2010 Hyundai Santa Fe acceleration problems

Filed May 23, 2025 · Acceleration, Engine · CO

Driving approximately 70-75mph on highway with cruise control set. Car starts to make rattling sound & engine warning light goes on, car struggles to accelerate and hovers around 60mph. Upon inspection of engine oil in car, fresh oil has been burned up quickly! Added 1 quart. Drove 45mins at 70-75mph. Notice Engine light on again. Check engine oil. Had quickly burned through 1qt! Add new quart of oil. Let car rest overnight. Driving 70mph without use of cruise control. Then use cruise control. After a bit car engine sounds of rattling & struggling to accelerate. RPM gauge seen going up & down. Through rear view mirror I see lots of bluish smoke. Pull over to let engine rest. Check oil = still 3/4. Use engine dectection device. Indicates that cylinders 3 &4 misfiring. Reset car warning indicator with my detection device. Finish drive going 60mph to arrive at destination without car engine warning going back on.

Filed Jun 21, 2018 · Acceleration · 100,000 miles · MO · crash · 1 injury

On 6/17/2018 @ approximately 5:00pm while driving my santa fe, I began to have surging power. I attempted to disengage the cruise control but could not. I would slow down only to speed right back up as if I had pushed the resume button, I had not. I attempted to shift into neutral however my geer shifter was locked into drive & I couldn't get the shifter out of drive. At times the car would start to slow down after pu mping the breaks only to have a surge of power again. As I was driving, I came up to a sharp curve & wasn't able to slow down therefore I ended up rolling the SUV & further slamming to a large hill. I was injured in this accident due to rolling my car! This happened bc I believe the cruise control got stuck & locked up my transmission!!! I also couldn't turn the key off since the car was in drive.

Filed Jul 17, 2014 · Acceleration, Engine · 48,945 miles · NY

On monday, july 14, 2014, my wife rode her santa fe on a straight road accelerating slightly uphill when the engine stalled. On thurs. Dec. 5, 2013, I had a similar experience, which I reported to you at the time. This is the second time this has happened with this car. Again nobody touched the ignition key which has nothing hanging on it except the alarm and door lock dongle. My wife also suddenly lost power steering and power brakes, and luckily there was no other traffic, which could have caused an accident. She was able to bring the car to a safe stop and then was able to restart the engine and continue her trip. The 2010 car had a full tank of gas and has about 50000 miles on the odometer. It's awd and has a 6 cyl. Engine. Could this be related to the ignition switch problem that has plagued so many gm cars? Needless to say we are worried driving the car because if this incident occurs at high speed, a serious accident could be the result. Do you know of any similar experience? What do you advise? [xxx] parts of this document have been redacted to protect personally identifiable information pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Jun 6, 2014 · Acceleration · 50,000 miles · MN

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 hyundai sante fe. The contact stated that while driving the vehicle stalled. Additionally, while at a stop light the vehicle would not accelerate when the accelerator pedal was engaged. The vehicle was taken to a dealer, who was unable to determine the cause of failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 50,000. The current mileage was 70,000.

Filed May 18, 2014 · Acceleration, Fuel system · CA

Event has occurred on 2 occasions. First event: while backing up in a parking lot, with no foot on the brake, and very slight force on gas pedal, the car surged much more than typical with such a light contact with the gas pedal. The car accelerated backward suddenly, until the brake was applied shortly thereafter. Second event: while pulling into a parking spot at very low speed. The same event occurred, but this time while in forward drive. With no foot on the brake, and very slight force on gas pedal, the car surged much more than typical with such a light contact with the gas pedal. The car accelerated forward suddenly, until the brake was applied shortly thereafter.

