Automatic Transmission Problems of Hyundai Santa Fe - part 1

See attached document for complaint.

See all problems of the 2023 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

2021 Hyundai Santa Fe. Consumer writes in regard to NHTSA safety recall involving the 8 speed dual clutch transmission.

See all problems of the 2022 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

The contact's sister owns a 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe sport. The contact stated that while his sister was driving and following him on the highway at 60 mph, the vehicle shut off without warning. His sister managed to pull the vehicle off to the side of the road and had the vehicle towed to the residence. Prior to the failure, the contact had taken the vehicle to a dealer where she had the vehicle serviced under an unknown recall. The manufacturer had yet to be notified of the failure. The vehicle had yet to be repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 71,000.

See all problems of the 2015 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

The contact owns a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that he attempted to park in his driveway, but the vehicle would not shift into park. The contact also noticed that the brake light was not illuminated. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer. The manufacturer was contacted and they stated that the VIN was not included in the recall associated with NHTSA campaign id number: 09v122000 (service brakes, hydraulic:switches:brake light). The failure mileage was 43,000 and the current mileage was 44,800. Updated 08/28/lj the consumer also stated on three occasions the esc malfunctioned for no reason while in traffic. After pulling over, shutting down and restarting the vehicle, the problem cleared. Updated 08/29/12.

See all problems of the 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

Recently while driving the car seems to hesitate then has a minor acceleration. It seems as if its about to stall but catches and accelerates or increases to original speed. This is concerning especially when it occurs during rush hour traffic. In addition, I had to replace the battery at 24, 348 miles as the car died on me twice while traveling. I purchased a battery from o'rielly auto parts as it was closer to my home. The dealer would only state that battery failure has occurred with less than 30,000 miles on the sante fe however since I didn't bring my car to them the battery is not covered under warranty. It is unbelievable that battery life is this short.

See all problems of the 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

I just purchased a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe today and it seems like the transmission is shifting hard between gears.

See all problems of the 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

Transmission slams into gear, also slips into gear and sometimes moves when in park.

Car jerks violently when at highway speed even though it has new shocks, struts, and front drive axles. The transmission also seems to engage suddenly when moving forward from complete stop. Regular maint. And transmission inspection performed.

See all problems of the 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

The contact owns a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fea. The contact stated that while parked, a child shifted the gear shifter from park to drive and the vehicle crashed into a wall. The contact expressed concern because she believed the vehicles gear shifter should not have moved without the brake pedal being depressed. The manufacturer was made aware of the failure and a complaint was filed. The vehicle was not taken to the dealer for diagnostics. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 100,000.

Started car to back up out of driveway. Car jumped a little. Continued on road and felt little jumping at random. Went slow and tried to brake and accelorate to understand trigger. Turned around after 1. 5 mile to head back home. A few yards in the car made loud dropping sound and grinding and scraping and would not accelarate. So loud I thought the bottom came out. People pushed it into parking lot for me. Aaa towed it to dealer. 24 hours later told it was a transmission problem. 24 hours after that told they are replacing with new transmission. Asked if this would trigger any future problems and they claim no.

The vehicle stops or stalls on shifting from first to second gear. It has just died merging into traffic from a stop sign and I have been forced to roll to the shoulder. It will not always pull up an incline from a stop such as a steeper driveway. I have been sucesful to "fix' this by shifting into neutral and then back in gear. This problem is well documented in the Hyundai forums on line.

On March 11, 2011 I parked my 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe in my driveway. As I was geting out of the vehicle it started to move. It dragged me down my driveway and as I was trying to get back into the vehicle I banged my right knee on the the steering wheel and it turned and went down a hill and hit a tree with me still hanging half out of the vehicle. I broke my right tibia bone. I also have never had a ticket or an accident before in life. Very scary. Did anyone else have a problem like this??.

The contact owns a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. The contact stated that when the vehicle was started, it would run rough and make a lot of noise. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer where the contact was informed that the shaft assembly and the bearing failed. The contact called the manufacturer who offered no assistance. The failure mileage was 77,000 and the current mileage was 77,700. Updated 03/16/11.

