In May 2013, my Wife purchased a new Hyundai i10 from Richmond Hyundai based in Portsmouth.
After about a year, her i10 developed an intermittent knocking sound coming from the rear when braking. She phoned Richmond Hyundai and arranged to take the car to their garage at Farlington in June 2014. We really weren’t too worried as the car is backed by the Hyundai 5 year unlimited mileage warranty.
Unfortunately, the intermittent knocking sound was taking time off during the technician’s road test! A visual inspection was inconclusive and no further action taken by Richmond Hyundai (Portsmouth).
The keyword here though is ‘intermittent’. The noise continued and, being old fashioned, we didn’t think this was normal behaviour for a car that was barely a year old.
My Wife phoned Richmond Hyundai again and this time we both went out with the technician to road test the car around Farlington.
Fortunately (or not!), the car made the knocking sound whilst we were all in the i10 and the technician did confirm he could hear the noise, coming from the driver side rear when braking.
The car was once again booked into the Richmond Hyundai garage at Farlington and so we made our two-car trip again to drop the car off for review, investigation and repair.
We then got the phone call from one of the after-sales team at Richmond informing my Wife that the brakes would need to be stripped and cleaned but that was not covered by warranty. Preferring that her 2013 plate car did not make a knocking sound when braking, she gave the go-ahead for the work to proceed at a cost of £107. That is not in any dispute.
We returned to Portsmouth to collect her i10 from Richmond Hyundai. I wanted to seek clarity on why this work wasn’t covered by the 5 year unlimited mileage warranty. At this point, we were offered a free cup of tea or coffee.
The service rep empathised but couldn’t help. She asked her manager to assist. More tea and coffee offered whilst the manager went to get a director. We were then ushered into a side office to sit with the Customer Services Director (CSD) who explained to us why this repair was outside of warranty.
To help us understand, he used a stapler to explain the difference between parts covered under warranty and wear and tear. In this instance, a staple would be a component that, if failed, could be returned to Hyundai. However, if dust got into the stapler that caused it to stop stapling, that would be wear and tear. That analogy was a big help and when he occasionally raised his head and looked us in the eye, I could see he really believed it.
At the time of our first visit to Richmond Hyundai, my Wife’s Hyundai i10 had done about 12,000 miles. The CSD mentioned something about the type of driving, i.e. commuting, that would contribute to the build-up of dust around the brakes that caused the knocking sound. Fortunately, I didn’t have a mouthful of coffee at the time!
So, whether it was a staple or car, dust is the issue and we’d have to pay, which, of course, we did. As already mentioned, my Wife had given the authority to proceed so it was never in doubt that we would pay.
Of more concern though, if you are buying a new Hyundai i10, would be to establish whether a knocking sound around the brakes caused by a build-up of dust after 10,000-12,000 miles of on-road commuting is commonplace?
I’ve only done a cursory search on Google for ‘hyundai i10 brakes knocking’ and came across this post – www.drive.ph/2011/hyundai-i10-noise-rattle – which would suggest it may not be just my Wife’s fondness for using her car on roads and motorways that caused this.
I think as a ‘wear and tear’ fault, you may find that if you are happy to put up with the knocking sound coming from your Hyundai i10, then you could possibly wait until the next service to get fixed, whether at Richmond Hyundai or whatever garage you bought your new i10 from.
If you can’t wait, just be prepared to have to pay as this fault is not covered by the unlimited mileage warranty. If you can drive on roads that are free of dust, then so much the better! 
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