Bulletins


BulletinBulletin dateReplacement BulletinItem no.SummaryAdded
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
15406/01/200510016301Electronic throttle system (ets) diagnostic trouble codes (dtc) update. *tt09/06/2005
033602411/01/200310004616Resistance values for idle speed control actuator (isca). various models including the 2004 sonata. *tt12/24/2003
023600502/01/20050536002632173Electronic throttle control system (ets) initialization. *tt update. *tt update. *tt07/11/2002
013602002/01/20050536004622386Electronic throttle system (ets) diagnostic trouble codes (dtc) update. *tt10/17/2001
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL - ACCELERATOR PEDAL
013601902/01/20050536001622385P1151 (accelerator position sensor -- ecm). *tt10/17/2001
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL - CRUISE CONTROL
034000403/01/200310002260Cruise control does not downshift above 75 mph - field fix. *tt08/18/2003

Consumer Complaints


Fail datemilesoccurencesPurchase date
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL
01/16/201370000
 Tl-the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. the contact stated that while parking the vehicle and applying the brakes, the vehicle accelerated and crashed into a building. the contact was not injured however, a police report was filed of the incident. the vehicle was not inspected for the cause of the acceleration failure. the manufacturer was not contacted. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 70,000. kmj
01/16/201370000
 Tl-the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. the contact stated while parking the vehicle the contact applied the brakes, suddenly the vehicle accelerated and crash into a build. the contact was not injured the crash. the contact did not call the manufacturer. a police report was filed. the failure mileage was 70,000. jo
12/09/201299606
 Tl- the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. the contact stated that while driving 35 mph the vehicle accelerated independently. the contact then engaged the emergency brake, causing the vehicle to stall. the vehicle was towed to the dealer for diagnosis. the contact took the vehicle to the dealer and the failure recurred. the vehicle was diagnosed with a stuck throttle. the throttle, brakes and rotors were all replaced. the manufacturer was not notified. the failure and current mileage was 99,606. kmj
12/09/201299606
 Tl- the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. the contact stated that while driving 35 mph the vehicle accelerated independently. the contact pulled the emergency brake and when it was shut the engine off. the vehicle was towed to a dealer for diagnosis. while at the dealer the vehicle again accelerated independently. the vehicle was diagnosed with a stuck throttle. the throttle, brakes, and rotors were all replaced. the manufacturer had not been notified. the failure and current mileage was 99,606. dt
06/28/201280000
 Tl* the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. the contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle unexpectedly increased acceleration. the brake pedal was applied repeatedly; however failed to reduce speed and crashed into the proceeding vehicle. there were no personal injuries and a police report was filed of the incident. the vehicle sustained minor damage to the front end bumper and was not towed. the manufacturer was not notified of the problem. the approximate failure mileage was 80,000.
06/28/201280000
 Tl-the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. the contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the vehicle unexpectedly increased acceleration. the brake pedal was applied repeatedly; however failed to reduce speed and crashed into the proceeding vehicle. there were no personal injuries and a police report was filed of the incident. the vehicle sustained minor damage to the front end bumper and was not towed. the manufacturer was not notified of the problem. the approximate failure mileage was 80,000. sm.
11/15/201199714
 Tl* the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. the contact stated that while driving 25 mph, the vehicle suddenly accelerated without warning. the vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who diagnosed that the failure was caused by a fractured cruise control cable. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure and the vehicle was repaired. the failure and the current mileage was 99,714.
11/15/201199714
 Tl - the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. the contact stated that while driving 25 mph, the vehicle suddenly accelerated without warning. the vehicle was taken to a local mechanic who diagnosed that the failure was caused by a fractured cruise control cable. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure and the vehicle was repaired. the failure and the current mileage was 99,714. kmj
11/15/201199714
 Tl - the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. the contact stated that while driving 25 mph the vehicle suddenly accelerated without any warnings. the vehicle was taken to a local shop who diagnosed that the failure was caused by a broken cruise control cable. the manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. the vehicle was repaired. the failure and current mileage was 99,714. pm
10/31/201184500
 My vehicle experienced unintended acceleration while traveling down a busy road travelling at a speed of 55 mph. the vehicle did not slow down while applying the brakes at full force. the vehicle did eventually slow down to a speed of about 40-45 mph at which point i was able to successfully make a right hand turn at that speed! once off the main highway, i was able to shift the car into neutral and turn it off to a complete stop! the vehicle was towed to the nearest hyundai dealership. a diagnosis was made that the accelerator cable assembly was damaged and needed to be replaced. at this time, the repair has not been completed as the dealership cannot have the part there until thursday, which is 3 days after the incident occurred! i cannot stress enough how dangerous and scarey this situation was! luckily, this time, no one was injured or killed, but the potential for that outcome was definitely there. i have seen other reports of this occurring with this model vehicle. i hope hyundai takes responsibility to permanently correct this potentially live threatening issue!
