The phantom strikes again.........

Our daughter, who lives in La Vista, NE, a suburb on the southwest part of Omaha, has a 2013 Hyundai Veloster.

A couple of weeks ago, the car started doing some bizarre things. The alarm would go off at random, then the power door locks started acting up, etc. She took it to a Hyundai dealer in Omaha. They checked it out and couldn't find anything wrong. Since the car had been in a fender bender in Falls Church, Virginia a year ago, the dealer said it was possibly caused by the body repair. They don't have a body shop and sent her to a body shop they recommended. The body shop played with a few things, let it set in a secured lot over a weekend to see if the alarm went off, and finally admitted they drew a blank. I will say while all this was going on, they all supplied Amy with respectable loaner cars.

The body shop advised Amy to take the car to the Hyundai dealer across the river in Council Bluffs, as the car is still under warranty. So, Amy did. The dealer in Council Bluffs checked the car in and gave her a loaner. A couple of hours later, they called and said they found--a loose ground wire.

Why are ground wires the only ones that ever work loose?

I don't know if they work loose or they never get tightened in the first place.

Many dealerships are not running on site body shops for some reason ?
Last place I worked at had one. I was in parts. When a car came back into the service department with some problem the FIRST place you looked was where the body shop repaired it ! Providing you knew it was in the body shop. Many times I knew as I did the parts for both service and body shop.
Flat rate = cut rate repairs unfortunately.

I keep telling people that the FIRST place to check whenever there is an electrical problem is the contact point of all ground wires! Seems like not many people listen to that advise.

Ground connections may look good, but underneath there is not a good contact.

And how many are there and where are they all located? If a person was really good at reading the schematics in the back of a GOOD manual, maybe they could find that one piece of crap.
I would look if I knew where.

Can't explain the why, but, ground contacts always corrode first. The 'Lucas-Prince of Darkness' is a prime example. I ran a Porsche - VW shop for a few years and poor/bad grounds were the first thing we looked at with electrical problems.

Bought it new, a 1989 C-70 Chevy with a gas engine. First ten years it run great. The next three were enough to junk it. Ordered a set if repair manuals for it and took it to a mechanic. He replaced very few parts, but most the trouble was computer parts not having a good ground.

Dunno if it it was just those years, but I had a 94 Chevy PU the ground wire was on the manifold. I was having a few issues with it starting, having to jump it etc, even with a new battery and finally checked the ground. Upon discovering the manifold thingie, I placed a new ground wire going to the =frame and never had any trouble with it after.

I second this advice. Clear back in 1975 I had a '62 Impala that every time I hit the brakes, the dash lights would come on real dim. Didn't notice it until I was driving right about dark but without my headlights on. I cleaned the ground wires on the headlights and the problem went away.