Two problems related to car accelerates on its own have been reported for the 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe based on all problems reported for the 2003 Santa Fe.
Please reference the original complaint that was filed in June 2010. The ref. No. Is 10351059. The above vehicle is still exhibiting "unintended acceleration" and Hyundai refuses to acknowledge that there is a problem with this vehicle and other like vehicles. Since the original complaint the vehicle has had "unintended acceleration" about 10 times. Whoever drives the vehicle always keeps their hand on the shift control and shifts into neutral when coming to a stop at an intersection. We may be contacted by phone for more information concerning this problem.
At approximately 47,000 miles, check engine light came on. In addition, vehicle experienced a sudden occasional jump in idle to 3000 rpm+ while in park and drive after three minutes or so of operation. While in drive, vehicle lunges dangerously forward. When this occurs, ignition is turned off, and restart takes several attempts. After restarting, the vehicle will sputter and refuse to accelerate normally for 30-60 seconds. Vehicle also stalls occasionally after 3 minutes or so of use when accelerating from a full stop. Vehicle was brought to napelton Hyundai, west palm beach, FL on Nov 30. Crankshaft position sensor and camshaft sensor were replaced. Before leaving dealership with service manager present and automatic transmission in park, vehicle idle suddenly spiked to 4,200 rpm. I was told dealer was closed, and to drive it home. On December 5, vehicle again stalled again in traffic at intersection almost causing a collision. After restarting, it refused to accelerate normally for 30-60 seconds. Vehicle was towed to back to napelton Hyundai because both the stalling and sudden acceleration are serious concerns that make this Santa Fe unsafe to operate. The service manager agreed fully that the vehicle was unsafe to drive. On Dec 20 I was advised that the vehicle was not repaired because attempts to duplicate the problems were unsuccessful. I was told to pick it up and drive it. I refused to do so. Napelton had over 20 days to detect and correct these major safety issues, and I will not drive Hyundai's failure into an accident. A review of NHTSA defects reported for this Santa Fe for 2003-2005 model years reveals over 40 similar incidents, some involving collision and injury. These are categorized under several different components including vehicle speed control, electrical system, vehicle speed control: accelerator pedal, other, power train: automatic transmission, and equipment. Perhaps the Santa Fe's can be recalled before deaths result.