Frame And Members problems of the 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe

While driving my 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe I noticed that my vehicle would sway to the right and I had to compensate by steering the vehicle to the left. A preliminary inspection showed that I needed a wheel alignment and new tires due to the excessive wear to the tires caused by the vehicle not being aligned properly. The vehicle was brought to a local tire shop for tire replacement and wheel alignment. Upon inspection by the mechanic it was discovered that the sub frame of the passenger side of the vehicle where the lower control arm is attached has a rust hole where the right bolt attaches to the sub frame. In fact the lower control arm of the passenger side of the vehicle is only attached with one bolt. As a result the vehicle needed a tie rod replacement and wheel bearing replacement caused by the lower control arm not being properly attached to the sub frame. I was also informed by the mechanic that he was unable to align the vehicle or change the wheel bearings due to this condition. The mechanic informed me that the sub frame needs to be replaced as the vehicle is not safe to drive in this condition. Damage resulting = I am unable to use this vehicle as it is unsafe to drive. Cost to replace the sub frame is approximately $2000. 00 dollars.

While driving my 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe in the evening on the southern state parkway (55 mph, left lane, pkwy traffic heavy but moving well), steering suddenly began to shimmy, followed by grinding noise emanating from right front wheel. Assumed a flat, pulled foot off gas pedal, put hazard lights on and began to pull over to right lane. Steering almost impossible to control as steering wheel was whipping from right to left, grinding noise increased - as I slowed enough to pull onto dirt shoulder, right front of car collapsed, right front wheel broke off and bounced across 3 lanes of traffic before landing on opposite shoulder of parkway. That the wheel didn't fly off while driving at full 55 mph and when it did fail, that it bounced between oncoming cars, and did not hit one of them and cause an accident, was astounding. This occurred without any prior hint of a problem, my car is well maintained and serviced on a regular basis. According to my mechanic, the wheel literally rusted off - he has never seen anything like this. Mechanic states 3 other wheels have more rust than he has ever seen on a vehicle, however, he didn't feel there was danger of an immediate failure.

The rear trailing arms rotted and one broke as I was driving. Ii took the vehicle to my mechanic, who was told by his parts contact that this is a frequent occurrence with Hyundai Santa Fe's. Both the rear trailing arms needed replacing. I contacted Hyundai and they refuse to look into it. They told me that because I didn't take the vehicle to a Hyundai service center, they couldn't confirm it and they don't feel the need to investigate it. I don't understand why it makes any difference as to which service place I took the vehicle to. The bottom line is - the vehicle needed repair. I am disappointed with Hyundai for not standing behind their product. Clearly, stating that it needed to go to a Hyundai service center is just an excuse for them to deny there is a problem with the design of the vehicle or the part. I feel there is a public safety risk. There was no warning that this could happen with the vehicle. I could have been in a serious accident - or worse. My teenage son could have been driving the vehicle when this occurred. I wonder how many other vehicles are driving around with the same defect. I would like an investigation to be sure that other's don't experience what I experienced or worse. If the part had broken when I was driving on the highway, it could have harmed others. Please investigate and help protect others.