general problems of the 2006 Hyundai Sonata - part 2

The dummy airbag light in my 2006 Sonata has been on for a few years. The last time I brought it in to service, in July 2012- I was told that my passenger seat may need to be sent out, but that I would also need 2 new seat belts. I was told the air bags wouldn't deploy if I was in an accident. The mechanic was able to turn the dummy light off but only for a day or two. This November 2013, the seat was sent out to CA under a recall notice I was sent by Hyundai, and I paid to have my seat belts replaced, but I feel the whole thing is related and should have been a recall. Everyone I have spoken to about it feels the same way. The seat belt replacement cost $350 per seat excluding tax. Hyundai has known of this problem (through my dealer) since July 2012 and the problem had been ongoing for months prior to me taking it in for servicing, not realizing it was a dangerous situation. I missed the 5 year 60k warranty probably by 10k miles or less. I would like to know how many other Sonata owners have had to replace their seat belts and whether or not we should be suing Hyundai to have them cover this "repair". I could get no statistics from Hyundai when I called them regarding how many people have complained about this problem. The explanation provided to me is that they are separate problems, not inter-related and that the seat belt issue is an electrical issue and the service center was given a code to diagnose the issue.

Dash board air bag light came on and remained on. Took to a mechanic who stated it was an error code that was not longer active. A sensor must have set it off, but there was no longer a problem. A few weeks later airbag light came on again. Took vehicle to Hyundai dealership who stated occupant classification system (OCS) or sensor that was part of system registered an error at some point in the past few days and that is why the light went on. They stated there was no longer an error, but that the sensor must be going bad and would need to be replaced before it failed. Reason being, once the sensor failed, the air bags (at least passenger air bag, potentially whole system shut off so driver as well?) wouldn't deploy in the case of an accident because system would shut off as a result of a sensor failure. Dealership stated that sensor could not be replaced individually, but that the whole passenger seat cushion would have to be replaced. The sensor is part of the OCS system. The quoted cost for the part (seat cushion with electronic sensing system) would be around $1500 total ($1350 for the part, $150 for the labor). As of now air bag light not on, sensor hasn't failed yet. Once it does, need to replace if want air bag system to deploy. This seems like a very serious safety issue that should be addressed by a recall. I have read hundreds of customer complaints online that have the 2006 Hyundai Sonata with this problem and haven't had it fixed. As a result there are a lot of people driving around in a vehicle that some if not all of the air bags won't deploy in (and most if not all of them don't realize it disables the air bag). This design flaw could result in serious injury or death. All information I received in regards to airbag light issue was from the service department at a Hyundai dealership. This issue needs to be investigated and a recall needs to be issued.

About 2-3 years ago, the air bag warning light on the console began to illuminate and turn off intermittantly without apparent cause or pattern, until it reached a point of staying on all the time. To me, this indicates an electrical problem. I have not had this problem diagnosed specifically, although at one point, my mechanic mentioned off hand that I had a broken seat belt, but, after I looked them over myself, all seat belts functioned perfectly fine, so I did not replace any of them. This may be the cause of the warning light, however, research has shown that this warning light may be on for any number of reasons, and most cases involve expensive and unreliable repairs, and the problem re-occurs without reason. Because of this, I have elected not to pay to have it "fixed. " it has not been a problem until this year, when my car only barely passed inspection (prior inspectors have apparently never had a problem with it). Reading further, I am even less inclined to fix it - spending $1500 on a repair that has reports of re-occurrence on a 7-year-old vehicle seems silly. However, I'm lodging the complaint here anyway. I have not attempted to get a dealership or manufacturer to diagnose or fix the problem.

2006 Sonata has an intermittent electrical problem. These problems manifest themselves usually when the gas is not being applied. The headlights will dim or go off and then come back on; the radio sometimes will go off and then come back on; the a/c fan periodically sounds as if it has turned off and then comes back on; several times I noticed the parking brake/low brake fluid, (rarely high beam), esc light and abs light come on when the radio and lights and ac turned off and then came back on. At times these outages will occur when the turn signal is used. All these happenings have been reported to the Hyundai service department but they say they cant get it to repeat the symptoms or find a problem and the computer does not show a code indicating any problem.

