10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 3 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 0 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 77,158 miles
About These NHTSA Complaints:
The NHTSA is the US gov't agency tasked with vehicle safety. Complaints can be spread across multiple & redundant categories, & are not organized by problem. See the Back button — blue bar at the very top of the page — to explore more.
« Read the previous 20 complaints
2009 Hyundai Santa Fe V6 3.3 liter has experienced occasional, random stalling over a few years, always while braking and often while turning. The problem seems to happen after a period of steady speed driving and then slowing down and turning. When this happens, the vehicle steering instantly gets very difficult and braking ability likewise becomes increasingly difficult. After putting the vehicle in neutral, or pulling over and parking the vehicle, it will always start right back up and run fine. The throttle position sensor has been replaced but the problem persists. I am a 50 year old man who can wrestle the car to safety (so far), but my wife, children, or others may not be so fortunate. There are repeated mentions of other Hyundai vehicles with similar problems, and these mostly mention a tps replacement and an accompanying ECU firmware update. There are no apparent recalls or tsbs with Hyundai that affect this vehicle and engine combination, and this is a huge safety problem for which there appears to be a remedy path.
- Farmington, NH, USA
While driving and making right turn engine stalled lost brakes and steering, was able to stop in middle of road with traffic coming up fast, put in park re-started. This second time within a year
- Apex, NC, USA
My 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe stalled out again. This event happened while turning left onto a busy street after siting at a red light. The car lost all power, making it difficult to control while pulling over to the side of the road, but in the way of other drivers. I put the car in park and then the engine restarted and I was able to drive away. The car behind me was forced to slam on their brakes, as it appears that I have just decided to stop in the middle of the road. Was nearly rear ended. Very dangerous and completely out of my control.
- Peoria, AZ, USA
My 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe keeps randomly stalling out. This has happened at least a dozen times in the past year. This has happened while merging onto the freeway, while making turns onto busy streets during rush hour after being stopped at a light, making turns after decelerating, no particular pattern. There is also no warning whatsoever! when the engine stalls out, I lose my power steering, thus basically having minimal control of the vehicle. I took my car directly into the dealer after this happened twice in one day. I was told that they could not replicate the event. I was then told that they could try replacing the throttle body and that it may fix the problem, but they were not sure because they did find a problem. As I stated before, this has happened at least a dozen times in the past year. There is a problem. I do not feel safe driving my car many times because I do not know when it is going to stall.
- Peoria, AZ, USA
Driving at slow speed one block from home, engine suddenly shut down without warning in the middle of a turn.
- Westlake Village, CA, USA
Vehicle stalled for no apparent reason. Took vehicle to Hyundai dealer, they could find reason for the stalling. No codes checked.
- Bradenton, FL, USA
2009 Hyundai Santa Fe limited with a 3.3 liter engine with approximately 53,500 mi. I was setting stopped on a city street with my foot on the brake when the engine suddenly started revving up as fast it could go (app 6K to 7K RPM's). It was all I could do to keep the vehicle from taking off and slamming into the vehicle in front of me. It was creeping along and tapped the truck in front of me when I got the vehicle in neutral and the engine suddenly slowed down. I have taken the vehicle to the dealer which not to my surprise cannot find anything wrong with it. After I talked to the owner of the dealership they contacted Hyundai who is supposedly looking into it. Not that I blame her my wife is very reluctant to drive it unless they can fix the problem.
- Yorktown, VA, USA
The contact owns a 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe. While driving approximately 25 mph, the check engine warning indicator illuminated. The vehicle hesitated and the engine stalled. The vehicle would not restart. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic, but was not diagnosed or repaired. The vehicle was later towed to a dealer where it was diagnosed that the fuel pump failed and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired, but the failure recurred. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where it was diagnosed that the spark plugs were aftermarket and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 87,371.
- Burlington, NJ, USA
After filling my gas tank, the fuel gauge on my 2009 Santa Fe would read empty and the low fuel light would illuminate. In addition, the "check engine" light came on. After driving a few miles the fuel gauge would fluctuate between empty and half full. The mechanic checked the onboard computer and the code said it was the fuel sensors. He replaced both of them, at a cost of $500, and it seems to have solved the problem. Mileage was slightly under 100,000 miles.
- Florence, KY, USA
Vehicle recall notice. Recall states that alternator may fail on said vehicle resulting in loss of power, etc., etc. Took vehicle to authorized dealer. Almost 2- hrs. Rep came to me for 1400 est in car repairs. No information on alternator. Talked to boss and within five minutes was told it was about the valve cover gasket. Work completed. Almost 3-hrs. Recall notice is false information to bring car owners into dealer to perform multi point inspection, etc., and perform needed work. Not centered on auto recall at all. Unsat. Car was at dealership in shop for review and warranty work for recall. Because of recall work. All other cars(entailing monies) after me were completed before me. I was last out of waiting room.
