general problems of the 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe - part 2

The Santa Fe gas gauge behaves erratically! as you drive, the fuel indicator needle moves up and down so that you do not know accurately how much fuel remains in the gas tank. The needle may also indicate a very low fuel level by illuminating the "low fuel" warning light on the dashboard as well. The problem appears to be getting worse as drive time goes on as the needle movements increase the longer time the SUV is driven and the volume of fuel decreases in the fuel tank. After a period of time the check engine light will also illuminate to warn of a vehicle engine / drive-train problem. In my case I have reset the check engine manually and after a number of trips the check engine light will reappear. This low fuel warning cycle has been repeated numerous times and may cause a driver to be distracted to see the low fuel warning light, when in fact there may be sufficient fuel in the gas tank. I find that this problem is very disconcerting as you don't know whether you may be running out of gasoline.

Car parked in parking lot at my office. No one in vechile. Parked for several hours. Spontaneously burst into flames. . . Apppeared to be electrical box at rear of car for hitch.

The fuel gauge on dash has begun fluctuating wildly even with full tank of gas. No check engine light yet but based on what I have read I am anticipating a problem code coming soon. My research is pointing to the fuel level sensor attached to the fuel pump. However, only the whole assembly appears to be available and as such, it is highly costly to correct. Hyundai should provide a recall for this due to the huge number of people experiencing the same problem. It has also been noted that this has caused vehicles to stall while on the highway creating a hazard to other drivers and myself. When the car ran out of gas, the power steering went out and it became very hard to steer. Please see the following web site for a current list of many other Santa Fe owners having the same problem. . Read more...

The sensor for the gas tank went bad, in our opinion, prematurely. Went online to research the issue, and learned that this is a common problem with Santa Fes, even those newer than ours. Impact: when the sensor fails, the fuel gauge displays 'empty' no matter what amount of fuel is in the tank, rendering the fuel gauge totally unreliable to the driver. The car could run out of gas anywhere-- for example, on a highway--potentially creating a serious safety hazard to not just the driver but also to other drivers around him. We wonder whether a recall should be issued for this sensor. Thank you for looking into this matter. M. Vida.

The fuel gauge on our '08 Hyundai sante fe has recently become erratic. It fluctuates widely (25-50%) over the course of a few minutes with the check engine and low fuel indicators also periodically lighting. It has become so unreliable that we are now relying on the odometer readings to estimate fuel levels. Searching the internet, this appears to be a very common problem with this vehicle and relates to weak pins in the originally installed fuel senders. There are several reports that the apparent problem is fixed in the replacement part (visibly larger pins) which makes me question why the company would not be responsible for replacing a clearly defective part. Our vehicle has approximately 70,000 miles on it.

Fan keeps going on and off. Dealer said there is a "short in the a/c control head".

I turned on the car and noticed that the gas gauge was showing empty and the engine light was on - I had just filled the tank up that morning so I knew I had plenty of gas. The range indicator was just dashes -not numeric as it should be. The gauge then would rise up and the range would change and then it would go down and the range would change - this continually happened. I went to my mechanic and he said to zero out the error and keep an eye on it. The next morning the same thing. Now we are being told that the fuel level sensor is not working and it will cost between 600-700 to fix this! I too have read on many websites that this is an issue that occurs between the 60k - 70k mileage range and the parts guy at healey Hyundai in beacon, NY told me - OH yeah we are getting tons of these complaints, that is why we stock this item! if Hyundai is aware of this issue, why aren't they recalling these vehicles? are they waiting for someone to not be aware of their actual gas gauge and have their car stall out at 55 miles an hour?? come on Hyundai - we are loyal brand buyers and this is our 4th Hyundai (second Santa Fe) don't become like the rest of the car companies and not give a [xxx] - fix your problems and your consumers will stand by you! information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u. S. C. 552(b)(6).

I am original owner of a regularly maintained 2008 Hyundai sante fe (45,000 miles). On a Jan 2011 trip from TX to mi the car lost power at night while traveling 70 mph on the interstate highway. The engine light came on, the car was still running, but pressing the gas pedal did nothing, the car coasted to a stop and eventually stalled completely. Manuevering to the shoulder without power was very risky and scary. Once stopped the car easily restarted only to lose power again 10 miles down the highway. The oil light stayed on between both episodes. We quickly found a hotel for the night. The next morning the engine light was off and the problem didn't resurface until now. In the past three weeks we have lost power five times while driving between 40 mph and 55 mph. The Hyundai service department has had the car for two days and diagnostics is not identifying any problem and so we've been told there is nothing they can do. Another problem is that the computer onboard should be registering a "history" when the engine light comes on, but it isn't. There is no "proof"! the Hyundai repair manager is telling us to return if the problem happens again. I am afraid to drive this car. This is a very dangerous situation and a solution needs to be found before it causes an accident.

While driving home recently on a 70 mph 4 lane highway at approx 11 pm our 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe suddenly loss power while climbing a small grade. The check engine light, esc and traction lights all turned on, the engine was still running but we could not maintain speed, I immediately turned on the hazard lights and looked for somewhere to pull off the road unfortunately I was on the inside lane just passing a semi-truck and trailer, there was a guardrail next to the inside lane so I had to wait for the semi to pass before I could merge to the outside lane to pull off to the right, by the time I was able several vehicles came from behind and two vehicle slammed on their brake to avoid hitting our vehicle. I was lucky to not be rear ended and had just enough momentum to get to the shoulder. I noticed that the vehile was not running correctly and shut off the engine. I checked all fluids and made sure that all belts and hoses were in good order, there were no visable issues. I restarted the vehicle and all lights reset except the check engine light. I slowly drove the vehicle to the closest exit and the vehicle did the same as the first time cutting out and losing power but I was off the highway by now and safely in a parking lot. This vehicle we have owned since new and have had all services done at Hyundai dealers according to the manufacture's prescribed maintenance schedules and the vehicle has only 35,700 miles on it. The vehilce was towed to the closest dealer and to my surprise the service department knew about this issue because of 2 tsbs (tsb09-FL-003-2, TSB-10-FL-010)(NHTSA item numbers: 10032793,10034649) that were existing on this vehicle that can cause this failure. I seriously think that this kind of failure should be a recall rather than just a TSB if it is a known issue with the vehicle to prevent possible crashes in the future.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that the vehicle has been at the dealer for two months because the air bag light and door locks were not working properly. The dealer is currently stating that they have to rewire the entire vehicle. The vehicle has not yet been to the repair shop for the air bag light to be repaired. The part was ordered, but it did not remedy the failure. The doors have been repaired unsuccessfully approximately six times. The failure mileage was 300 and current mileage was 3,000.