See all problems of the 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe 🔎.

I have a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe. Sometimes when it shifts from 1st to 2nd it feels like another vehicle has rear-ended me. It happens a lot when the Santa Fe is cold, but it has happened at other times also. It will also hesitate as it goes from one gear to the next. I have had it to the dealer twice (once I left it over night so they would have it when it was cold) and of course it didn't do it for them. When the transmission hesitates the tachometer will go between 3000 and 4000 rpm, and then lurch violently as it becomes "unstuck. " every time I go to the dealership for an oil change or any other work, I mention the transmission problem. The last time I was there the technician said they contacted Hyundai and was told that is normal. That is not normal. I received a questionnaire from Hyundai about my Santa Fe and again mentioned the transmission problem. I never heard from them. I have read other owners have had the same problem and Hyundai will not acknowledge that there is a problem.

I have a 2010 Hyundai santafe with 6900 miles. Three times in the last week the vehicle would not shift and then it would slam into gear making a banging sound and would surge forward. It was like being hit from behind. Each incident occurred at speeds of 20-25mph while accelerating. I am very concerned about my safety when driving this vehicle.

I bought a pre-owned 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe on 12/13/10 with ~14k miles I was driving to phoenix today 12/25/10 and when leaving a stop light there was a clunk and then my transmission went out. After doing research today I have found that 2010 Santa Fe's have issue with their transmission but no recalls have been issued. Me and my 13 year old daughter are now stranded in phoenix until we can get it repaired. Please push for a recall so this stops happening to people and Hyundai corrects this problem once and for all.

From time to time, my 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe with an automatice transmission jerks violentlly while under normal operating conditions. Sometimes this occurs while travelling at a steady speed (around 40 mph) and sometimes it happens just after I resume acceleration after lifting off of the accelerator (coasting). I really have to 'baby' the accelerator all of the time or this would happen much more often. Therre is a definite problem here, which could potentially cause harm to myself and others on the road. Unfortunately, I know that nothing will ever be done to correct or address this problem.

On my 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe, the transmission intermittently slips, then slams into gear with such force that the vehicle lurches forward, and feels like you are being rear-ended. There are numerous other reports of this happening, however Hyundai has not issued a recall for same, and the dealer has been unable to fix the issue.

The contact owns a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe. While driving approximately 25 mph the contact took her foot off of the accelerator pedal and was coasting. When the contact applied pressure to the accelerator pedal the rpms increased and there was a hard bump and a shutter felt inside the vehicle. The failure occurred intermittently. The vehicle was taken to the dealer three times. The transmission adapter was reset, the keep alive memory and adaptive values were cleared, and an ecu update was performed. The failure continued to occur. The contact was taking the vehicle to the dealer a forth time for diagnostic testing. The vehicle was not repaired. The approximate failure mileage was 7,889. Updated 5/9/11.

I have a 2003 Hyundai sante fe and I have had continual transmission problems since I bought it in 2004. My first encounter started around 37,000 miles,the vehicle began to slip/hesitate while driving on the road. The dealer couldn't find the problem three separate times. I tolerated the nuisance for about a yr until one day I was driving and the transmission 'got stuck'! I had to drive home in first gear for 15 miles! the dealer couldn't re-enact it, but definitely charged me $1800 to flush the transmission, amongst various other 'part replacements'. The problem seemed to 'disappear' for about 4 mths and it started again! transmission would jerk, skip and miss no matter what speed I was going, but then disappear. . It was moody and intermittent, not constant and dangerous. The dealer still couldn't find the problem! then one day I placed the vehicle into reverse and it jerked back hard!! my head was close to hitting the steering wheel. At first I thought the vehicle was struck by another vehicle, but soon realized that it was the transmission because it began to squeal and whine! the serpentine belt and the crankshaft pulley were replaced and the problem seemed to be corrected. Just two months later, I was stranded on the highway, again, without any forewarning! I was driving my son to school and all of a sudden, the tranny didn't want to go into gear, again, and it jerked a few seconds after it slipped. I had to creep my way home by driving about 500-750 ft and then the tranny slipped and violently jerked, put vehicle in reverse a few times and then tried again. Ever since I began to have these problems when I first bought the car I have been searching online and following the large amount of similar and worse complaints regarding the same problems. I am surprised that this problem has not been addressed and further looked into. Please, research this. . Please investigate this type of problem, please.