Lights across instrument cluster will not go off including: esc off, check engine, airbags and abs. There is also a visibility issue regarding the sun visor on the driver side. These are all issues that I have seen many other people are having as well and are potentially dangerous.

I own a Hyundai Sonata 2006, and just before it got to 80,000 miles, the air bag light suddenly went on. It has stayed on for a week as of 9/25/10. I looked it up online and it seems many people have had this same issue with the Hyundai Sonatas and it is very costly to fix. I think this is a safety issue that should be looked into with Hyundai, if it happens repeatedly.

Air bag light on dash is illuminated and won't turn off.

2006 Hyundai Sonata 3rd brake light housing has a design problem which does not allow for the bulb to be replaced by the owner. Of course short life bulbs are used so the light burns out quickly. Hyundai's solution is to bring the car into a dealership and pay around $75 for them to take out the tray between the seat and window to get to the bulb to replace. Consequently, with the strains of the economy most people have to choose to not replace the bulb. A proper design would have allowed the car owner to replace the bulb. This problem started back in 2008.

2006 Sonata now has an intermittent electrical problem. These problems manefest themselves usually when the gas is not being applied, but not necessarily when the brakes are being applied. The headlights will go off and then come back on; the radio sometimes will go off and then come back on; the a/c fan sometimes sounds as if it has turned off and then comes back on; several times I noticed the esc light and abs light come on when the radio and lights and ac turned off and then came back on. At times these outages will occur when the turn signal is used. All these happenings have been reported to the Hyundai service department but they say they can't get it to repeat the symptoms or find a problem.

Computer problems for several months now. My car will stop a turn mid-turn and the dash lights will flash on momentarily. The wheel will bind and I have to brake hard to regain control of the wheel so I can complete the turn. This is always at a moderate speed, below the speed limit posted for the on/off ramp, etc. This has happened at least a dozen times with each time almost resulting in a crash due to losing control of my steering wheel. I took it to the dealership, they blew me off and said I needed to change my automatic transmission fluid. I had 3 other shops look at it and no one could determine cause. I had the grease fittings inspected as well as tie rods/ball joints. All were reported good. My airbag light has been on since about 40,000 miles. I took my car in, they said there was a leak in my sunroof, fixed it under warranty and turned the airbag light off. It came on again after 50,000 miles (after the expiration of my warranty) and has been on ever since. I took it into the dealership and they said it was a faulty seat belt clip and I needed to pay about $300 to have it fixed. I've done a lot of research and I'm seeing that many many Hyundai Sonata owners are experiencing the same things. . . . Airbag lights and computer problems.

The whole electric system in my 2006 Sonata is isn't working. Especially the lights over the last 3 year we have had this car, we can't count how many lights bulbs we have replaced. The dash board light comes on and off when ever it feels. We thought that we had warranty but we don't, it should be a recall on their electric system because I heard a lot of complaints about Hyundai.

That's the problem there is no serious event leading up to the problem. It is happening because theses cars are not built for safety. I have had my car for 5 months and there are some serious problems, Hyundai and you all may not think so but it is. If it was your car that had all of these problems you would be complaining also. Problems that I have with my Hyundai Sonata: passenger airbag light on every time you crank up, airbag light in the dash board on, check engine light (sensors going bad in the car). If its not equipped for the car don't try something that's going to have people spending out of the pockets and then paying for a car also. Recalls on 06 Hyundai Sonata what's the purpose if it cant be fixed everything on the recall list is happening to my car. If I had a second chance I would not have bout that !@#$% from Hyundai.

Esc and abs light, shifter control.

After having the car for almost 2 years with no problem the engine started to show that it was getting hot. I found that you could make the temperature go up and down just by adjusting the temperature of the ac. The car would run fine then the temp would red line in about 10 seconds and drop back to normal. After this happened a few times I took it to my local Hyundai dealer ship. They changed every thing in the car from the dash cluster to the water sensor and every thing between. After 2. 5 weeks they sent an engineer from there manufacturing facility to look at the problem and 2 days later they found the ground bad. I was given a loner car and they took car of all the issues under warranty.

