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.
2010 Hyundai Santa Fe fuel system complaints
Page 2 of 2: complaints 11 to 19 of 19, newest first, as owners wrote them.
This is a 4 cylinder gas engine. When in traffic stop and go, there is a hesitation when trying to accelerate. Sometimes this happens at a stop sign or at any time there is a low speed stop and go. It hesitates and then takes off because you naturally give it more gas because it isn't responding to the accelerator. This is dangerous, as it also happens when you pull out into traffic.
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.
Purchased 2010 hyundai santa fe in feb 2010. Drove to dallas, tx in may 2010 the car started stalling after being idle at traffic light, on turns and from pulling out after being stopped. You would the think it was going dead but would catch up. This occured numerous times during the trip to & from. Immediately took to dealership on return but they found no problems. Has happened numerous times since then, once at 20 MPH mergeing in traffic and twice today. Have taken it in 3 times but they never find anything and could not duplicate problem. I don't know when this will happen and don't dare pull out in traffic unless I have plenty of clearance from other cars! I feel at risk everytime the car in driven and feel it is a very dangerous safety problem and needs to be investigated.
When pushing the gas pedal to accelerate from stopped position there is a notable pause. (1-3 seconds??)this then causes you to push accelerator further ,thereby causing a much more sudden acceleration. I am used to it because it has happened intermittently since car was new, but someone could get in trouble. Hyundai service says its because the pedal is sending a position of pedal through an electronic signal to fuel metering system.
I purchased the 2010 hyundai santa fe new with only 60 miles on it in june 2010. In january 2011 we began smelling a fuel smell. This occurred only after the car was running and shut off then subsequently turned back on less than an hour later like when running errands. I never smelled gas if the car sat overnight. We also would experience an intermittent long crank. I brought the car to the dealer in january 2011 and they replaced 2 o-rings that they stated were leaking and found fuel around. After these were replaced, I still had the same problems. I brought the car back in february 2011 and no known problems were found by the dealer. Again, I brought the car back in march. This time they found fuel in the charcoal canister. They stated I was overfilling the tank which was why there was fuel in the charcoal canister. After speaking with the manager, they agreed to cover the part and labor at no charge and replaced the charcoal canister. After this was replaced, I no longer experienced the long crank but I still smell gas after running errands. Hyundai will again be looking at the car for any other problems, but the dealer is really stumped so far on this.
Gas/fuel smell coming from engine compartment into cabin of 2010 hyundai santa fe gls (2.4 l automatic). Smell is not noticeable at cold start overnight, or after a couple of hours of sitting. Smell is very noticeable after the vehicle is driven to operating temperature and then shut off for anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. The fuel smell comes directly into the cabin when the HVAC system is set to vent, but not on recirculate. Dealer has removed and replaced fuel injectors and fuel rail. Smell still persists. This is a daily occurrence. The smell also occurs when stopped for any amount of time while driving/idling. The smell occurs when the vehicle's engine is off, but the key is turned to the point the HVAC will turn on. This means the smell occurs regardless of whether the engine is running or not. The smell accumulates under the hood and is strongest near the passenger side middle. The smell is bad enough to permeate clothes while driving and to be smelled inside the house when the door to the garage is opened. It's bad enough to force parking the vehicle outdoors. It appears this issue is being discussed on the hyundai forums website and most complaints are for the hyundai sonata and sonata turbo, but the description of the issue and potential solutions point to the same cause for my santa fe. The dealer has acknowledged the smell, but not in writing. The vehicle has been in five times for this complaint - twice with work done, twice with no work done (claim was could not replicate), and once I was sent home before any work was done as the service representative determined there was nothing they could do at that time. There appears to be no known solution to this issue coming forth from hyundai at this time.
Report date: 08/26/2010. Purchased hyundai santa fe 08/14/2010. Vehicle has 1190 miles to date. Vehicle has momentarily stalled 5 times - 2 in traffic situation which could have resulted in crash. All stalls have occurred after sitting and idling at traffic lights or turns on both level surface and inclines. When brake is released and accelerator pushed vehicle starts moving sluggishly and then stalls flat for several seconds and then engine re-engages. No warning lights activated. Engine does not die requiring an ignition restart. Immediately took to dealer after stalling on incline 3 times at 677 miles on 08/18/2010. Service tech ran complete computer diagnostic in idle mode in shop and found all systems within technical specifications. Suspect drive-by-wire / computer linkage. Vehicle runs smoothly, downshifts and accelerates on demand normally at all other speeds less than 10 MPH. This condition occurs after a stop and after brake is released and accelerator engaged (2 times); when moving slowly and hard acceleration demanded (2 times); or when transmission initially engaged in drive from park mode (2 occasions).
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.
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