10.0
really awful- Crashes / Fires:
- 12 / 0
- Injuries / Deaths:
- 3 / 0
- Average Mileage:
- 85,309 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.
The first thing I noticed was the engine was dying when I came to a stop at a red light, with the engine idling, the car in drive and my foot on the brake. I started to put the car in neutral when I had to come to a stop, so the engine wouldn't sputter, and then back in drive when I wanted to go. After about a day or 2, the engine started revving when I put it in drive or reverse, and the brake wasn't strong enough to stop the car. I took it to my Hyundai dealer, who said it needed a new transmission (specifically torque converter). I took it to a transmission shop, which rebuilt the transmission. But the car was still revving when it was put in drive and idling, with the brake on. The transmission shop researched the problem, which took about a month, and found that the control module had malfunctioned. According to the mechanic, it was sending the signal to rev the engine and cut the power to the brakes when the car was idling in gear. He said he found that there were several complaints about this make/model/year range, but there was no recall because no serious injuries or deaths had occurred because of it yet. Obviously, it is just a matter of time till this happens, when a vehicle revs its engine and cuts power to the brakes simultaneously. Once the problem was identified, the transmission shop was able to order the software from Hyundai to reprogram the ECM, which solved the problem.
- Springdale, PA, USA
The speed sensor telling me speed doesn't work saying I'm going 0 the car it's self will not go out of park into drive can't drive the vechile, the ABS light keeps coming on the ctrl light keeps coming and doesn't come off the air bag light doesn't shut off check engine light came on and car almost drove me off the road and into windshield all in 2 days and before that was fine it's always has been taken care off and manage and unknown problems happened all at once where I haven't been able to drive it for 2 months
- Greensboro Bend, VT, USA
The brakes on my 2006 Hyundai Sonata failed on me as I was driving. My car seemed to have not been working properly.
- Victorville, CA, USA
The cruise control comes on by itself during normal driving. After the "cruise" light comes on the "set" light illuminates and the vehicle accelerates without warning. The brake will momentarily stop the acceleration, but the acceleration resumes once the brake pedal is released. It occurs above 25 mph. It kept accelerating and would have continued if I hadn't hit the brakes. I happens regularly, and we have parked the vehicle.
- Maryville, TN, USA
Throttle body has failed 3 times in a row.
- Edgar, WI, USA
Sudden unexpected acceleration with no power brake. Acceleration of vehicle on it's own. When in park and neutral vehicle idles fine and power brakes work. With foot on brake and placing the vehicle in drive or reverse it accelerated immediately to uncontrollable speeds with no foot on the gas pedal. At the same time you lose power brake and it is impossible to control unless the driver puts the vehicle in neutral, then power brake engages and acceleration stops. This happened to my daughter's car on 4/24/18. Thankfully there was no accident. I also tested the car and it is uncontrollable. Experienced no problems or warnings prior to this. No check engine light before or after this incident. I had the car towed to my auto repair shop. Got the car on the lift and put it in drive. It immediately accelerated on it's own and reached 80 miles per hour quickly. No foot on the accelerator or brake. Decided to call Hyundai dealership. The car was towed to the dealership on 4/30. The tech confirmed our concerns. On 5/11 the service manager contacted Hyundai corporation on our behalf. We also called Hyundai customer care on 5/13. No vehicle should extremely accelerate and lose power brake at the same time! this is a safety defect. Regardless of what the problem is no vehicle should react like this. The vehicle is still at the Hyundai dealership and needs to be investigated to find the root problem and solve it! this is necessary to prevent any vehicle from doing this again. Lives are at risk and a recall needs to be done. Drive by wire system...
- Seatac, WA, USA
I was at a complete stop at a red light, with my foot securely on the brake, when my car engine revved, accelerated on it's own, and then lunged into the car in front of me. There were no injuries or damages but I am anxious and nervous about this safety issue happening again without warning.
- Canton, OH, USA
The contact owns a 2006 Hyundai Sonata. After the vehicle was shifted into reverse and the brake pedal was depressed, it experienced unintended accelerated. The contact stated that the vehicle did three rotations before crashing into three vehicles. A police report was filed and there were no injuries. The failure occurred without warning. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 25,000.
- Glendale, AZ, USA
The car either accelerating or braking jerks as if it starts and stops on it's own. I am afraid of driving it. I've had it to the dealer a couple of times and my first complaint was that it jerked into gear. It didn't matter if reverse or forward. The check engine light will come on. The dealer replaced a shift sensor but that didn't fix the check engine light nor the stop and start at random times. When this happens the car slows way down and I barely can get it to go forwards. The last time it happened was at night. I pulled onto a street from a stop sign into traffic. I barely went half a block and had to pull into a driveway to get out of the traffic behind me. The ESC light came on briefly on the dash. I looked at the off switch and it was illuminated. I pushed it off I think. The road was dry and there was no reason that turning at 5 mph would create a reason for such a reaction from the car. I only have 30K miles on the vehicle. It should not be doing this.
- Great Falls, MT, USA
After a visit to my local dealership, I was informed that my ESC system - unit is in failure mode. Manufacturer informed of "defective problem" concerning their product. Consumer should not be responsible for costs related to replacement repair. $3000 > this is a serious safety hazard, in which Hyundai corporation should issue a "recall" of years 2006-2009, models that are in "failure mode" as per dealership today
- Trenton, NJ, USA
On 2 separate occasions, while driving at @ 60 mph, the vehicle accelerated on its own and would not stop. The first time after pushing on brakes numerous times the car stopped using emergency brakes. The second time vehicle would not stop using brakes or emergency. The vehicle speed up to 80 mph, the vehicle only stopped after driving up a hill to a slower speed.
