2010 Hyundai Santa Fe: sudden loss of power

Filed Feb 2, 2026 · Engine · MO

I hadn't used the car in a few weeks (rarely leave the house because I work from home). I went to visit a friend on December 26th or 27th (don't remember exact date). On the way there the engine started having a knocking noise. On the way home after eating a meal with the friend, the knocking got louder, and the car was losing power. As I drove up a hill, the engine was providing almost no power, and then I heard a very loud bang, and a blue-ish, white smoke cloud came out from under the car, and it died completely. As a secondary issue, since this was right after Christmas, I couldn't find an open shop to have it towed to, so it was left on the side of the road overnight. The next day when I drove back to meet a tow-truck driver at the car, we found it had been broken into overnight, and my wife's childhood Christmas decorations were stolen. Nothing else of value was taken. I did have police come out and make a report at the time. I only just discovered that the engine was under a recall for "Campaign 966" for this exact issue.

Filed Sep 28, 2020 · Transmission · 153,796 miles · PA

When shifting the transmission makes a loud banging noise losing power for a moment and then violently snapping back into gear. It almost feels like somebody is hitting you from behind. Sometimes it feels like the accelation/deceleration is tightening up right before it happens. Feels very scary sometimes and I'm worried to destroy the transmission. Vehicle was bought with 153k miles on it and it happened shortly after. Check engine light is on. According to dealer its a small emission leak.

Filed Jul 21, 2020 · Body, Transmission · CA

When traveling at different speeds and upon acceleration there's loss of power for a split second, and then it's bumping real hard. It can be described as a bumping noise, clunking noise or thumping noise. More likely to happen between 50-70 MPH. Also, the passenger back door lock has been working off and on. It finally has stopped opening the door entirely. I've taken it to the dealer and they have yet to diagnose an issue after two inspections. As of 7/21/20 the vehicle is still having these issues.

Filed Apr 3, 2019 · Engine · 115,000 miles · NC

Tl* the contact owns a 2010 hyundai santa fe. The contact stated that the motor started knocking and sputtering, and the vehicle lost power while driving 55 MPH. Bob king hyundai (1601 silas creek pkwy, winston-salem, nc 27127, (336) 724-2861) stated that there was no recall and advised the contact to bring the vehicle in for diagnostic testing. The contact also took the vehicle to an independent mechanic and was informed that the engine needed to be replaced. The manufacturer was not contacted. The failure mileage was 115,000.

Filed Sep 5, 2018 · Transmission · 94,235 miles · RI

Transmission hard shifts down when trying to merge onto highway causing loss of power. I feel like I'm going to get killed by causing an accident. This happens multiple times a day. Constant slippage between gears while moving, causing loud hard banging noises.

Filed Oct 2, 2015 · Transmission · 145,000 miles · MO

Drive axle broke, causing loss of power to front wheels. I had come to a stop at a rural highway junction, and the vehicle would not move. The vehicle will roll away in park if emergency brake is not applied.

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 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 Feb 26, 2013 · Acceleration, Engine · 25,000 miles · TX

From stop,making left turn, lost all power momentarily, RPM dropped to idle. Pressing accelerator did nothing, finally engine came back and accelerated wildly. Very dangerous.

Filed Feb 1, 2011 · Transmission · 2,000 miles · VA

On saturday, jan. 15th, I was driving my 2010 hyundai santa fe v6 (4 1/2 months old, < 2000 miles) when I turned a corner onto a busy street, and the car lost all power as if someone had turned of the ignition. Luckily we were not in an accident when we lost power steering and engine power or when we sat in the middle of traffic since the car would not re-start. Roadside assistance was unable to send anyone for almost 40 minutes, so we had to have the police push us to safety. After being towed to the hyundai dealer for service, the car just started up again. We were told that they could not find the problem since no error code was seen. The technicians updated the ECM to version cman s2 ab8f since it was a recommended general service. No one knew if it would fix the problem. The technicians also mentioned that another customer had the same problem the week before. Hyundai consumer affairs was not helpful, but did open a case number. Problem has not re-occured yet although transmission often pops.

Filed Nov 10, 2010 · Transmission · 689 miles · CO

I was accelerating while entering traffic from a side street and the computer for the transmission put the transmission in neutral. I lost power as the engine RPM spiked up. The transmission was still in drive and the transmission did not engage again until I took my foot off the accelerator and then reapplied it. Aside from this problem being a vehicle defect, this situation could have caused an accident. I have taken the vehicle into the dealership twice for this problem since the end of july. The first time I took it in the dealership was able to reproduce the defect but they could not reproduce the defect the second time. Unfortunately this type of failure does not show up in the cars computer. Each time the car was returned to the dealership the transmission software was updated and the car was driven for a period of time as a relearning exercise. Obviously this did not correct the problem and without a failure code in the computer to pinpoint the problem the dealership is unsure which computer or component needs to be corrected. With this defect this vehicle should not be on the road because of the risk of an accident.

Filed Jul 25, 2010 · Acceleration, Electrical · 5,200 miles · FL

On tuesday, june 8, 2010 I was on a busy interstate highway with fast moving traffic and my car lost all power while traveling at 70 MPH. Fortunately, I was able to barely glide the sante fe to the shoulder and stop without incident. Follow up: 3 pm visited hyundai service center and was told that it was not a throttle problem. They are in contact with ca service to determine cause of problem. Friday, 6-11-10 after complete testing of all circuits, hyundai declares no source of problem. Auto was picked up at 4:30 pm hyundai assistant service manager: bob wood hyundai case # 3982284 the specifics are: ?SUV was purchased 8/09 and currently has 5200 miles. ?cruise control was on but not engaged. ?gas tank indicator on one-half. ?with my foot on gas pedal the initial instinct was that the engine had lost all power. Opressing harder on gas pedal had no reaction. Othere was an opening in traffic and with the SUV forward inertia I was able to just reach the road shoulder. Oobserved that red indicators were on (battery, oil) ?reset transmission selector to park, turned off key. Ofirst restart-nothing happened osecond restart SUV started and I did not turn off until reaching home. Obviously, this is a serious life threatening situation that needs to be researched thoroughly and corrected.