06/11/2010
 Please reference the original complaint that was filed in june 2010. the ref. no. is 10351059. the above vehicle is still exhibiting unintended acceleration and hyundai refuses to acknowledge that there is a problem with this vehicle and other like vehicles. since the original complaint the vehicle has had unintended acceleration about 10 times. whoever drives the vehicle always keeps their hand on the shift control and shifts into neutral when coming to a stop at an intersection. we may be contacted by phone for more information concerning this problem.
04/30/201080000
 I've owned my 2003 hyundai santa fe since july 2003 and i have been mostly pleased with the vehicle. on 4/30/10, i left home for a trip to another town approximately 100 miles from home. the trip was mostly on an expressway travelling at speeds of 60 - 70 miles per hour. as i neared my destination, i got off the expressway, onto a surface road. within 1 mile of being on the road, i was changing lanes and sensed my car pulling me, while i was lightly breaking. i looked down to ensure that neither my foot, floormat or anything else was touching the accelerator pedal. there was no explainable rason for the acceleration. however, by keeping more foot on the brake, i was able to control the car enough to pull into a parking lot. i stopped the car, and put in in park. the engine whined loudly. but i was able to turn it off. over the next 30 minutes i tried several times to start the car and see of the throttle would somehow reset itself. but each time, the engined raced loudly. i chose to have the vehicle towed to the nearest hyundai dealership. they determined that a throttle sensor had shorted out. the part was replaced and i was given back the vehicle on 5/8/10. the vehicle ha seemed to operate normally since then.
07/18/2006221122
 Tl*the contact owns a 2003 hyundai santa fe. while driving approximately 25 mph, the vehicle began to jerk. suddenly, the engine stalled without warning and the vehicle failed to restart. there were no warning indicators illuminated on the instrument panel. roadside assistance was called to the scene and the vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer for diagnostic testing. the mechanic stated that the throttle position sensor failed, which was replaced at that time. the vehicle was taken back to the dealer on a separate occasion for the same failure. the throttle position sensor was replaced again; however, the failure still persists. the vehicle is currently at the dealer. the failure mileage was 22,112 and current mileage was 41,496. updated 08/27/09 *bf updated 08/31/09.*jb
11/30/200647896608/16/2003
 At approximately 47,000 miles, check engine light came on. in addition, vehicle experienced a sudden occasional jump in idle to 3000 rpm+ while in park and drive after three minutes or so of operation. while in drive, vehicle lunges dangerously forward. when this occurs, ignition is turned off, and restart takes several attempts. after restarting, the vehicle will sputter and refuse to accelerate normally for 30-60 seconds. vehicle also stalls occasionally after 3 minutes or so of use when accelerating from a full stop. vehicle was brought to napelton hyundai, west palm beach, fl on nov 30. crankshaft position sensor and camshaft sensor were replaced. before leaving dealership with service manager present and automatic transmission in park, vehicle idle suddenly spiked to 4,200 rpm. i was told dealer was closed, and to drive it home. on december 5, vehicle again stalled again in traffic at intersection almost causing a collision. after restarting, it refused to accelerate normally for 30-60 seconds. vehicle was towed to back to napelton hyundai because both the stalling and sudden acceleration are serious concerns that make this santa fe unsafe to operate. the service manager agreed fully that the vehicle was unsafe to drive. on dec 20 i was advised that the vehicle was not repaired because attempts to duplicate the problems were unsuccessful. i was told to pick it up and drive it. i refused to do so. napelton had over 20 days to detect and correct these major safety issues, and i will not drive hyundai's failure into an accident. a review of nhtsa defects reported for this santa fe for 2003-2005 model years reveals over 40 similar incidents, some involving collision and injury. these are categorized under several different components including vehicle speed control, electrical system, vehicle speed control: accelerator pedal, other, power train: automatic transmission, and equipment. perhaps the santa fe's can be recalled before deaths result. *nm
08/21/200534000205/01/2005
 Very similar to complaint 10128836. (recently purchased 2003 2.7l v-6) (1) vehicle bucked violently between 70 - 75 mph twice in the last 2 days. no bucking at lower speeds (suv is seldom driven on the freeway, so this may be limited to a higher speed problem) (2) stalled while waiting (for about 2 minutes at a stop light the same day one of the bucking incidents occurred. ambient temp was 96 deg and ac was working hard. (3) 1 incident of vehicle surging forward with foot lightly on the brake. (4) lcd clock works only on occasion dealer has not been contacted yet - i don't know if he can duplicate. *jb
06/01/200508/16/2003
 On various occassions the spedometer will cease working while driving affecting the cruise control. also, car sometimes feels like it's slipping out of gear while driving. occassionally, while car is idling, car will shut down with no warning.