- Galena, OH, USA
When driving the 2009 Santa Fe the car will shut off without warning. Power to breaks and steering is lost. Sometimes the car will start again when the car is placed in neutral and restarted. Sometimes the car will not start again for several minutes. In both instances the car is moving on a hilly road. The most recent occurrence is 09/20/2016
- Mountain Home, AR, USA
The engine shut down on a slow speed exit and left me with no power steering or power brakes in a curve. The vehicle started up after I was able to stop and I continued on with no more issue. July 21, 2016 at 4:45pm. This has been the only time this has occurred in the 2 years I have owned it but its a concern.
- Arlington, TX, USA
I've taken my 2009 Santa Fe to the rick case roswell, ga on Friday, 7/1/2016 and again today, 7/15/2016, both for the same issue, my car is stalling while I drive it. On 7/1 they told me it was the battery, so had a new one installed while there. Both times, I'm been turning into a curve (it was a right hand turn on 7/1 and a left hand turn on 7/15). The first time I was lucky as it was just coming off a stop light. Last night, however, it was a curve to get on the highway with an 18 wheeler thundering behind me when my car stalled, and I lost the power steering and braking and almost became an 18 wheeler hood ornament. As I mentioned, the dealer is perplexed by the issue, nothing is showing up on the diagnostics and they can't replicate the problem. I had to leave the dealership with the sense that I'm driving around in a ticking time bomb. As a women who frequently drives by herself in the car, and on the highway 99.9% of the time, I can't tell you the fear that knowing that this can happen again at any moment and that the next time I may not be so lucky, instills in me. This is my second Hyundai and I have always considered myself to be a proud Hyundai owner, but I just did a little research and found out that a) not only am I far from the only person who has had this issue, B) there has actually been a class action law suit that Hyundai lost regarding the frequent stalling of Hyundai vehicles. I need Hyundai to fix this issue asap or risk being sued by my family after I'm killed in a car accident that is the direct result of your stalling vehicles.
- Roswell, GA, USA
Vehicle inspection performed by manufacture certified technician. Two issues were recommended by the technician: A) new tires. All 4 tires currently on the vehicle are around 5 years old (based on the dot date of manufacture), and have been driven for over 100,000 miles (based on odometer readings from 2010 and current). B) new rear brake pads and rotors. The inspection revealed rear pads around 3 mm, and rotors showing rust. These are safety issues, which should be addressed before selling the vehicle. Regular maintenance has been performed on this vehicle, but existing records do not specify that recommended fluid/timing belt replacements were performed.
- Plymouth, MN, USA
I noticed that when I was in park, the car would just shut off. This happened three times within a few week's time. I was concerned and wondered if the car would ever just shut off while I was driving on the freeway or a busy street. To my horror, it happened! a few days ago I was turning into a parking lot and the car just shut off!...there was a car behind me that came to a screeching halt! again my greatest fear is that the car will stall on me while the vehicle is in motion and if that happens on a road where cars are travelling at high speeds, then I would probably not live to tell the story.
- Lathrup Village, MI, USA
The engine lights stays on when you fill the gas tank it still says empty when driving everything will shut off this is for the second time in less than a year
- Shreveport, LA, USA
We were exiting West bound I-10 in pensacola, fl, and when turning right onto the surface road at slow speed the engine died and we lost power including steering and brakes. We were able to pull off of the road into a restaurant parking lot and restart the car, but had a close call with suddenly reduced speed in merging traffic. This is the second time this has happened to us in this car. The first incident was in Aug, 2013 and was reported as incident report #1053149. At that time, the dealer was unable to reproduce the issue, so no repair was made. We believe that this is a safety issue and should be investigated.
- Dothan, AL, USA
This has happened on 4 separate occasions, both while driving in town at slow speeds and on a highway at high speeds. The check engine light will come on and the car will cut off, no power at all. On each occasion I put the car in neutral and restarted the car immediately and it resumed it's normal driving capacity. It is very scary to be driving along and then all of a sudden the car cuts off for no reason. The last time it happened I was in the middle of a sharp curve, so not having power steering at that point was not very safe, as I ended up in the other lane but thank goodness there wasn't a car coming in the other direction at the time.
- Graham, NC, USA
This vehicle has been had a fluctuation idle for over a year. It has been to the dealer for service on this issue many times. No codes are every thrown. I brought the tsb about idle issues to the dealer's attentions. They said this was only for certain error codes. Hyundai usa was directly contacted about this issue. No repairs were made for this issue. The vehicle has the 3.3L V6 engine. SE trim level. The engine stalled when decelerating from a highway speeds to a stop. It stalled before the car stopped. It restarted and drove after that. No check engine light. I stopped at the dealer that same day. I had them check the electrical system jsut to be sure that was not the issue. Battery, charing, etc all tested fine. I have the printout. So the vechicle did not show a check engine light the dealer offered no other assistance. It is clear from searching the internet that many many people have an issue with Hyundai vehicles around 2009 stalling. Most all of these people report the issue with no codes. So the dealer is limited in what they can do. They talked about ECM updates (firmware), and a fuel system sensor, and the crankcase senor. This is clearly a large issue putting people at risk. The NHTSA and ntsb should launch a full investigation, and find a real solution. Issue a tsb at a minimum, or a recall if needed.
- Prosper, TX, USA
- Cumming, GA, USA