general problems of the 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe

Seem like it burns oil quick.

Reference number: 11520065 this is a follow up to a previously submitted incident involving this same vehicle. My first submission was may, 2023, this vehicle experienced the exact same hazardous condition on February 26, 2024. On I-75 south. After driving on an interstate highway for about 1 hour, I noticed a traffic backup and proceeded to slow down as the traffic was nearly stopped. As I slowed my car down to nearly a complete stop, the engine suddenly surged forward with high rpm's as though the accelerator was pushed to the floor. I immediately pressed on the brake pedal as hard as I could to stop the car from surging forward and then quickly decided to put the transmission into neutral so I would not hit the car in front of me. The car eventually stopped surging and may have stalled. I finally got the car to move again by turning off the ignition and restarting it. I continued on my way and did not have a similar situation for the rest of my 30 minute highway trip. Like all the times before, the floor mat was not involved in this sudden acceleration. Last year when I took this car to a Hyundai dealer for inspection, they could not replicate this condition. They said that I needed a new fuel level sensor in my gas tank and a new fuel pump--neither of which I agreed to because first, the gas gauge has no relation to my surging and second, the fuel pump must be working or else I could not drive the car. This surging has occurred perhaps 7 times since I have owned this car since 2008. It is frightening to know that it could happen again with personal injuries or property damage. This condition rarely happens in city driving, but has happened at least 3 times in city driving. Seems like this situation would warrant a manufacturer recall.

I was driving on the expressway when my vehicle picked up 65 mph. I was pushing on my brakes which didn't do anything, as I was approaching my exit I had my foot holding the brakes all the way which then slowed the car down enough. I got off the exit and was met with a red light and my car accelerated without warning almost causing me to slam into the back of another vehicle. I threw my car in park and it started smoking so I turned the vehicle completely off. Frightening situation as I had my infant twins. May 7 2021.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that on several occasions while driving at undisclosed speeds, the brake pedal was depressed; however, the vehicle experienced unintended acceleration. The contact stated that he shifted into neutral(n) to stop the vehicle. The check engine warning light was illuminated. The vehicle was taken to a local dealer, where it was diagnosed that two unknown sensors and the fuel pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The approximate failure mileage was 73,000.

I was pulling into a parking space with my foot on the break pedal when the car inexplicably accelerated and would not stop. Luckily there was a fence to hold me until I was able to turn the car off to stop the acceleration. The engine revved and took off even when foot was applied to break with force. I see many other cases of this and yet still no recall. Hyundai takes zero accountability for this problem. This needs to be addressed. My situation was a lucky one and still terrifying. People could reallly get hurt.

While driving acceleration stops. Have to try to coast to side of road, turn off vehicle and restart. Then its fine until the next time. Has happened 5 times in 4 days. No recall but many others experiencing same problem. On a side street, at an intersection, while driving 45,on a busy hwy, at a stop sign. Once turning at a light.

This morning (11/11/18) I was traveling with my wife and kids on highway I-290 eastbound approx. 60 mph, when our car has started accelerating without me pressing down gas pedal. I hit the brakes, however car was still accelerating and the only way to slow it down was to put it on neutral (I was already speeding over 80mph). When I did it, rpm were at 7000 per min. And didn't go down a bit. I pulled over and turn the engine off. When started back , engine was working at normal level rpm's and reacted to gas pedal movement. I've decided to continue drive to our destination. After few minutes of drive, it happens again! this accelerations were unintended by me and put my family at risk. It's very dangerous and can cause accident and even death. My wife is driving this car daily and she wouldn't know how to handle it if it would happened to her. This should be investigated.

When attempting to accelerate to merge onto highway, the car is unresponsive to the accelerator pedal causing long delay and inability to merge properly. It is a throttle sensor failure that occurs randomly and frequently. Causes a driving hazard and I have narrowly escaped collision due to accelerator failure. Ongoing problem since purchase in 2008.

