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Anyone experience Sudden Unintended Acceleration in a Santa Fe?

143 messages,  Last post on Apr 14, 2013 at 1:20 PM

You are in the Hyundai Santa Fe Forum.

What is this discussion about? Hyundai Santa Fe, SUV

Messages Page 2 of 15

#3 of 143 Re: Anyone experience Sudden Unintended Acceleration in a Hyundai Santa Fe? [bryancos] by lucky15

Dec 18, 2009 (8:47 am)

Replying to: bryancos (Dec 16, 2009 1:26 pm)
I own a 07 Sante Fe with the 2.7 engine, I have not had this problem on mine yet and hope not to in the future, but I did have this problem on a 2004 Hyundai XG350L with 21,000 miles, it has the same "drive by wire" setup as the Sante Fe`s, It did it twice in 2008, I took it in and they checked everything and found out there was a TSB on it, they disconnected the battery for a short time and then reconnected it and said this will reset the computer and this should eliminate the probem, it did for about a year and it did it twice again, I took it back to the dealer and said they checked everything and there is nothing they can do, ( they could not DUPLICATE IT, (their favorite answer) even though it was still under warranty, they said disconncting the battery can only be done once to solve this problem, Rather than endanger my life or someone else`s I took a loss on it and trade it in. If it was not under warranty the dealer would have gladly accepted my money and replaced the Throttle Position Sensor or anything else they could think of as long as it wasn`t costing them anything and they could make money on me. My advice to you is sell it or trade it in for one that does not have this type of throttle system. Without thinking I purchased a 2009 Honda Civic for my wife and later found out it has the same system on it, no problem so far.

#4 of 143 Re: dealers POV [espo35] by bryancos

Dec 18, 2009 (10:56 am)

Replying to: espo35 (Dec 17, 2009 2:53 pm)
Espo35, We've BEEN working with the dealership to address the problem, but they've not been able to "duplicate the problem" after putting 200 miles on the car.
I can't put blame on the service department, because they're only authorized to do what corporate allows them to do. The service manager at the dealership has been great, but he can only do much. The SUA incidents occurred twice in a week's time about 5-6 days apart... once while my wife was driving and had our daughter in the car, and once while I was driving it on the highway at around 75-80mph. I took it directly to the dealership immediately after it occurred when I was driving and they had our vehicle for 4 days. They were going to charge us for a loaner until we brought up the point that this was a potential safety issue and we weren't bringing the car in on a whim, we had a legitimate concern. Only after engaging a sales manager did they agree to provide a loaner at no charge. Corporate refused to allow the dealer to replace any parts. While I do understand their unwillingness to replace the TPS for fear it'll count against them as a "repair attempt", isn't it also the dealership's responsibility to attempt to repair problems? There's never any guarantee that a performed repair fixes every problem the first time. But it stands to reason that the TPS would be the first logical part to replace, before diving deeper.
 
I work in IT, and when we cannot determine the exact cause of a customers system crash, we often start with replacing components such as memory and CPU to see if the problem goes away before we start replacing system boards, etc... It only makes sense that they would first try to replace the TPS and see if that resolves the problem. If the vehicle still exhibited the SUA problem, I'd simply take it back and tell them to try again. But their unwillingness to replace ANYTHING and tell a customer "we didn't find anything wrong -- here ya go, good luck - hope you don't have an accident" and hand it back over seems very irresponsible when lives are potentially at stake.

#5 of 143 Re: Anyone experience Sudden Unintended Acceleration in a Hyundai Santa Fe? [lucky15] by bryancos

Dec 18, 2009 (11:06 am)

Replying to: lucky15 (Dec 18, 2009 8:47 am)
Lucky15, Thank you for sharing your experience. I've been in contact with NHTSA to log a complaint (simply to ensure the incidents were documented and on record with authorities should litigation become necessary) and I also opened a case with Hyundai Motor America/Hyundai USA Consumer Affairs. Of course because the dealership was unable to "duplicate the problem", they've essentially treated as an OPEN AND SHUT CASE, and while the rep I spoke to was empathetic, (that's her job afterall!) I feel the whole issue was swept under the rug. Never at any point did anyone of authority speak to me. I requested a call back from a regional rep, and even they have refused to call... I want this aired on a public forum so that other consumers can stand up for the rights and if enough owners speak up, we may have grounds to start a class action if nothing else.

