Brake Disc Caliper problems of the 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe

2009 Hyundai Santa Fe. Consumer writes in regards to rear brake pads being worn. The consumer stated the vehicle was bought from the dealer under the assumption that it was street legal and safe to drive. After 5 weeks, it was discovered that the rear brake pads were worn to 0% wear and the front brake pads were at 1% wear. This caused damage to the calipers, rotors, and pads.

At 32,000 mile the rear driver's side wheel smelled hot, brake dust residue visible and squealing coming from this driver's side rear wheel. Found that the driver's side rear outside brake pad was worn down to metal. Driver's side inside pad and passenger rear pads, both inside and out were fine with hardly any wear on them. . Hyundai dealer said it is normal for rear disc pad to wear this uneven and for caliper's to stick on causing this. I feel this is a defect in either design or quality of parts as other Santa Fe owners are also experiencing this at even lower mileage. Dealer wants you to pay $60 to have your disc brakes cleaned and adjusted (what is there to adjust?) why do only Hyundai Santa Fe brakes need this unheard of service? why is it only occurring on the driver's side for me and other owners? disc brakes should not act this way.

While driving, driver's side rear wheel generating a screeching noise and a burning smell. Checked tire and both the tire and wheel rim were red hot. Took to Hyundai dealer. Said calipers not sliding properly. They claim on Santa Fe's you have to bring them in for service (the calipers) every 10k or so, as the rear calipers have a tendency to freeze. I checked the internet, and there are numerous postings on Hyundai Santa Fe owners having similar problems. Also an article in this week's hartford courant auto section of a consumer with a similar problem. If I had not pulled the car over and checked this out thoroughly, I could have had a blowout as the hot tire would have exploded. There may be a defect in Santa Fe calipers. A safety recall may be in order.

My 2009 Santa Fe would squeak while driving, but the noise stopped when brakes were depressed. At the dealership I was told that the rear brakes were hanging and the rotors were rusted. My car only had 26,627 miles. I have had many cars with a lot more mileage and never had this happen. This problem was not covered and the dealership did the following: machined rear rotors and lubricated slide rails, remachined rear rotors, removed and cleaned calipers and all hardware. This was on 10/4/2011. Fast forward to the end of July 2012 and my car is making noise when depressing brake. On 08/9/12 with only 37,843 (approx 10,000 miles later) the dealership told me that my rear brakes were shot and needed to be replaced. I am now finding that these cars have numerous complaints about rear brakes but none of it is covered. I also need new tires and from what I am reading about the rear brake problems this is also contributing to the wearing out of the tires. Hyundai needs to address these problems and since the 2011 Santa Fe has brake recalls, I feel that the earlier models with these problems should be taken care of and paid for by the manufacturer. Brakes are important and could potentially cause a bodily harm. This is not something that should be ignored.

Vehicle has been owned for 35 months and has 25,968 miles. Dealership refuses to repair/replace metal to metal contact of lr brakes under warranty. This is 2nd occurrence. 1st occurrence was rr on 6/13/2011 @ 15,771 miles which was repaired under warranty. Rotor turned and new brake pads installed. A rusty (defective mfgr) rattle clip which snaps into the caliper bracket causes brake pads to hang up or not retract after applying pressure and drag excessively causing premature brake pad wear/failure at half of normal pad life expectancy. This should be a class action case nationwide. Make Hyundai replace under warranty the defective rusty part to prevent premature brake wear and/or failure. Rear disc brakes should easily last 50,000 miles or more.

Multiple failures of the valve cover gaskets on the 3. 3 v6. Hyundai replaced twice under recalls. Gaskets have failed again and Hyundai refuses to replace. Rear brake calipers are constantly locking up. Have been since new. Hyundai refuses to acknowledge that there is a serious safety concern with this.