Bought our 2010 Santa Fe with 2700 miles (the owners wife had been driving it) on November 11th. Almost immediately I noticed that it banged loudly and lurched somewhat upon going from reverse to drive. It does it at any time of day so it's not limited to cold starts. Brought into dealership where they tested and reset the computer. My service manager seemed to be aware of the obvious problems the transmission is having. Then was told it was my transmission and they ordered a replacement. I asked if it would be new or rebuilt, they said new. Then I was told it was policy to put in rebuilt. It only has 5000 miles on it! after some conversation, they agreed to put a new transmission in it. They still have my vehicle-over a week now and I might not get it back for another week. Still don't have the part. . . . . So we'll see when we get it back.

Problems with my 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe with 11,000 miles. Like hundreds of others my car bangs when starting and bangs so bad while trying to shift gears when cold that I thought I was hit from behind. When driving slow the transmission shifts so hard that my wife is afraid to drive this new veh. After reading about all the problems others are having on edmonds. Com I thought I would e-mail you people. The way, reps at the dealership I bought say that this is normal, I have to laugh.

2009 Hyundai Santa Fe accelerated on its own & could not be stopped until I put it in neutral & shut off the engine. This happened twice in two days. The first time this happened on the turnpike, the car accelerated to over 100mph before I put it in neutral but the rpms continued to rise until I shut down the engine. Applying the brakes did not help because the car was accelerating at too high a rate of speed. After turning off the engine, the car was difficult to steer & it was difficult to apply the brakes because of the loss of power to those systems causing an addition hazard.

Oct 2010 first incident- with a cold engine in the morning while traveling between 20-40 mph my 2010 6 cyl Hyundai Santa Fe lurched forward with a loud bang as if we were hit from behind. We had 6230 miles on vehicle. Over the next 2 days the same thing happened several times not as severe as the first incident. After checking the internet found many reports of similar incidents. Brought to dealer who denied hearing of this problem, kept overnight, couldn't duplicate problem and reset adaptive learning and reset driving history. Problem started again March 2011 on March 8, 2011 brought to dealer kept overnight, couldn't duplicate problem found transmission fluid low, reset transmission, did an update they said was related to a computer module that was related to the problem. Vehicle had 10,000 miles. Called Hyundai consumer affairs and had a case opened to document problem as I may have to go through new york lemon law if they don't fix problem. March 15, 2011 tramsmission problem back again called Hyundai consumer affairs and had them reopen case and another appointment scheduled with dealer on March 23, 2011 to test drive with tech and service manager. This will be third attempt to fix transmission problem.

2010 Hyundai Santa Fe. Transmission problems. "lurches" from 2nd gear to 3rd gear. Loud clanking sound when starting (not on all starts, about every 7-10 starts). Slow speed sputters. Slips at slow speeds when accelerating then slams into gear very roughly.

Safety: 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe engine seems to race at slow speeds/coasting, then automatic transmission "skips" then "slams" back into gear. Brought back into dealership twice, first was told they had heard of a similar issue but that it was "within tolerance" so it was not fixed, when it happened again and before starting a long trip I took it back and had their senior tech drive it home (to see if cold starting could be a contributor) they "reprogrammed" the transmission and told us it would be in "learning mode" for the next few thousand miles. Problem has happened twice more in heavy traffic. Want to take it back for repair but need some help in telling them what (and obviously from the online forums) how widespread this issue is.

I have a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe. I have been having problems with it shifting. It will shift really hard and sometimes when I go to give it the gas it will rev to 4rpms before it goes then it bangs in to gear. I have it back to the dealership a few times and they tell me they can not replicate the problem. This is being to be really frustrating. I have had much patience with the dealership, but when the say they put it onto the computer and can not get a code and there is nothing wrong with the vehicle. I am getting afraid to drive the car. I don't know what more to do. Is there anyone out there that has the same problem and has had it fixed so I can tell the dealership?.

