Like many new vehicles, the Hyundai Elantra N 2022 offers several different driving modes. One of them is the N mode which among other things makes the sound of the 2.0 liter turbocharged engine a little more lively. Apparently, it was too lively for a California police officer and an official at a state testing facility. Now, the owner can’t drive his Elantra N until the problem is fixed, but since it’s new and presumably stock, there’s nothing to fix.
This situation is explained in both the Reddit post and the video shared by ENTense Youtube channel. Long story short, this driver was stopped by a California motorcyclist due to a boomerang sound coming from the 2022 Hyundai Elantra N. The driver explained the car was stock and offered to open the hood, but the officer refused. Instead, he informed the driver that his registration would be suspended and the state representative would send him “back to the dealer; the dealer must remove the track option, you have to pay it, about $4,000.”
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Later in the conversation, the clerk raised that figure to $7,000. It is not known how the officer arrived at these figures, but he later told the driver that he could demand money from the dealer, saying that the dealer representative should tell the driver that driving in track mode is not allowed and he could “earn $4,000, $5,000.” return.” Registration was stopped on the spot, and according to the video, the officer tried to suspend the driver’s license as well. Apparently, it was opposed by state officials because it was not allowed.
But wait, there’s more.
The owner of this Elantra N took the car to an inspection station, and was allegedly told it had to be tested in the harshest vehicle mode. In this case, it has been tested in Sport mode and still fails the sound test, where the owner is asked to take it back to the dealer and return it to stock… which is already there.
The dealer confirmed that much, but since no work was done, the Elantra N couldn’t be tested anymore. And because it cannot be tested, it cannot be moved. Videos and Reddit threads suggest that the inspection station performed the test incorrectly, forcing the car into a mode that’s louder than its default setting.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a strange situation regarding vehicle noise levels in California. In 2021, Porsche was forced to stop selling the manual transmission version of the 911 GT3 because it was too loud, but the same car with the PDK gearbox did just fine. The situation was eventually resolved rather quickly, but in this case, it’s been a few weeks and as far as we know, the Elantra N is still out.
We’ve reached out to Hyundai for comment on the situation, as we haven’t heard anything about the sale of the new Elantra N being banned in California. Presumably, if Hyundai is allowed to sell cars there, it must pass the existing state regulations.
