I was on the high way I changed lanes and when I did I needed to accelerate to change lanes. After changing lanes I had to hit the breaks to slow down, the break seemed to act like a gas pedal. The car would not slow down the breaks would not slow the car it accelerated to 80mph. I was not hitting the accelerator by mistake. There was nothing stuck under the pedals. I believe it was the throttle positioning sensor,tps. I looked this up on the internet there are many instances of this happening with the same make and model vehicle. This is a serious safety hazard I thought me and my unborn child were going to die. I have yet to contact my dealership however as far as I am aware there are no recalls on this vehicle. And there should be! The car has 104800 miles roughly. The car accelerated to 80 miles per hour on its own prior to that I was going about 55 miles per hour. It asked for this information on the next part of this form however it was not allowing me to type it.
2008 Hyundai Santa Fe acceleration complaints
Page 2 of 3: complaints 11 to 40 of 52, newest first, as owners wrote them.
While at a stop in a construction zone, my foot was on the brake, when the vehicle suddenly accelerated into the vehicle in front of me. Although my foot was planted hard on the brake, the engine continued racing, and it felt like my car was going to push his car down the street! I shifted into park and turned the car off. Luckily there was only $4,000 worth of damage to my car, and no one was hurt. I refused to drive it, and had it towed to the dealer. They said the computer showed no malfunction, and it had to be driver error. Three months later, it did it again to a lesser degree, in an open area. I turned the car off again, and it was fine until yesterday. It has been 4 months since that last incident, but this one even was worse than the first. Only thing is, now I know to put all my weight on the brake, shift to neutral and turn the car off as fast as I can. This one frightened me so badly, I will not drive it again. It is going to sit at the dealer until they find out what to do. I cannot in good conscience drive it, sell it or even trade it in until I know it is safe! Every time it happened, the car was on a city street, stationary, and heading straight. The engine revs up so loud, it sounds like an airplane! Yesterday I could tell the people in the car stopped next to me heard it and looked at me! I have owned this santa fe since it was brand new, and people tell me it looks like a new car. I keep up with the recommended maintenance and always take it to the dealer for service. Until last july, it has been an excellent car. The accident I had with it was the only accident I have had in 50 years of driving! Please give me some ideas on what to tell the dealer to replace, repair or disconnect. Thanks for your help!
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 MPH, the accelerator pedal went entirely to the floorboard and remained stuck when it was released. The contact violently depressed the brakes and maneuver to the side of the road. After few minutes, the accelerator pedal released and functioned as normal. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure reoccurred twice. The approximate failure mileage was 94,000. The VIN was not available.
The vehicle so far has had two instances of uncontrolled acceleration, not just sudden but while driving and performing a passing maneuver or need to accelerate quickly the transmission will get stuck on a gear, pressing the brake or shifting to manual mode, attempting to shift up or down or back to d or n will not stop the acceleration. I just kept my foot on the brake, put hazards on, turned off the engine (left key in accessories) and then coasted to the shoulder. The minute I turned the engine off I gained stop control, prior, mashing on the brake wasn't stopping the car. Once I coasted to the side of the road, I waited a minute or so, carefully restarted the car and things were back to normal. The first time this happened the transmission seemed be stuck on 5th gear, but when I shifted from d to manual and back the acceleration returned to normal. The second time this has happened, the transmission seemed to be stuck on 3rd, the initial description above is about the 2nd instance. Taking the vehicle to dealer and will avoid rabbit starts or initiating any rapid acceleration, which seems to be where the transmission or some sensor is getting bad data. My guess it's the throttle body positioning sensor. Although I would assume that if the computer/transmission experience a bad signal or loss of signal from a sensor that the default action would be to shut off... Not lock in a gear with no means to stop other than shutting off the engine.
