One problem related to horn assembly has been reported for the 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe based on all problems reported for the 2008 Santa Fe.
Safety defect with horn activation in emergency situations. Excessive pressure on the steering wheel horn pad is need to activate the horn. This has happened numerous times when a potential collision /close call situation occurred. The central area of the steering wheel contains the driver air bag integrated with the horn activation subsystem. The manual pressure needed to activate the horn is what I believe is excessive and appears to be greater as you move away from the center of the horn-pad to the edge of the pad. I have asked the dealer numerous times about fixing this but he claims this in not possible. There is no adjustment available on this equipment. I've compared the amount of pressure needed on my Hyundai Santa Fe to my 1999 Lexus RX 300 and the Santa Fe requires much more pressure than the rx300. Both my wife and I have requested the dealers service managers to do something to reduce the amount of pressure but they have responded w/ the comment there is nothing that can be done.