Filed Apr 28, 2014 · Acceleration, Transmission · 37,000 miles · VA

Since purchased new in 2011, vehicle has stalled, losing power without warning in 6 separate incidents. Road surfaces were level and speeds ranged from 0-50 MPH. During each malfunction, speed decreased to 0 MPH or did not accelerate if already at 0 MPH. Loss of speed is accompanied by presence of engine, battery, and oil indicator lights. I am able to shift from drive to park mode, completely turn off engine, and restart ignition. Vehicle appears to operate normally after each incident until next one occurs. All but two incidents occurred intermittently months apart on metropolitan interstate highways with heavy traffic conditions. Two most recent incidents occurred on same day within minutes of each other. Every time vehicle was taken to authorized dealer for evaluation, typically within hour of incident, technicians have been unable to duplicate problem or diagnose malfunction. Consequently, vehicle has not been repaired. According to 4 authorized dealers and hyundai consumer affairs, trouble code is necessary to repair malfunction. Two authorized dealers have evaluated vehicle without diagnosing malfunction. Neither has been able to duplicate problem or find trouble code, despite maintaining possession of vehicle for days. Based on my history of complaints about same safety concern, however, techline advised authorized dealer to replace electric throttle control motor: procedure done in october 2013, yet stalling/loss of power occurred again--twice--in april 2014. Sporadically recurring malfunction remains unresolved. I have two separate cases filed with hyundai consumer affairs. Vehicle is under warranty, up-to-date on maintenance, and has accumulated relatively low mileage to date at approximately 37,000 miles.**4/16/2014**stalled/lost power twice, 2-3 minutes between incidents. Towed to authorized dealer; currently awaiting instructions from techline.

Filed Mar 25, 2014 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 7,916 miles · TX

After coming to a full stop at an intersection, I accelerated to enter the intersection and turn right. Almost immediately as I pulled into the intersection, the car stalled as though it had died. I continued to press on the accelerator and after 3 to 4 seconds, the car lurched forward, with fuel feed working normally. I took the car to my local dealer where I bought the car for inspection. They took the car in for testing and said they could not find anything wrong. This problem persisted, with the incidents being infrequent. I reported this problem each of the next few times the problem recurred. Each time I asked if others had reported the same problem. Each time I was told there were no such complaints, and that they could not find a reason for my problem. Finally, I left the vehicle at the dealer for several days with the understanding that they would drive the car frequently, trying to duplicate my problem. After several days, they called to say they had experienced the problem as I had reported it, and they had fixed it. I asked what was done, and the agent could/would not specify what the cause was, but they wrote on the invoice that they had reprogrammed TCM with tsb#11-at-011-1. I then again queried about other complaints, and he said that there had been other complaints after all, and this should fix the problem. However, I have since experienced the problem again and fear that an accident is possible. The latest: they are taking my vehicle in this thursday for a major diagnosis "to try to find the problem"., again.

Filed May 19, 2013 · Acceleration, Fuel system · 10,000 miles · NY · crash

I had just pulled into the driveway of a house I own that I rent; I was there to meet my tenants to discuss a couple of repairs that needed to be done in the house. I was slowing the car with my foot on the brake as I approached the end of the driveway by the side door of the house. Then I heard a sudden, extremely loud engine noise that sounded like the engine revving very fast and the car suddenly accelerated. I was propelled forward about 50 feet into the back yard and crashed into some lilac bushes directly ahead of me and into the steep dirt bank behind the bushes, which stopped the car. There is no garage and the driveway ends where the lawn begins. The front end of the car is quite damaged and the vehicle is presently in the dealer's repair garage. On the internet, my son found many reports of incidents of sudden acceleration for the hyundai santa fe for my model year and for other recent years and he suggested I file this report with the federal safety agency.

Filed Apr 30, 2013 · Acceleration · 4,000 miles · CA

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that he attempted to accelerate from a complete stop and there was an abnormal 4 second delay before the vehicle responded. The malfunction recurred sporadically. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer for diagnosis, who was unable to generate a trouble code. The dealer performed an unknown repair however, the failure persisted. The manufacturer was notified of the problem. The approximate failure mileage was 4,000. The consumer stated the vehicle would randomly not respond to throttle pressure when turning from a resting stop. The dealer was unable to retrieve a code description from the vehicles obdii to correct the problem. They dealer replaced the awd module and performed an update for the vehicles accelerations response

Filed Feb 26, 2013 · Acceleration · 35,000 miles · TX

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that while stopped, the vehicle stalled. Additionally, while at a stop and attempting the accelerate, the vehicle surged forward. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for diagnostic testing. The technician was unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 35,000.