With a cold engine in the morning, my 2010 Hyundai sante fe vehicle transmission shifts with a loud "bang" around 10mph. This is sporadic. Also at start up, the vehicle while sitting in park, does the same thing when started, though not as forceful at when driving. I now have 4800 miles, and this has been happening every 2 or 3 weeks minimum. I used to think little of it until it has begun repeating even after the dealer "reset" the software. I also notice now there are several auto websites very aware of the problem. . Read more...

My 2010 Santa Fe on occasion will lurch forward when started, and makes a thud sound from the transmission when this happens. This started when the car had about 1500 miles on it. Then at about 5000 miles, when starting out it shifts from 1st to 2nd very hard, enough to nearly get a whiplash and feels like I have been hit from behind. I told the mechanic at the dealer and he said he would do the recall which had been ordered for another problem, and maybe that would help. It did not help. It has happened several times since then.

2010 Hyundai sante fe awd transmission issue. Immediately upon starting, while car is in park, car idles high, wants to lurch backward, but is "caught" by the fact that it is still in park. Makes a loud bang sound when this happens - almost like something in the frame or elsewhere in car catches it. Then, when putting in gear, it idles high and accelerates very quickly without foot on gas. Need to keep foot securely on brake for safety. Hyundai denies a problem when it is brought in for service. Other Hyundai Santa Fe drivers indicate problem is with transmission and gets worse over time, including having stalls while in traffic,, unexpected acceleration, car won't shift in 2nd and 3rd gears. Please get Hyundai to address this problem and issue a recall.

Brand new 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe limited 6 speed auto transmission. Vehicle sometimes makes a loud bang from transmission at start up. Vehicle lurches forward when started up in park. Also loud band when engaging reverse. Has a problem shifting sometimes from 2nd to 3rd gear,a slight hesitation sometimes. Car has also died on me for no reason when pulling out of a junction. Will be taken the vehicle to my local Hyundai dealer ASAP. Love the vehicle but seriously worried with the transmission issues. Most of the issues are happening daily apart from the stalling issue which has only occurred once.

Brand new 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe intermittently lurches forward and reverse when started up in park. Appears as if starting up "in gear" when in park.

2010 Santa Fe. I get a loud knock (which jerks the vehicle) every so often when I start the vehicle. The dealer cannot find anything with it. I also get a pause at times going from 2nd to 3rd gear in my automatic transmission. Dealer refilled transmission fluid which seems to have helped that a little, but it still jerks at times while shifting gears. The knock has not stopped however. Just happened again yesterday which is at least the 15th time it has happened since we bought it in March. I have talked with others who have a 2010 Santa Fe and they say they have experienced the same problem. All of it seems to be a transmission issue to me, but the dealer says they cannot find anything. Not normal, and definitely should not happen with a new vehicle. I really like the vehicle outside of that.

I have a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe awd. We bought the car with 8 miles. After one week we started to notice a banging sound when the car would shift at low speeds, sometimes it was so severe the car would jerk forward violently. We have taken it to the local dealer twice and they tell us there is nothing wrong. Today my wife was coming home from work and slowed down to let some kids cross the street, as she was slowing the car banged and jerked forward so violently she thought she was going to lose control and hit one of the kids! I was just looking online for other complaints and there are a lot, complaining about the same problem. Something needs to be done about this, or someone is going to be killed!!! by the way, thanks for the Honda odyssey brake recall, I sent in a complaint about that, you folks are great! thanks for your time.

The contact owns a 2010 Hyundai Santa Fe. While driving 25 mph, the transmission would throw itself into gear with a hard bang as if it were hit from the rear. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer who reset the computer; the banging stopped for a while. The failure occurred again but the dealer could not duplicate the failure. The manufacturer had not been notified. The failure mileage was approximately 3,000 and the current mileage is approximately 10,000. Updated 01/18/11 updated 01/31/11.