This data is from the NHTSA — the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints are spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem.
So how do you find out what problems are occurring? For this NHTSA complaint data, the only way is to read through the comments below. Any duplicates or errors? It's not us.
While at a stop in a construction zone, my foot was on the brake, when the vehicle suddenly accelerated into the vehicle in front of me. Although my foot was planted hard on the brake, the engine continued racing, and it felt like my car was going to push his car down the street! I shifted into park and turned the car off. Luckily there was only $4,000 worth of damage to my car, and no one was hurt. I refused to drive it, and had it towed to the dealer. They said the computer showed no malfunction, and it had to be driver error. Three months later, it did it again to a lesser degree, in an open area. I turned the car off again, and it was fine until yesterday. It has been 4 months since that last incident, but this one even was worse than the first. Only thing is, now I know to put all my weight on the brake, shift to neutral and turn the car off as fast as I can. This one frightened me so badly, I will not drive it again. It is going to sit at the dealer until they find out what to do. I cannot in good conscience drive it, sell it or even trade it in until I know it is safe! every time it happened, the car was on a city street, stationary, and heading straight. The engine revs up so loud, it sounds like an airplane! yesterday I could tell the people in the car stopped next to me heard it and looked at me! I have owned this Santa Fe since it was brand new, and people tell me it looks like a new car. I keep up with the recommended maintenance and always take it to the dealer for service. Until last July, it has been an excellent car. The accident I had with it was the only accident I have had in 50 years of driving! please give me some ideas on what to tell the dealer to replace, repair or disconnect. Thanks for your help!
While accelerating to merge with traffic the engine starting making a strange noise. It continued to run and the noise decreased, and sometimes even quit. The next day the noise was back and while driving down a hill the engine died and my wife was able to coast onto an exit ramp. I was able to get it restarted and drove it to the dealer. The dealer stated with the knocking sound and they found metal in the oil it would need a new engine. I could not afford the over $7,000 estimate so I loaded the car on a trailer and took it home to repair myself. When I dissembled the engine I found one of the connecting rod bearings had spun and all the main bearings had significant damage consistent with metal debris on the bearing surface.
The contact owns a 2008 hyundia Santa Fe. While operating the vehicle, the check engine indicator illuminated and the fuel gauge indicator provided false readings. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 143,000.
My 2008 Santa Fe with 109,000 miles suddenly shut off on me when approaching a stop sign. The stop sign was on a slight turn and I never realized it until I had no power steering and saw all the lights lit on the dash. I put car in park and it restarted with no issues. Later that day I went to start the car and engine made a loud clunk sound and car shook for a second. I decided not to drive it that day. It has been 3 days since the first shut down and so far the car has been running like normal. Called Hyundai and made note of my complaint but didn't seem to know about this issue or so maybe they are not at Liberty to say if they have. They never gave me an answer except to take it to a dealer to see if they can diagnosis the problem. I see recall was put out for the 2010-2012 model years but not for older models.
The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. While having the vehicle routinely inspected for emissions, the vehicle failed due to a faulty fuel gauge. The check engine indicator illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic for diagnostic testing, but the details could not be provided. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 102,129.
- Montague, MA, USA
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After 141,000 miles the engine threw a rod, I had heard a clicking noise for a while but was assured it was a normal engine sound after taking it to the dealer. I change my oil regularly and have my slips, the engine completely failed while driving. In the last year and a half I am having to replace approximately one low beam headlamp per month.
The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that the speedometer was reading empty and all over the place. The check engine warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle was not diagnosed nor repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 54,000. Updated 05/10/16
When driving and you hit the breaks, the vehicle attempts to stall, or if you use the high or low breams the radio shuts off and the gps turns on or you loses it all, while on high way way if you use your high or low beams the engine starts to stall then keeps going causing the vehicle behind you have to break quickly to avoid hitting you as you loose all power for a matter of seconds this happen while moving or parked, I mhave installed two new alternators in the past three weeks and the problem coniinues
I also had the fuel sensor go out and had it fixed. And I had to have my alternator replaced twice. Once when it went out and again in 9 months due to recall for a fuel gasket cover default. So I paid the first time out of pocket $700 only to find out it was probably due to the default. Lynda
While accelerating to get on the highway the vehicle rapidly accelerated without pressing the gas pedal. When this occurred the pedal started going to the floor. Prying up on the pedal with your foot did not have an affect. This has happened twice and the dealer has looked at it twice and has advised that they could not find a problem.
I exited a toll and proceeded to enter the NJ turnpike, suddenly, the steering became tight. I noticed that the power steering was out, along with the engine. The engine just turned off. Thankfully, no traffic, I proceed to pull to the feeder of the entrance. Put car in park, and the car restarted. I am not sure what happened, and fearful that this could happen, with trucks behind me, unable to pull to the side and risk serious injury. No check engine light warning was indicated. I recently had two knock sensors replaced at the Hyundai dealership.