I was on the high way I changed lanes and when I did I needed to accelerate to change lanes. After changing lanes I had to hit the breaks to slow down, the break seemed to act like a gas pedal. The car would not slow down the breaks would not slow the car it accelerated to 80mph. I was not hitting the accelerator by mistake. There was nothing stuck under the pedals. I believe it was the throttle positioning sensor,tps. I looked this up on the internet there are many instances of this happening with the same make and model vehicle. This is a serious safety hazard I thought me and my unborn child were going to die. I have yet to contact my dealership however as far as I am aware there are no recalls on this vehicle. And there should be! the car has 104800 miles roughly. The car accelerated to 80 miles per hour on its own prior to that I was going about 55 miles per hour. It asked for this information on the next part of this form however it was not allowing me to type it.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving approximately 35 mph, the accelerator pedal went entirely to the floorboard and remained stuck when it was released. The contact violently depressed the brakes and maneuver to the side of the road. After few minutes, the accelerator pedal released and functioned as normal. The vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was notified of the failure. The failure reoccurred twice. The approximate failure mileage was 94,000. The VIN was not available.

My Santa Fe awd 2008 was bought in June 2009 and now has ~99k mileage. I had four or five similar incidents with my Santa Fe starting on 4/21/15, which led to significant power loss and speed loss of the car on the road. The first time, I was driving on a local road at ~25 mph. Suddenly I felt the car lost the power and began to slow down. I stepped down on the accelerator, but the car could not accelerate (the speed dropped to ~10 mph). I saw 3 system indicator/warning lights the esc off(electronic stability control) and check engine indicators had a steady light and the awd system warning light was flashing. I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the car, waited ~1 minute, and then restarted the car. The check engine light stayed on, but the other lights went out. Then I drove the car to continue to my job. The 2nd incident occurred on my way home. The same scenario except that I was driving at ~40 mph at the time. The sudden power loss caused the car speed quickly dropped to ~10 mph and probably led the car behind mine to make a sudden stop to avoid a crash. Again, I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the engine, and then restarted the car with the check engine light staying on. The other times I was on the cresent city connection (bridge) in the center lane. I had to work my way over two lanes to turn the vehicle off to restart to continue on my way to or from work. After the 5th time, I did some research online and found an article stating that this problem was on the TSB (technical safety bulletin). Maybe someone somewhere should be aware of more than one vehicle having this problem. . . . . . .

The car accelerated while brake pedal was being depressed and would not stop accelerating. Car had to be thrown into neutral and key turned off. All four brakes were burnt up. Thankfully no one was injured nor was there a crash. The repair shop could not find any issue on their diagnostic machine other than the rpm's rising even though brake was being applied. So they know it happened but just don't know why. Called Hyundai to document this and their only response was there was no recall and I should take it to a Hyundai dealer for diagnostic study. Sure - spend more money with Hyundai for them to tell me nothing. This problem needs to be addressed prior to the loss of 30+ lives.

My Santa Fe limited awd 2008 was bought at the end of Feb 2009 and now has ~44k mileage. I had two similar incidents with my Santa Fe today (7/6/2014), which led to significant power loss and speed loss of the car on the road. The first time, I was driving on a local road at ~45 mph. Suddenly I felt the car lost the power and began to slow down. I stepped down on the accelerator, but the car could not accelerate (the speed dropped to ~20 mph). I saw 3 system indicator/warning lights the esc off(electronic stability control) and check engine indicators had a steady light and the awd system warning light was flashing. I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the car, waited ~1 minute, and then restarted the car. The check engine light stayed on, but the other lights went out. Then I drove the car to continue my grocery shopping (several stops, ~30 miles in total). The 2nd incident occurred on my way home. The same scenario except that I was driving at ~40 mph and going uphill at the time. The sudden power loss caused the car speed quickly dropped to ~10 mph and probably led the car behind mine to make a sudden stop to avoid a crash. Again, I pulled off to the side of the road, shut off the engine, and then restarted the car with the check engine light staying on. After got home safely, I did some search online and found several similar incidents reported on Hyundai Santa Fe suvs before (see the attached links below). So I decided to report this serious issue. The link of websites with similar incidents reported: 1. . Read more...

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving 55 mph, the check engine warning light illuminated as the vehicle suddenly stalled. The contact was able to restart the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to the dealer, who stated that the throttle control sensor was defective. The dealer replaced the throttle control sensor. The failure mileage was 97,000.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai sante fe. The contact stated while driving 20 mph, the vehicle accelerated without manual force causing the front driver side to crash into a tree. The contact sustained a broken neck, stomach and chest bruising, as well as lacerations. A police report was filed. The vehicle was destroyed. The manufacturer was notified. The approximate failure mileage was 45,000.

