general problems of the 2021 Hyundai Santa Fe - part 2

While traveling 70 mph the vehicle had a sudden loss of engine and battery output performance while driving and began losing speed despite the accelerator being fully depressed. There was a very rapid decrease in speed, and no warning chime activated per manual. “check hybrid system. Stop safely, triangle warning displayed. ” observed battery indicator rapidly deflecting left and right. The vehicle would not accelerate and had to be coasted through four lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder of the highway. While on an sos call with bluelink, who was unable to see the location of my vehicle, oil light illuminated, and a message on the dash said “check battery discharge. ” after the first bluelink operator was unable to assist in dispatching a tow truck due to the inability to see the vehicle’s exact location, the second bluelink operator was able to assist and dispatch a tow truck to the location and tow the vehicle to the closest dealership. The vehicle could not be turned on or placed in neutral. Was given a jump start to place in neutral to tow. Upon arrival at the dealership, the key fob would not register inside the vehicle for the service manager and technician to move with the tow truck operator. The vehicle was evaluated by the dealership and the only reported issue was a signal error that was present when the vehicle arrived at the dealership after being towed. Dealership reported radar was not vertical and contributed that to the cause of loss of acceleration on the highway despite not having identified it before or being a result of being towed. I requested this be reported if truly the cause since that could be catastrophic. The matter was considered resolved by the dealer since it couldn’t be duplicated. This unknown, continued sudden loss of output power, acceleration, and electrical power is a serious safety defect and significant impairment to the vehicle, posing a fatal risk for the operator and other motorists on the road. Occurred at 24618 miles.

My Santa Fe has less than 14k miles. In many instances, the car has stalled when turning on. The engine would tremble and then shut the engine off while the dash lighting/symbols stay on. It will idle for a quick second and then drop to zero. Another instance is when driving into a parking spot and driveway and we applied the brakes. At that moment the engine shut off while the dash lights/radio and everything else stayed on. In all instances, if we apply the brake and then hit the start button, the car will typically turn on and act like nothing ever happened. In 2 instances, the blind side detection would turn off while driving and all the warning lights would come on the dash. After turning it off and letting it sit for a few minutes it would disappear. One time the front detection would go off and there was no car in front of me for about 8ft. The beeping continued after we drove off and it eventually reset itself and never happened again. I’ve notified the Hyundai dealer but they claim if they can’t recreate it then they can’t fix anything. My previous Santa Fe did the same thing and they had it for 2 weeks with no results. Although my blue link app showed the car was never moved from the parking spot which made me wonder if they even tried anything. I have videos of the Santa Fe stalling.

Car would not start; battery was too low to activate lights or locks, let alone starter. An attempted jumper cable connection to an older car was insufficient to make the motor turn, even after just running the assist car while connected for 20+ minutes. A subsequent jump from the aaa 2000 ah jump pack did work although their ‘test’ indicated battery state-of-charge and state-of-health to be less than 30%. Their obvious recommendation was battery replacement and, with the vehicle now running, a drive to the dealership was attempted. At the first intersection a full vehicle stop engaged the engine stop-start function, but without sufficient battery for the ‘start’ part. Not only would the vehicle not restart but there was insufficient battery power to put the transmission into park nor engage the emergency brake to prevent the vehicle from rolling into busy cross-traffic; only the service brake worked. Fortunately, a nearby motorist recognized the emergency and placed rocks under the tires to prevent the vehicle from rolling forward. The vehicle was towed to the dealership where the battery was replaced without significant comment on the total failure of nearly all systems in the event of battery failure. The outcome of this major battery failure could have been catastrophic as the only system even marginally functional was the non-power-assisted service brake.

While I was traveling 70-75 mph the vehicle had a sudden loss of engine and battery output performance and I began losing speed. There was a very rapid decrease in speed, and no warning chime activated per manual. “check hybrid system. Stop safely, triangle warning displayed. ” the vehicle would not accelerate despite pressing the gas pedal all the way to the floor and had to be coasted off the interstate through three lanes of traffic to get to the shoulder. No fault indications were present in the bluelink app despite warnings present on the dash. Mileage was 6506 at the occurrence, vehicle was in Smart. Adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist were being utilized, when disabled acceleration did not return. I was advised to turn off the car and turn it back on due to no faults present via remote troubleshooting tools and no dealership within 150 miles, and the vehicle resumed operating okay. After taking it for service at the next available “emergency slot” two weeks later at my local dealership and the car being there for one week, they reported condition could not be duplicated, the vehicle is operating to the manufacturer's specifications. I noted my serious concerns and that a serious safety defect that allows a vehicle to lose all acceleration on the highway and the vehicle not sounding a warning chime can lead to dangerous scenarios on the road and I was assured there was nothing wrong with my vehicle and it would not occur again as it was operating within manufacturer specifications. The vehicle did have a subsequent failure of this same type at a later date. It was not investigated by anyone other dealership. The manufacturer failed to address the loss of acceleration concerns when requested. No chime activated but should have received one per manual. A safety warning was present on the dash, “check hybrid system. Stop safely” service warning triangle. I am unsure how long it appeared before the loss of acceleration due to no chime.

Vehicle stalled 5 times when finally got it to restart wouldn’t accelerate more than two mph. Broke down on a busy road was finally able to get the car into a parking lot but was almost hit from behind cause the vehicle was obstructing traffic. Towed to dealership where was told it would take them a week to look at it and they won’t provide any alternative transportation for me that I would have to pay out of pocket. My car is only 2 months and 2400 miles old.

Engine shut off while driving 70mph in the middle of the mountains in PA during a road trip from va to mi, 2 adults and one child. No warning no check engine lights no alarms, just shut off. I tried to press the ignition start button but it would not function until the engine was in park, gave no warning or alarm when I pressed it, the engine start button wouldn't respond. At shutoff, going ~70mph, I had: zero acceleration zero power no blinkers no instrument cluster (led cluster screen installed) the only way I could signal to merge onto the shoulder was to turn on the hazard lights and attempt to merge from the fast lane to the shoulder, completely crossing faster traffic with no blinkers to guide my merging and warn other drivers on the highway. Instrument cluster turned white as if it was being reset and music was still playing in the car bluetooth connected to my phone. Conditions of the vehicle during shutoff: 1. Adaptive cruise control was on, set to 3 car lengths of distance. 2. Lane keep assist was on 3. Lane departure warning was on 4. Bluetooth was connected 5. Navigation was active and guiding once I was able to merge to the shoulder, I shifted into park and sat there for about a minute while I tried to calm my family down from what had happened so unexpectedly. After a minute or so, I was able to start the vehicle back up and nervously proceeded back on the highway to continue on with the rest of the trip. I immediately contacted Hyundai when I returned to va and explained the issue, they took the vehicle into the service department of the dealership that I purchased the vehicle from. Hyundai kept my vehicle for 2 days and drove it "120 miles" but were unable to recreate the problem. They stated that all the systems checked out and there was nothing more they could do. I have since created 2 cases with Hyundai corporate office to rectify this issue to no avail. Without the issue being recreated, there is nothing they will do for my family.

It's only been less than a month, since I bought this car and I've driven ~500 miles. Now when I was driving the car yesterday it just stopped in the middle of the road all of a sudden for no reason. After getting the car towed to the service center, they are reporting that there is an issue with the car's transmission and they are going to replace it.