Fuel gauge has been faulty and check engine light would turn on and off after replacing what I thought was a bad battery one month ago. One week ago while driving, all lights on dashboard came on (battery, check engine, ABS, ESC...), engine started to rev, electrical and power steering failed, and car had to be turned off in the middle of the road and towed home. This has happened twice while driving now. Issue is from a failing/failed alternator caused by oil leak from front valve cover. This problem is identical to issues with '06-'12 veracruz, recall #121.
While I was driving along at approximately 25 mph in my Hyundai santafe the steering became very difficult and there was no throttle response. I stopped the vehicle completely in the middle of the boulevard street and put the vehicle in park and restarted the engine. I was very frightened during the incident that someone was going to run into the back of my car and that the vehicle would stop again before I got home. I refused to drive the vehicle again and followed my husband in another vehicle as he drove the faulty vehicle to the dealer the following day. The tech rep we spoke with at the dealer casually said the throttle positioning sensor was bad and if we wanted it repaired it would cost about $400. I couldn't believe they would let me leave the dealership with this malfunctioning part. The symptoms are the same as the General Motors ignition switch problem. I looked it up online and this seems to be a common problem with the Hyundai santafe. Where is the outrage" where are the recalls? is it going to take many deaths and 10 years to correct this problem like GM ignition switch problem? does somebody have to die before this is taken seriously" Hyundai management refuses to discuss this problem. I sincerely hope I can appeal to your sensibility and force this Korean company to address this dangerous problem.
The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving at 50 mph, the vehicle stalled without warning. The vehicle was taken to the dealer. However, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 175,000.
My wife indicated that when she got on the ramp to rt. 80, the car completely shut down. She also stated that she almost had an accident since she had no brakes nor power steering. This occurrence has been reported to the national highway safety by a number of owners yet you continue to ignore the problem which could be attributed to oil dripping from the valve cover on to the alternator. I guess you're waiting for some accidents to happen before taking action....maybe a few deaths resulting from a crash. Very proactive!
My Santa Fe AWD 2008 was bought in June 2009 and now has ~99K mileage. I had four or five similar incidents with my Santa Fe starting on 4/21/15, which led to significant power loss and speed loss of the car on the road. The first time, I was driving on a local road at ~25 mph. Suddenly I felt the car lost the power and began to slow down. I stepped down on the accelerator, but the car could not accelerate (the speed dropped to ~10 mph). I saw 3 system indicator/warning lights on: The ESC off(electronic stability control) and check engine indicators had a steady light and the AWD system warning light was flashing. I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the car, waited ~1 minute, and then restarted the car. The check engine light stayed on, but the other lights went out. Then I drove the car to continue to my job. The 2nd incident occurred on my way home. The same scenario except that I was driving at ~40 mph at the time. The sudden power loss caused the car speed quickly dropped to ~10 mph and probably led the car behind mine to make a sudden stop to avoid a crash. Again, I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the engine, and then restarted the car with the check engine light staying on. The other times I was on the cresent city connection (bridge) in the center lane. I had to work my way over two lanes to turn the vehicle off to restart to continue on my way to or from work. After the 5th time, I did some research online and found an article stating that this problem was on the tsb (technical safety bulletin). Maybe someone somewhere should be aware of more than one vehicle having this problem.......
Front valve cover gasket keep leaking oil on to the alternator causing the alternator to go out. The second time it happen the core of the alternator burned.I have replace the alternator 3 times and valve cover gasket twice. Hyundai have a recall on the veracruz for this some issues but will not recall the Santa Fe for this issues.
Safety issue: Failure of the fuel sending unit permanently turns on the "check engine light" which denies the use of the "check engine light" for other serious conditions. Many consumers have previously reported the failure of the fuel sending unit. These units cost between $800 to $1200 to fix so most drivers do not fix it and instead use the odometer reading to determine when fuel is needed. Unfortunately, driving with the "check engine light" on at all times prevents the driver from seeing the "check engine light" illuminate when a serious condition exists. Therefore, this is a safety issue. Considering the number of consumer reports already sent to NHTSA regarding failed fuel sending units, Hyundai should immediately issue a safety recall to fix these units.
After several hours of normal highway driving, the vehicle experienced a sudden loss of power as the engine computer entered "limp home" mode. Pressing the accelerator had no effect. Diagnosed as throttle position sensor failure. This problem occurred several times, with an engine restart clearing the problem temporarily. While these incidents did not result in a crash, they could easily have, depending on traffic circumstances.
I was driving to a stop light on a down hill slope with my whole family in the car when all of the sudden my car turned off. All at once my check engine light came on, my battery light came on, and I couldn't get the car to re-start. I turned on the emergency flashers and at the middle of a busy intersection I tried to restart my car but nothing happened. A few moments later I tried again and it started but it wouldn't let me accelerate almost at all (through an intersection!). there was also a clicking sound coming from the front of the car. I pulled into a parking lot, afraid if I was going to be able to drive anywhere, turned the car off, waited about five minutes, restarted it, successfully. I let it idle for a while unsure what else to do. I proceeded to drive home with no other incident. The clicking was off and on the entire drive home but has since gotten quieter.
A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
- Billings, MT, USA