2013 Sonata hybrid just started showing trouble with transmission at 102000 miles. My luck or not, right after the warranty to expired, car started showing problems. The symptoms includes the following; the engine revs up and the gear not shifting, losing power, hybrid battery not charging (sign came on), and car came to a complete stop going uphill. I took the car to the local dealership to diagnosis and I am still waiting for the results.

I bought this as a new car from the dealership in November 2013 and all the services were done on time. My other car is a Honda and it has over 160000 miles and have no issues. This is my first Hyundai and I am not sure if I will buy a Hyundai again. Maybe I will consider another Hyundai, if Hyundai Motors repairs this issue under warranty. Will update once I find out the result from the dealership.

Problem is a safety hazard. Transmission overheats and throws fluid out the overflows. When transmission runs low on fluid, then it slams you forward when decelerating to a stop and revs to high RPMs while attempting to accelerate from a stop between gear changes.

It has currently taken the dealer over a month to tell me that it will be at least another month before Hyundai "releases" the replacement transmission to be shipped to them. This is after being told the dealer had to wait for warrantee paperwork from Hyundai before they could order the part in the first place. That was the entire first last week of April 2017. The part was supposedly approved and ordered on the 28th of April and would initially arrive at the dealer on May10th. Calling on the 10th of May, I was informed that the part had arrived and the dealer was just awaiting for a couple of technicians to become available before they could replace the transmission. That Saturday, May 13th, I received a call from the service writer who informed me they actually did not receive the part and the technicians discovered this while starting to work on my vehicle. The part now on back order and would not be arriving until May 24. Ok, that happens and I accepted that since they were able to finally place me in a courtesy car after two weeks with out a vehicle (May 5th).

I called the dealer yesterday, May 24th, to check to see if the transmission had arrived. IT HAD NOT!. The service writer ,whom originally was in charge of my repair, no longer worked in that department. So I had to bring a new service writer up to speed. He apologized and stated he would contact their parts department and let me know what was going on and when we could expect the part to arrive. No call back from the new service writer.

I called today, May 25th, and after the new service writer did not answer the phone and it went back to their operator, I asked to speak to their parts department. The person on the phone was able to look up my information, put me on hold, contact Hyundai and get an updated date. JULY 1st, 2017. Another MONTH???? Wow, I like to think of myself as being pretty calm, but now I'm furious.

Oh, I forgot to mention the fact that when I had taken the car in for the problem originally, the dealer had initially stated the transmission just had a small leak around one of the axle seals and all I need to do was to get that replaced, flush and replace the transmission fluid, update the transmission and engine software and I would be good to go. That was the 3rd week in April 2017 and $390.00 later. After getting the car back and noticing there was still transmission fluid dripping from the vehicle, I removed the skirt from under the transmission, cleaned it and re-attached it. The vehicle appeared to drive like normal except the gas mileage went from about 37.5 MPG down to about 31 MPG and rarely would go into EV mode while on the highway or when it did, only stayed in EV mode for a few seconds. EV mode now meant - slowing down or preparing to stop. When I questioned this change of behavior to the dealer's senior Hybrid technician, I was told that the vehicle just works that way. I should have called BS at that point since I was the one who owned the vehicle since mile 10 and drove mostly highway and long trips since that time and knew better than anyone how my vehicle drove. After driving over 90 miles away from home on April 23rd, the vehicle stared to exhibit the shifting issue again, spewed out fluid and almost stranded me and my family, I took it back into the dealer on the morning of the 24th (where my story started).

A side note, I had contacted Hyundai's Consumer department after having a confidence problem with the dealer. They advised that the dealer was just doing all they could to get the problem resolved. They appear to be good listeners but don't seem to be able to provide any information other that what the dealer is able to provide, nor are they able to get any detailed explanation as to why the transmission is on back order or where the appeared to be made up promised dates are coming from.

Bottom line, this is the first and last Hyundai me or my family will ever own. We loved the car up to this point, but Hyundai appears to not be a consumer or service friendly company.

Hope this helps someone. I know I ranted a little. I'll update this in a month when something may or may not change.