Replaced brakes with only 26,000 miles ,then again at 37,000 miles, now im at 41,000 miles and my brakes are making noises again. I also had to have the motor replaced in the driver side door window,it stopped going up and down in the first year I had the car. I had to have the rear window replaced due to the antenna in the window being broken, when I turned the rear defroster on the radio had alot of static. Since the window has been replaced it no longer defrost , I brought it back to the dealer several times and they tell me it works fine. They tested it inside a warm building. I also have an issue which the dealer says there is no problem, when driving and either the air conditioner/heater is on and lights at same time , when you brake the lights dim and the conditioner/heater goes low, also the interior light will dim as well. I have taken the car back to the dealer several times they say there is no problem. Im very disgusted with the vehicle.

S10 appropriate handling re defective engine-malfunction indicator light and erratic rpm reading involving reduce acceleration fm owner of a 2006 Hyundai Sonata lx. The consumer stated the check engine light illuminated. The vehicle was taken to the dealership several times, only to be told there was nothing wrong. The tail lights burned out, the passenger side air bag light illuminated when the passenger seat was occupied, the esc light would blink while driving in the rain and due to the esc light being on , the vehicle would become un-drivable.

- the contact stated that the 2006 Hyundai Sonata lx, had problems with the transmission slipping. While driving at 10 mph and trying to make a right turn the vehicle started to make a racing roaring noise. This has happened on two occasions. The vehicle continued to go 10 mph, but he couldn't stop it. He applied the brakes, and the vehicle wouldn't stop. The contact sat on the side of the road for a few minutes, turned off the vehicle let it sit. He started the vehicle, and drove home without any problems. The contact did take the vehicle to dealership and they did a diagnostic and found nothing wrong with the vehicle. The contact stated that this has happened on 2 occasions and the dealership did contact the manufacturer. The manufacturer told the dealership to make sure the motor mounts were tightened, and to check and clean all terminals. This was done in January 10, 2007. The contact hasn't had any other problems since. The contact wanted NHTSA to be aware of this problem, he has sent the manufacturer a letter regarding this problem on 01/20/07 and hadn't gotten any response. The current mileage was 7050.

Bought a 2006 Hyundai Sonata March 18, 2006 at ourisman Hyundai in laurel, MD. A week later, March 25, 2006, had to have the car towed back to the dealership because the engine over heated, while in heavy traffic, due to the fans not working. The dealership ordered a fan module and placed it in my car. The dealership allowed me to take another brand new 2006 Sonata as a loaner until my car was fixed. I told the dealership I did not want my car back and to give me another 2006 Sonata. After days of calling back to see if they would, they refused. Picked up my car from the dealership Friday, March 31, 2006. April 18, 2006 bought the car back to the dealership because the a/c was not working. The dealership told me the fans are not working and there is an electrical problem. They are renting a car for me until my car is fixed.

This Sonata had electric problems from the very beginning (climate control, light bulbs, brake lights, side mirror control, window control, cabin lights, etc. ). Most of the light bulbs have been replaced many times either by the dealer when it was still covered by warranty or by myself. The most recent round of replacement was on July 3 for the passenger side headlight, driver's side turn light (yellow) and rear left back off light. I finally started to question if the fuses were misplaced. After checking carefully the fuse types and labeled specifications of both the engine and cabin fuse panels, I found three fuses in the cabin panel were not the same as the owner's manual described. They are (wrong fuses in the parentheses): fs19 20a (25a), fs6 10a (15a), and fs5 25a (20a). I rearranged all three fuses according to the specification on the owner's manual (p. 6-41). Hyundai should be legally and financially responsible for these problems, which occurred during the assembly but led to countless frustrations and even safety problems when those lights were down frequently.

Air bag off light illuminates intermittently when passenger (130+ lbs) is seated properly in front passenger seat, indicating the air bag would not go off. Have had this problem repeatedly and randomly since purchasing the vehicle 9/05, and have requested action at each warranty servicing. (22,500 mi currently) each time the dealer service department claims the diagnostics do not find a problem and the air bag sensor is working properly. They say there are no service bulletins or recalls from Hyundai on this problem. However there are at least 15 complaints on this website about this problem as of 12/06. I am very upset by this apparent lack of caring on Hyundai's part about the safety of their passengers. Just because the intermittent problem can't be reproduced at the dealer's does not mean that the passengers are not experiencing the problem. There has got to be a way to isolate the problem even if it can't be observed in the moment, even if it means replacing the parts in the sequence till the problem goes away.