06/13/20042000111/05/2003
 We purchased our 2003 hyundai sante fe november of 2003. it is a 2003 model with a 3.5 liter engine. after having the car a couple of months, we started having a lurching problem when sitting at stop light. it would feel as if someone bumped into you from the rear. we brought the car in and were told that this was due to an abs problem. they serviced the car for the recalls that were current, and explained to us that they could not duplicate the problem, but it should be ok now with the recall servicing they had done. the car continued to have the problem, doing it several times a day. just recently i was parked in a parking lot. i started the car, applied my foot to the brake and shifted the car into reverse. the car engine suddenly revved very loudly, and the car lurched backwards about 6 feet, almost hitting some people who were parked behind me in the opposite spaces, putting groceries in their car. i had to place a lot of pressure on the brake to avoid the car going further than the six feet before the engine stopped revving. the car is now at the dealer, whom i hope will be able to help with the issue.*ak
40003
 On 3 separate occasions vehicle revved and accelerated while at a complete stop but idling. consumer's foot was depressed on the brake pedal at the time of these incidents. on the third occasion it resulted in a rear end collision. *ak
08/27/2003
 Vehicle was parked and without prior warning it suddenly jumped out of gear, accelerating up to 55 mph. upon uncontrollable acceleration consumer's vehicle collided with another vehicle. *ak
08/27/20031
 Vehicle was parked and without prior warning it suddenly jumped out of gear and accelerated to 55 mph. as a result the consumer's vehicle collided with another vehicle. *ak
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL - ACCELERATOR PEDAL
12/15/2003210002
 When accelerating from a stop vehicle stalled. consumer managed to pull over and restarted the vehicle with no problem. dealership had been notified, but did not resolve the problem. *ak
08/19/2003106/28/2003
 While accelerating after a complete stop, the vehicle failed to respond. dealer could not duplicate or correct the problem. *ak the vehicle did not respond and the consumer had to push on the pedal to make it go, especially at a spotlight following other vehicles. the vehicle had been to the dealer on three occasions. the crank sensor was installed which did not solve the problem. another mechanic solved the problem in a few minutes stating that it was a minor mechanical problem. *scc *jb
VEHICLE SPEED CONTROL - CRUISE CONTROL
12/24/20055
 Cruise control does not always respond when accelerating. at times the car slows down to point that it is a hazard for us and any car near to us. there has been three occasions that accidents almost happened. in order to get it under control, the car has to coast to the side of the highway and set for a short period before i can continue. i have talked to the dealer on two occasions. the first time they told me that they had never hear of such a thing and they would call the factory. when i hadn't heard from them for quite a long time i returned to the same place. this time they didn't acknowledge that i had ever been in with a complaint. *nm
04/01/2003203/08/2003
 Thr cruise control accelerates the car for no apparent reason. the automatic transmission jerks when shifting dislodging all passangers. the accelerater takes a few moments to get the car going. the problems with the transmission and the cruise control happen at all speeds, weather conditions and road conditions.*ak