My husband (Scott) was driving the car on Florida highway 408 eastbound approaching the exit 21 on 10/12/2023 around 8 am. Scott heard something pop suddenly and saw fire shooting out from both sides of the car in the rearview mirrors. Upon noticing the fire, he tried to slow down to pull over the car, but brakes failed (went to the floor). A police officer on the road happened to see the fire so he drove next to my husband's car and Scott yelled at officer that he had no brakes. The officer went ahead of Scott to help Scott's car slow down. When approaching uphill slopes by the exit, Scott was finally able to use the emergency brakes to come to a complete stop. The fire engine came right away and put out the fire which took over 20 minutes. My husband is handicapped and him walking away from such car catastrophic fire unharmed was near miracle. Two weeks before the fire, I happened to take the car in for checkup at Greenway Hyundai Orlando and the 2.5 hour inspection found nothing wrong with my car. I wanted my car checked because my car stalled briefly pulling out of a parking space a few days earlier.
2016 Hyundai Sonata: brake failure
6 of the 730 complaints about the 2016 Hyundai Sonata describe brake failure.
- owner complaints
- 6
- of this car's complaints
- 1%
- recalls
- 1
Brake failure by model year
What owners say
Please contact me for more details on issues and info on this dealership (Kendall Hyndai in Miami I know there something wrong with the way they’re responding to this very dangerous brake issue’s before it cause l serious injuries or. fatalities Took the car to dealership with an abs light on and stop check brakes light as well had total brake failure after running diagnostic the said I need to change the pressure source unit which cost me 4k after picking up vehicle and driving a few mile had same issue happen they said I need to change both rear bearing sensors which is another. 1500 iam feeling like this is a very serious issue and the are just charging me as much as they can . I called another dealer close by and found that they charged way less labor and parts fees example ~ was charged 289 an hour other dealer 190 plus less hour as well the parts were same issue paid 2159 for pressure source unit and other dealer was 1900 plus a shipping fee of 100 to get it faster the other dealer said the don’t charge for that in other words the dealer I went to Kendall Hyndai was way over charging for every aspect of my issue this unexceptable to me and should be looked into!!!! This more importantly is a dangerous problem when you lose breaks unexpectedly which could cause serious bodily harm to one self and the second part of the dealer charging way more than reasonable prices is also unbelievable and disturbing as well
ABS system lights up and stop car and check brakes flashes loss of brakes completely!!!!
I just drove up a small hill and then I had to accelerate to get onto the on-ramp to match the speeds of highway traffic. The engine shut off. no lights from the cluster gauge illuminated. had to really use my leg muscles to step on the brakes really hard to avoid a front collision. had to really use the muscles in my arms and hands to steer the steering wheel hard too. it felt like the loss of brakes and steering capabilities turned off and were really hard to use when the engine turned off for no apparent reason.
2016 Hyundai Sonata Limited 2.0, 62,000 miles Ive had my vehicle to the dealers 3 times for a soft pedal /no brakes. They said they cant fix it . The said they replaced the entire abs system but there is no record of it. They said they put all new brakes lines on. They gave me my car back both times and I avoided a few major accidents. They have had my vehicle for 4 months. The owner will not respond to my call or email. They said an engineer from the factory was coming wendnesday 10/6/2021 and I'm not sure I believe them.
Rear brakes failed to properly function while the vehicle was in forward motion on a highway. Both rear brakes locked up without operator pressing on brake petal. Both rear brakes and wheel got red hot causing passenger side rear brakes caught on fire. No brake warning lights was activate. This event took place twice, once on 1/27/16 (18 days after purchase) and 2nd time 3/7/16. (30 days after it was allegedly repaired.
Service bulletins that may apply
- This bulletin describes the procedure to inspect and identify fluid which may appear around the brake...
- If you are servicing an applicable vehicle with a “Check Engine” light on and one or more of the DTC...
- 2016MY sonata vehicles equipped with the optional electric parking brake (EPB) incorporate a feature to...
Related recalls
Parking brake: indicator light
- What is wrong
- Hyundai Motor America (Hyundai) is recalling certain 2015-2016 Sonata and Genesis vehicles. In the affected vehicles, the warning light to indicate that the parking brake is applied may intermittently not illuminate in the dash due to corrosion in the switch.
- Risk
- If the parking brake indicator is not illuminated when the parking brake is applied, the driver may operate the vehicle with the parking brake partially engaged, increasing the risk of a crash.
- Remedy
- Hyundai will notify owners, and dealers will replace the parking brake switch, free of charge. The recall began on August 4, 2017. Owners may contact Hyundai customer service at 1‑855‑671‑3059. Hyundai's number for this recall is 164.
Recall number 17V359000 · Recall details
Questions about the 2016 Hyundai Sonata brake failure
Is brake failure a common problem on the 2016 Hyundai Sonata?
6 of 730 owner complaints about the 2016 Hyundai Sonata (1%) mention brake failure. The model year with the most reports is 2013.
Is there a recall or service bulletin for this on the 2016 Hyundai Sonata?
There is 1 recall and 3 service bulletins for the same area of the car. Check them below with your VIN.
Other symptoms on the 2016 Hyundai Sonata
Engine failure 147Check engine light 142Oil consumption 135Knocking 94Stalling 89Loss of power 53Fire or smoke 36Misfire 28Jerking 25Headlights 23Won't shift 23Hesitation 16Power steering loss 12ABS 10Won't start 10Steering lock-up 8Overheating 7Grinding brakes 6Shudder 6Adaptive cruise 5Door locks 5Fuel pump 5Warning lights 5
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