#6 of 143 Similar SUA event on 2005 Hyundai Santa Fe by bryancos

Dec 18, 2009 (11:18 am)

Found this entry on another forum for a 2005 Santa Fe:
 
 2007-10-30 00:00:00 Brigantine, NJ
Sudden engine acceleration when parking. this is the second time this happened. my wife was parking the car and when she put her foot on the brake (note, she is a very experienced driver and was not accidentally pushing the accelerator, also nothing on the floor was touching it.) the engine started to accelerate to full throttle, she jammed on the brake and throw it into park at which point the engine raced full speed until she turned off the key. it was ok after restarting, this is the 2nd time within a month. very dangerous condition .

#7 of 143 Similar SUA event on 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe by bryancos

Dec 18, 2009 (11:21 am)

Found this on a Consumer Reports Article comment section:
 Posted by: Charlie K. | Nov 27, 2009 1:05:29 PM
 
I wonder how wide spread the sudden acceleration issue is to vehicle makes beyond the current recall. We own a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. My wife has frighteningly experienced this problem with our car, and the dealer mentioned receiving a Hyundai service report on the issue, although mostly concerning sudden deceleration.

#8 of 143 Re: dealers POV [bryancos] by espo35

Dec 18, 2009 (11:37 am)

Replying to: bryancos (Dec 18, 2009 10:56 am)
That's a pickle, all right, Briancos! Duplicating the concern is absolutely square one. Sounds like the Service Manager is on your side, and that is a good thing. You might consider seeing if he's willing to drive it home until it duplicates. I know it's a pain, but it's your best shot.
The dealership is handcuffed until either your computer detects a fault or they reproduce the occurance. Hyundai won't pay them unless a problem is found/fixed. They won't pay a tech to drive it for days. You can try "opening a case" with Hyundai, but it just refers back to the dealership.
Both Hyundai and the dealership want nothing more than to fix your car (and get you out of their hair!). But if they don't know what is wrong.... obviously, they can't.
If it were me, I would pay for a new TPS to be installed (cheap part). See if the Service Manager will do it at cost. As long as it's by YOUR request, they'll do it.

#9 of 143 Sudden Acceleration Resource by bryancos

Dec 18, 2009 (11:57 am)

For anyone who has experienced Sudden Unintended Acceleration regardless of make/model, here's a great resource of information on the subject: h t t p: / / suddenacceleration (dot)com.

#10 of 143 Re: dealers POV [espo35] by bryancos

Dec 18, 2009 (2:59 pm)

Replying to: espo35 (Dec 18, 2009 11:37 am)
espo35, I took your advice and when we went to pick up our vehicle today we spoke to someone in the front office. After some discussion, we made the formal request that a new TPS be installed, which I we agreed to pay for. They agreed to provide the part at their dealer cost plus the labor charges, so now I'm out $170 but at least now have some peace of mind that we can rule out the most likely culprit. And of course if the problem resurfaces we know that component can crossed off the list. Thanks for the input.

#11 of 143 Re: dealers POV [espo35] by bryancos

Dec 18, 2009 (2:57 pm)

Replying to: espo35 (Dec 18, 2009 11:37 am)
espo35, I took your advice and when we went to pick up our vehicle today we spoke to someone in the front office. After some discussion, we made the formal request that a new TPS be installed, which I we agreed to pay for. They agreed to provide the part at their dealer cost plus the labor charges, so now I'm out $170 but at least now have some peace of mind that we can rule out the most likely culprit. And of course if the problem resurfaces we know that component can crossed off the list. Thanks for the input.

#12 of 143 Re: dealers POV [bryancos] by espo35

Dec 18, 2009 (3:09 pm)

Replying to: bryancos (Dec 18, 2009 2:57 pm)
Good luck! Please let me know if you have success with this fix. Maybe I can use the info to help someone down the road!

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