Hyundai Santa Fe Electrical glitch

sabates21

I have a 2009 Hyundai Santa Fe - purchased used in 2013 - currently has 117K miles and drives well. Over the last couple of years, I've noticed that it will occasionally have a power "re-set" while I'm driving - basically, the radio "blanks out", almost like someone flipped a switch off and then immediately back on. I don't lose power to anything else (engine, transmission, etc) and no warning lights come on or flicker. Today, my son drove my car to the store, and he called me to say that he turned the key to AC, then plugged in his phone, then cranked the ignition, and all the lights and screens shut off and the car wouldn't start. So he tried a couple of times with no luck. He then tried removing the key from the ignition, opened the car door, then closed it, and tried to crank it again, and everything came on just fine, except everything from the A/C to the radio had re-set itself (all my pre-sets were gone, clock was re-set to 12:00, and my odometer/range had switched to "trip A"). No check engine lights came on, no battery light, nothing. Any idea what the issue could be???

bourbonmayhem

I had a 2006 Santa Fe & the exact thing occurred, numerous times. Despite having a variety of shops check it out, no one could pinpoint a cause or give me a solution that actually worked. I decided that sometimes, electronics just go haywire, and left it at that. No more stress over it!

PF_Flyer

Your initial description of the radio made me think that a power connector or connection might have worked loose since you said it was happening while driving. But the later description makes it seem like it might be related to the ignition lock cylinder. Electrical gremlins tend to be elusive. Sure seems like you have an interruption in the power supply to things going on, Your son opening and closing the door and having things come back on makes me lean towards a physical connection type of thing as well, but that's just the feeling I'm getting. It's certainly going to take some testing to see where power is getting to and not getting to.