general problems of the 2002 Hyundai Sonata

On November 30, 2020 after shopping in food store, starting the cat and coming out of a parking lot and driving the car forward, I smell something burning. Stop & open the front hood and saw smoke coming out of the air filter housing and started to burn. Somebody helped and put out the fire with a fire extinguisher. The car was running hood and my daily driver before the incident.

Headlight wire harness on drivers side is melted. Pictures taken and uploaded.

Alot of problems with this car.

My car started getting erratic idling and then the engine light started to turn on. I got the spark plugs and spark plug wires replaced and then it mild down after around 1wk after, then the erratic idling while on drive or on reverse started again. Left it like that thinking it was maybe the fuel pump or something like that. Had my brother that is a mechanic check it and said he found the spark plug wires out of sequence, but after he made sure all were the correct order the same problem started again, same erratic idling and this time it really did feel like sometimes loosing power. It has gotten worse since then that I was driving, don't recall the mph, but it must of been around 50 - 60 mph cause I was on the freeway. The whole engine sporadically, in less than a split second, turns off then on. All the electric panel and the front dashboard and the whole car's electrical system turns off/on in a "blink of an eye". It made the car make an erratic and sudden stop, like if I had put the brakes completely or the engine just stopped that split second. Then it went back on and still driving. After that it did it about 2 more times like around those mins I was driving, about mins apart. After this happened, it's been getting worse and now the power shuts off completely and I have to drive to the side with no power on car. Then suddenly gets power again and I just start it again. I've checked the cables of batteries and they keep telling me I can't get the car checked for codes cause the engine light keeps getting reset since it looses power completely and they can't get any codes unless the engine light is lit up. Sometimes turning signal or putting the brakes or lights on make it stop or loose power completely.

Ever since I bought my car on halloween 2007, my 2002 Hyundai Sonata has had electrical problems. I would put the wipers on and my radio would turn on. My alarm randomly goes off and I can't disconnect it because it is tied in with the main computer for the vehicle ( I was told by mechanic). The doors used to lock by themselves, now they just don't work altogether. The radio cuts out and randomly tries to play a cd regardless of whether or not there is one in it. From the time I test drove the vehicle, the backlight on the radio never worked. Approximately one year later, it all of a sudden began working and works to this day. I have brought this vehicle to the dealer I bought it from for these reasons among others, and he refused to fix them because he didn't know how.

The speedometer intermittingly stops working without warning. The consumer says she has tried to see if speed or distance affects it. She says there is no reason that she can see to make it stop working. The consumer has taken the vehicle to the dealer for the 5th time today. The manufacturer called the dealer to get it fixed. She said other electric components are not working as well. The doors, windows, and clock are slowly getting worse. The consumer has concerns that it might lead to something more serious, like a fire.

Onsumer stated every time she exited the vehicle she was being shocked. Dealer indicated there was an electrical short, but hds not determined where it was coming from.