to then not advise the occupant in any way except for," Hunh... seems to be accelerating slower than normal?!" I mean, let's be serious - they have indicators for which radio station I'm listening to... surely, "no coolant" is at least as important as that.

To the OP @Silent_Blue , "my car was functioning fine according to its internal computer, but it was still driving in a modified version of limp mode" Ok, so this is whacked in my opinion. No fault code records (!), but in limp mode and out of coolant?? I once drove a GMC Acadia. I was on the highway and it was "acting weird," so I pulled off to a parking area to check it out. Engine was *smoking hot*, *ZERO* oil. Engine seized as it cooled and needed a tow to get home. $10k (CAD) later, it had the engine replaced (this was about 10 years ago). I would swear under oath - *ZERO* indicators, *ZERO* warnings whatsoever at any time prior to, "Hunh... driving weird." Not one beep, boop or flashy light to tell me anything was wrong. Car had 49,000km (~30k mi) on it. How the hell does one make a vehicle with a "low washer fluid" warning but not a, "you are completely out of oil and about to implode into a smouldering heap of molten lava," warning?!

Seems this is "Situation: Normal," according to car-land!

 

[joegr]

Some facts for this discussion.
The vehicle has no coolant level monitoring. Some cars have low coolant sensors, and other don't. This one is in the don't category.
It is the intercooler radiator that leaked and lost all coolant, the engine radiator was fine. There was no danger of any engine damage.

 

[EdP]

Sorry EdP, I'm with the OP on this one - everything on the dashboard is a *warning* or *information* of some sort. I would argue that having no coolant is definitely one of those two. Also "limp mode," is what you do to avoid further damaging a vehicle, meaning driving it in that condition in the absence of any indicators (warning or otherwise), presents a risk to damaging the vehicle ("safety" of the vehicle) or complete failure ("safety" of the occupants). So... ya, I get it. Safety issue for sure in my books if the car is sufficiently upset to not want to drive normally, but to then not advise the occupant in any way except for," Hunh... seems to be accelerating slower than normal?!" I mean, let's be serious - they have indicators for which radio station I'm listening to... surely, "no coolant" is at least as important as that.

OK, got it. My car is not running right but I'm going to keep driving. I'm blaming the car maker for not telling me with a light what I already know.

Older cars did not have limp mode, they just stopped. Should we go back to that?

Amazing that the auto industry got this far without warning lights for everything.

As a driver/car owner, we do have some responsibility to check fluid levels, know when things are not right. I checked my oil today, just in case the light, if there is one, is burned out.

 

[axle]

Well this is fun! Now I have exactly this problem, dead throttle/ hesitancy pulling away and revving to 5000 rpm with no acceleration so Genesis took it in and I have a hole in my intercooler as well, and living in the remotest capitol on earth means the usual wait times for parts, even though I am being stiffed for the intercooler and fitting Genesis has given me a car but my take on the whole issue is 1, far too many cars are getting debris strikes on their intercooler, 2, this anecdotally looks far more likely that the throttle problem is coolant based not throttle body based as per another post but I will wait and see when mine is fixed. The lack of any kind of warning is also most concerning.