At least ten times over the past few years the Sonata (purchased new in 2016) has suddenly "frozen up" for no discernable reason. It has always happened while turning the wheel, almost always while backing out of the driveway - but at least once while simply turning onto a street. All the dashboard lights go on, and the steering wheel becomes very difficult to turn. In other words, it acts like a failure of the power steering system. The car has to be shut off and started again before it can be driven. I've brought the car to the dealership to have it serviced several times, but was told each time that no problem was found, and the car's error logs showed nothing wrong. One Hyundai mechanic drove the car himself for two weeks, and said the problem never came up. Yet the intermittent problem continues, and it's only a matter of time before the power steering fails while driving in traffic.

When driving, I noticed a tight feeling in the steering wheel and noticed a slight pull to the right. This occurred while driving on the interstate and at first thought it might be caused from pavement issues due to excessive vehicles on the pavement. Deciding I might need to get off the interstate in case I was wrong, I took back streets back to the city I live in. About 20 miles from my home, I began to notice more stiffness in the steering wheel and the car slightly pulling right. I continued to travel and once I made it to my home town I traveled approximately 5 miles before my car started to drive out into the emergency lane, driving over the warning grids on the emergency lane. My traction control cut on, the POWER STEERING WARNING LIGHT CAME ON and I managed to brake and get the car stopped before going down an embankment.

I cut the car off to call AAA and started the car and was going to turn on blinkers when I realized the POWER STEERING WARNING LIFE was off. I decided to proceed to drive home with no issue. I am very concerned about this and the fear that if I am traveling on interstates or in traffic where I don't have the ability to get off the road. I am also concerned about wrecking and possibly getting injured or worse due to this issue. The dealership recalibrated the steering angle sensor, but I don't think this will actually take care of future problems. I have found information from the same kind of issue with older models going back to the 10-11 years. I am very concerned about this and unless Hyundai finds a solution for this problem to ensure safety of vehicle use I am seriously considering selling this vehicle and NEVER PURCHASING vehicle made by this company ever again.