My santa fe awd 2008 was bought in june 2009 and now has ~99k mileage. I had four or five similar incidents with my santa fe starting on 4/21/15, which LED to significant power loss and speed loss of the car on the road. The first time, I was driving on a local road at ~25 MPH. Suddenly I felt the car lost the power and began to slow down. I stepped down on the accelerator, but the car could not accelerate (the speed dropped to ~10 MPH). I saw 3 system indicator/warning lights on: the ESC off(electronic stability control) and check engine indicators had a steady light and the awd system warning light was flashing. I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the car, waited ~1 minute, and then restarted the car. The check engine light stayed on, but the other lights went out. Then I drove the car to continue to my job. The 2nd incident occurred on my way home. The same scenario except that I was driving at ~40 MPH at the time. The sudden power loss caused the car speed quickly dropped to ~10 MPH and probably LED the car behind mine to make a sudden stop to avoid a crash. Again, I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the engine, and then restarted the car with the check engine light staying on. The other times I was on the cresent city connection (bridge) in the center lane. I had to work my way over two lanes to turn the vehicle off to restart to continue on my way to or from work. After the 5th time, I did some research online and found an article stating that this problem was on the tsb (technical safety bulletin). Maybe someone somewhere should be aware of more than one vehicle having this problem.......
The car accelerated while brake pedal was being depressed and would not stop accelerating. Car had to be thrown into neutral and key turned off. All four brakes were burnt up. Thankfully no one was injured nor was there a crash. The repair shop could not find any issue on their diagnostic machine other than the RPM's rising even though brake was being applied. So they know it happened but just don't know why. Called hyundai to document this and their only response was there was no recall and I should take it to a hyundai dealer for diagnostic study. Sure - spend more money with hyundai for them to tell me nothing. This problem needs to be addressed prior to the loss of 30+ lives.
Was on an interstate with cruise control set to 65 MPH. Was attempting to pass another vehicle, thus depressed the throttle pedal. The throttle stuck wide open. Applied brakes but kept on increasing speed. Depressed throttle pedal several times but no change. Turned cruise control off, no change. Had to pull over, put vehicle in park with brake pressed and turned key off. Waited several minutes then back on, throttle pedal started to respond. Second instance, was accelerating to merge onto interstate from a ramp, had previously had cruise control set to 65 MPH, throttle stuck wide open, again had to pulled over, put the vehicle into park, and turn off ignition . I checked to ensure floor mat was not interfering throttle pedal, it was not. Problem has recurred 4 times now on this vehicle all while trying to accelerate to either pass a vehicle or merge onto an interstate. All times the cruise control had been engaged.
My santa fe limited awd 2008 was bought at the end of feb 2009 and now has ~44k mileage. I had two similar incidents with my santa fe today (7/6/2014), which LED to significant power loss and speed loss of the car on the road. The first time, I was driving on a local road at ~45 MPH. Suddenly I felt the car lost the power and began to slow down. I stepped down on the accelerator, but the car could not accelerate (the speed dropped to ~20 MPH). I saw 3 system indicator/warning lights on: the ESC off(electronic stability control) and check engine indicators had a steady light and the awd system warning light was flashing. I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the car, waited ~1 minute, and then restarted the car. The check engine light stayed on, but the other lights went out. Then I drove the car to continue my grocery shopping (several stops, ~30 miles in total). The 2nd incident occurred on my way home. The same scenario except that I was driving at ~40 MPH and going uphill at the time. The sudden power loss caused the car speed quickly dropped to ~10 MPH and probably LED the car behind mine to make a sudden stop to avoid a crash. Again, I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the engine, and then restarted the car with the check engine light staying on. After got home safely, I did some search online and found several similar incidents reported on hyundai santa fe suvs before (see the attached links below). So I decided to report this serious issue. The link of websites with similar incidents reported: 1. Http://www.justanswer.com/hyundai/47z2r-hyundai-santa-fe-limited-hi-hyundai-santa-fe-awd-2008.html 2. Http://forums.edmunds.com/discussion/9216/hyundai/santa-fe/hyundai-santa-fe-engine-problems/p2 (altosteph post) 3. Http://www.hyundaiforum.com/forum/hyundai-santa-fe-20/4wd-system-warning-light-blinking-loss-power-12357/
6/25/14, on interstate with cruise control at 65mph. Depressed the throttle pedal to pass a vehicle. Throttle stuck wide open. Applied brakes but kept on increasing speed. Depressed throttle pedal several times but no change. Turned cruise control off, no change. Turned key to acc and then back to on but no change. Turned key to acc and waited several seconds then back on. Throttle pedal started to respond. Pulled over and checked if floor mat was jamming throttle pedal. No problem, no jamming. Problem repeated again. Continued to destination and tried cruise control but it would not set. Turned cruise control off. Suv was parked overnight at destination. On return trip throttle and cruise control worked fine. 6/30/14, took SUV to ray brandt hyundai, they found no codes set and could not duplicate the problem. It seems if both the throttle is wide open and the brakes are being applied then a code should be set.this is a major safety problem! The site below documents 3 additional occurrences: http://www.carproblemzoo.com/hyundai/santafe/2008/accelerator-stuck-problems.php.
