One problem related to transmission not go into gear has been reported for the 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe based on all problems reported for the 2004 Santa Fe.
Dear nhsta - my Santa Fe had a malfunction at 65 mph that causes the car to abruptly slow down and run in only third gear. This is a huge distraction to the driver and could easily cause an accident. The codes are p0121 and p0733 which have to do with a throttle/accelerator position sensor and a third gear ratio mismatch. I believe the way this works is the accelerator position sensor sends a signal to the electronic throttle system module which activates an ets motor on the throttle body which opens/closes the throttle butterfly damper based on a computed error signal. Upon researching this on Hyundai forums it was very apparant that this malfunction is very common and very dangerous. I searched the current recalls and this is not one of the two recalls I could find for this vehicle. But in 50% of the cases I read about it appeared that either the accelerator sensor or throttle sensor is a common failure. I really think this should be investigated. There are also some other items that can cause these sensors to see this mismatch and give the engine/transmission the fault code which causes the car to either go into "limp" mode or single gear mode. Although both are at different speeds it basically limits the car to a maximum rpm and causes it to either run in one gear or not shift above a gear, for example 3rd gear into overdrive. This seems to be a common fault that is extremely dangerous when running at or near highway speeds due to the unexpected nature of the event and the speed change and noise it can cause thus surprising the driver which may cause them to stop or pull over unexpectedly. Other malfunctions that can cause this are mass air flow sensor, fuel injector o-ring faulty and leaky intake manifolds among others. This serious issue that should be investigated and redesigned or repaired on these vehicles.