As I was driving at approximately 35mph going up a hill, my 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe accelerated at a very high rate of speed and pushing the brakes at full pressure only slowed the vehicle it would not stop and the engine revved. I was in a panic because vehicles were in front of me and I almost slammed into them. I managed to pull to the side and travel on the side of the road trying to stop my vehicle. I finally shifted from drive to neutral all the while pushing the brakes and got the vehicle in park. I have never been so scared in my life and fortunately did not hit any other vehicle. I called a tow truck to tow the vehicle to my garage because I was to afraid to drive it. I am awaiting diagnosis. . Unfortunately it was late Friday afternoon and the garage was closed. They will not be able to look at until Monday.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that the check engine light was illuminated on the instrument panel. The vehicle was taken to the dealer for inspection and they stated that the throttle body sensor needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. The contact then experienced a failure in which there was an increase in the engine rpms, but the vehicle did not immediately accelerate. The vehicle then jerked forward and began to accelerate. The dealer inspected the vehicle and stated that they could not duplicate the failure or diagnose the cause. The manufacturer was not notified. The failure mileage was 55,000.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated while driving various speeds the vehicle would surge forward. During the failure the accelerator pedal would move back and forth. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the throttle needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired but the failure continued. The vehicle was in the process of being taken to another authorized dealer. The failure and current mileages were 47,000.

During the last few weeks the vehicle had a slight acceleration/deceleration. Then while moving the car lost engine pwr. Acceleration was reduced to about 5mph had to stop and turn the car off then on to regain full pwr. The check engine light remaind on.

Was driving freeway, noted sudden deceleration (about 20 mph and not more), check engine lights and esc off lights were on. Had to pull over the left side of lane # 1. A police car had to stop traffic to safely exit the freeway. Vehicle was towed to a dealer and they replaced throttle position sensor assy.

My wife and 2 small children were on the way to the mall when her 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe started accelerating on it's own. She tried to step on the brakes but it wouldn't slow down. It was not a busy time of day on the highway and my wife was able to get to the right lane and step on the emergency brake slowly and the car slowed down. She called the dealership and they towed to the car to the dealership and they claimed that the computer needed to be updated. She asked the service manager if Hyundai had sent out a notice about the computer needing to be updated and he said no.

Yesterday (September 19, 2010) while merging onto the beltway, the floor mat of my 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe caused the car to continue to accelerate after I had taken my foot off of the accelerator. I pumped the brake and tapped the accelerator and the pedal must have come free from the floor mat. The acceleration lasted for between three and four seconds. After I stopped the car I looked down and saw the floor mat was partially covering the accelerator pedal. I have now removed the floor mat.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that the floors mats and holders were fracturing on both the driver and passenger sides. The vehicle was taken to the dealer who stated that it was due to normal wear and tear. The manufacturer was contacted who agreed with the dealer and offered no assistance. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 44,313.

While driving on the highway, the accelerator died (I. E. , gas pedal would not work), causing car to lose speed. Check engine light came on at same time. Car only had 17,000 miles on it with no prior issues. Pulled over to shoulder, turned off car. Re-started car and took it to a service station, which identified (via computer hook-up) a "throttle position" sensor issue.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that while driving at various speeds, she attempted to accelerate further but the vehicle would not accelerate. There was an increase in engine rpms, but the vehicle would not accelerate. The failure recurred on an intermittent basis. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where they were unable to diagnose the failure. The vehicle was not repaired yet the failure persisted. The vehicle was taken back to the dealer where the throttle sensor was replaced but to no avail. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was 20,000.

While driving on highway, gas pedal stop responding. I was able to go to the curb and put car into parking, then I had problem to shut engine off, only second or third attempt was successful. After couple of minutes I start the ignition and engine warning light come on . Car is drivable, but it hesitates when I push the pedal.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. While driving approximately 15-20 mph, the vehicle began to accelerate. The contact engaged the brakes but the vehicle continued to accelerate. The contact put both feet on the accelerator pedal but it continued. The contact shifted into neutral, reverse and park which stopped the acceleration. The vehicle was towed to an authorized dealer but the failure could not be duplicated. The dealer contacted the manufacturer who stated that they could find no similar failures. The failure occurred three times and other times, the problem stopped when the brake pedal was depressed. The VIN was unavailable. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 51,000.