The 2008 santa fe traveling between 55& 60mph on divided highway would not slow down when I took my foot off of accelerator. I applied brakes but difficult to make vehicle stop. I think I slowed it down a lot but did not or would not be able to stop. It was like idle got stuck on high! After 20 seconds or so the acceleration returned to normal & I proceeded. It was scary ! First time this happened. I just had it in for service to replace to headlights & missing screw under front seat.
I was moving my car in front of my carport. With my foot on the brake, the car suddenly accelerated. The brakes had no effect, there was only a few seconds to react. The car was stopped by the poll. Is it safe to drive it again?
Was second vehicle at stop light with foot on brake. Vehicle suddenly lunged forward overriding brake, and hit back of vehicle in front causing damage and possible injury to other driver. Had pedestrians been in front, could easily have run over them. Months prior, twice on same day engine power died while driving. Hyundai replaced throttle position sensor.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that while driving 55 MPH, the check engine warning light illuminated as the vehicle suddenly stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer, who stated that the throttle control sensor was defective. The dealer replaced the throttle control sensor. The failure mileage was 97,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 hyundai sante fe. The contact stated while driving 20 MPH, the vehicle accelerated without manual force causing the front driver side to crash into a tree. The contact sustained a broken neck, stomach and chest bruising, as well as lacerations. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 45,000.
See attached email updated 06/04/2013*lj the occupant classification system (osc) does not consistently recognize small-statured adults, causing the passenger side air bag to deactivate when such person occupy the front seat. Also, there were problems with the transmission, a knocking noise coming from the front of the vehicle, the vehicle shutting down, an issue with the throttle cable, and a whining sound upon acceleration.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that while driving at an unknown speed, the engine rpms increased excessively as the vehicle suddenly accelerated without warning. The contact stated that the brakes failed to respond and the vehicle was placed in neutral in order to stop the failure. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the failure was unable to be replicated. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure and current mileage was 95,000.
As I was driving at approximately 35mph going up a hill, my 2008 hyundai santa fe accelerated at a very high rate of speed and pushing the brakes at full pressure only slowed the vehicle it would not stop and the engine revved. I was in a panic because vehicles were in front of me and I almost slammed into them. I managed to pull to the side and travel on the side of the road trying to stop my vehicle. I finally shifted from drive to neutral all the while pushing the brakes and got the vehicle in park. I have never been so scared in my life and fortunately did not hit any other vehicle. I called a tow truck to tow the vehicle to my garage because I was to afraid to drive it. I am awaiting diagnosis.. Unfortunately it was late friday afternoon and the garage was closed. They will not be able to look at until monday.
The are three layers of floor covering on this vehicle. The first is the wall to wall carpet. The second is a floor mat, made of carpet material which is securely anchored to the floor of the vehicle. The third layer of floor covering is a thick rubber mat. The rubber mat rests atop the carpeted floor mat unanchored. It slides around on top of the carpeted floor mat and prevents a severe hazard because it occasionally lodges itself under the accelerator pedal, causing the pedal to jam. This danger can be extreme because when the gas pedal jams in an intermediate throttle setting, it lengthens the stopping distance and has been known to cause a traffic accident.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that the check engine light was illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection and they stated that the throttle body sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact then experienced a failure in which there was an increase in the engine rpms, but the vehicle did not immediately accelerate. The vehicle then jerked forward and began to accelerate. The dealer inspected the vehicle and stated that they could not duplicate the failure or diagnose the cause. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 55,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, she attempted to accelerate further but the vehicle would not accelerate. There was an increase in engine rpms, but the vehicle would not accelerate. The failure recurred on an intermittent basis. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where they were unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired yet the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where the throttle sensor was replaced but to no avail. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 20,000.
I was backing up and as I turned the wheel the car engaged in a sudden acceleration as the motor started to rev. I applied the brakes, but the car would not stop until it plowed through a brick wall at my school.