- Duquesne, PA, USA
I was driving home and slowed to let someone in front of me turn left into a grocery parking lot. The car suddenly started surging mad I could not stop it with the brake pedal all the way to floor. However, I did hit the car in font of me, with no damage to her car. I had popped the front right side of the bumper on my car. So we went on with our business when she found no damage to her vehicle. I had to turn the car off to stop the car from moving. I called the dealer glenn Hyundai and told them of the incident, they in turn told me this would be nearly impossible for this to happen! it did happen!! they called me after receiving the vehicle via tow truck and told me the throttle was dirty and needed to be cleaned. So I told them go ahead and then about half hour later they called and said the car needed a throttle position assembly replaced. They had already charged me for the cleaning of the throttle, and then charged me to replace it also. Doesn't cleaning come with replacing the throttle assembly" I think this should be investigated and to see how many other Hyundai's have had this problem. They supposedly contacted Hyundai corporate usa, however, I have yet to hear anything from Hyundai. I really hope all is safe now???"
- Paris, KY, USA
On March 9th, 2015, I was driving home from work after picking up my infant daughter from daycare when several warning lights illuminated on the dashboard of my 2006 Hyundai Sonata; the airbag, ABS, and ESC off warning lights. In preparation for the upcoming left turn into my neighborhood, I tapped the brake pedal to disengage the cruise control and coast to the intersection. The cruise control did not disengage. I applied more pressure to the brake pedal to slow down, but upon releasing the brake the vehicle returned to the set cruise speed. I now applied as much pressure as I possibly could to the brake pedal and the cruise control set light did not disengage. The Sonata downshifted and revved up to 4K RPM attempting to overpower my braking. At this point it was too late to avoid the intersection. I placed the car into neutral and swerved to avoid hitting an oncoming vehicle and median, at the turn. The Sonata spun out and came to rest in the oncoming traffic lanes after overshooting the turn. I verified my daughter was uninjured then proceeded to drive the Sonata, at idle, the remaining 1/8th of a mile to my house. After arriving at home, I visited Hyundai's and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's vehicle recall information web pages and found no recalls regarding my Sonata's VIN.
- Reno, NV, USA
TL-the contact owns a 2006 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that while driving at approximately 5 mph, the vehicle accelerated independently and crashed into a building. There was one injury reported that required medical attention. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 107,000. The VIN was not available. Djr
- Wyoming, MI, USA
The contact owns a 2006 Hyundai Sonata. While driving approximately 35 mph, the electronic stability control and check engine warning indicators illuminated. Additionally, the vehicle's speed suddenly decelerated. The failure occurred on multiple occasions. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 127,000.
- Kinnebuck Port, ME, USA
My 2006 Hyundai Sonata has the check engine and ESC lights come on, then the car wont accelerate as well as the rpms will not move. The car coasts like its in neutral. And today was the last straw when it decided to do it while going down the road instead of just when beginning the drive.
- Paxtang, PA, USA
On this date it was unusually cold weather for our state at a high of 7 degrees plus wind chill ("the polar vortex"). I was leaving for work and had let my car run for about 5 minutes before beginning to drive. I was not even a quarter of a mile away (actually only about a street over) from my home when I stopped at a red light. There was an SUV in front of me. When the light turned green and the SUV in front of me began to drift slightly forward, I did the same. When I went to put my foot on the gas pedal to drift forward at the pace of the SUV in front of me, it abruptly accelerated. There was about 5 feet in between the SUV and my car, but I was unable to stop fast enough and rear ended the SUV in front of me. There was minor damage, however this was completely unavoidable and unnecessary. The following day, which was also a very cold day, I had just left my house for work and when I went into reverse it did the same exact abrupt acceleration. Thankfully this time there were no cars around---in combination with my awareness of this possibly being an issue.
- Upperco, MD, USA
While driving on a busy street it felt like my gas pedal was not responding then without warning it suddenly lurched forward enough to screech my front tires. I do not have a floor mat on the driver's side. Thank god no one was in front of me, surely there would have been an accident. I have also had the air bag light on since the car was new. During Hyundai new car service one of the service men noticed and mentioned it, but did nothing to correct the problem and today I got a recall on the air bag system stating I missed the 1st recall. My front passenger seat belt light goes on and off sometimes it is on when someone is in the seat buckled up and sometimes it is on when no one is sitting in the seat. I am taking my car in to Hyundai for the recall I am going to mention the lurching and let them know about all these complaints! I believe they are ultimately responsible for these problems!!
- Reno, NV, USA
The contact owns a 2006 Hyundai Sonata. The contact stated that while driving approximately 55 mph, she approached a stop signal and the vehicle failed to respond to deceleration attempts. The emergency brake was applied in order to stop the vehicle. The contact also mentioned that intermittent erroneous acceleration was experienced. The failure progressed and became permanent. The vehicle was inspected by a certified mechanic who informed the contact that the failure was related to the speed control. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the defect. The failure mileage was unavailable.
- Lexington, MS, USA
- Brooklyn, NY, USA