While driving on the freeway I accelerated and my car continued to accelerate rapidly by itself. I was going approx. 65mph, and within a few seconds my car was accelerating on its own to 80 or more MPH. I applied my brakes but they couldn't counteract the acceleration very well. I was able to pull over to the side of the freeway and put the car into neutral. When the car eventually slowed down, the gas pedal made a loud sound like it had released itself. This is the second time I have had this very scary event in two months, both on the freeway. The first time I was so shaken and shocked that I felt I hadn't had time to observe what was happening at the time. This last time I was able to pay close attention to what was happening. There was no interference with my floor mat. It was pure and simple: my gas pedal was dangerously accelerating by itself. I took my sante fe into the dealership and gave them a copy of many complaints from other sante fe owners that have experienced the exact incident, some resulting in accidents. In all cases the problem could not be duplicated by the dealership and could not be repaired nor explained. Sure enough, in my case the dealership could neither duplicate, explain, nor repair the problem. I am now fearful to drive my car, and I will sell it soon.
Was driving on a 2 lane road approximatly 20 MPH following a backhoe. As backhoe moved to berm and I was considering passing, the vehicle suddenly accelerated. I removed my foot from the gas pedal but the vehicle continued to accelerate. I placed all of my weight on the brakes and was eventually able to bring the vehicle to a halt and forcible put in park. As I turned off the ignition, the engine was revving at a very fast rate. I checked the floor mat and gas pedal and there was no problems noted. I do not believe the floor mat was a factor in this. I believe there is a problem with this vehicle that needs investigated. The vehicle is with the dealer now.
I was backing out of a driveway when the accelerator began racing. I was able to stop the vehicle and put it in drive while my foot was on the brake, when the car raced forward, accelerating out of control. I had my feet on the brakes but the brakes did not work and the car continued accelerating forward crashing into a neighbors yard and demolishing their landscaping before I managed to stop the vehicle and turn it off. I was not seriously injured, but it could have ended much differently as I crossed a main highway before the car came to rest. Because I have floor mats other than those issued by hyundai, I was told by the dealership that the floor mat caused the gas pedal to become stuck in the down position. This is not what happened and would also not explain why the brakes did not work at all.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated while driving various speeds the vehicle would surge forward. During the failure the accelerator pedal would move back and forth. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the throttle needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but the failure continued. The vehicle was in the process of being taken to another authorized dealer. The failure and current mileages were 47,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2008 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that the floors mats and holders were fracturing on both the driver and passenger sides. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that it was due to normal wear and tear. The manufacturer was contacted who agreed with the dealer and offered no assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 44,313.
I have a 2008 hyundai santa fe with 35,000 miles on it. Last week I was driving at 25 miles/hr and it suddenly accelerated. I tried to brake multiple times but the car would not stop. I put the car in park and turned off the ignition and it stopped. Over the past two weeks I have had multiple incidences of sudden acceleration while pressing lightly on the gas and at other times while letting up on the brake. I brought my car to ther dealer in reisterstown, maryland. They tested the car and drove it and insist that the computer says that everything is fine and they drove it and of course it did not happen while they drove it. I was told there is nothing to be done. I am scared to death to drive the car and don't know what to do. I see online there are many people with the same complaint that have not gotten any help from their dealers or from hyundai.
Sudden unintended acceleration. Occurred twice within two months.
Tl*the contact owns a 2008 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that while driving approximately 50 MPH the vehicle suddenly accelerated to 67 MPH. She was trying to decelerate by applying extreme pressure to the brake pedal and the vehicle would not stop. The vehicle eventually stopped by constantly pumping the brake. After she got the vehicle to stop she then contacted the nearest dealer and they advised her to bring the vehicle in for diagnostic testing. Upon inspection of the vehicle they were unable to replicate the failure that she experienced. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 22,000.
During the last few weeks the vehicle had a slight acceleration/deceleration. Then while moving the car lost engine pwr.acceleration was reduced to about 5mph had to stop and turn the car off then on to regain full pwr. The check engine light remaind on.
VIN decoder
See the problems and recalls for an exact car
Buying a used 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe?
Check the exact car before you pay: accidents, salvage or flood titles, odometer readings and previous owners.
Check its history