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Anyone experience Sudden Unintended Acceleration in a Santa Fe?

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    xweaponxxweaponx Member Posts: 1

    This happened to me yesterday, twice. While I was braking, as I understand the owners manual, the engine assists in braking by downshifting so the engine compression can assist in slowing down the vehicle. In both instances, the engine was under acceleration rather than deceleration-it was as if braking was causing the opposite to happen. I used to use this same method of deceleration manually with my 1990 Toyota 4x4, the V6 engine had enough compression to slow down the vehicle if I downshifted and let the engine slow itself down, which was an old trick I used with a 3-on-the-tree Dodge A-100 Compact Cab slant six. I never considered there would be new cars that had computer programming to accomplish this, and that's where I think any potenal problems are.

    Now that I know about this issue, I'm hoping I can do some preventative maintanance that will possibly prevent this in the future. I have read many of the posts in here, and elsewhere I found that flashing the computer may reset the whole system. I'm trying to find out more about the procedure, it was performed by a dealer after a week of head-scratching, as an experiment and it seems to have worked for the owner who posted about it.

    I love this SUV, it's a 2004 Santa Fe, not sure what model but it has traction control and ABS and it also may be awd.

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    davidfidavidfi Member Posts: 1
    My 2002 2.7 Santa Fe reved way up spontaneously tonight. I banged gas pedal repeatedly with foot but did nothing. As i approached stoplight brakes would hardly stop the car; shifted to neutral, rpms went WAY up and i turned off car. Continued my 1 mile trip home and engine would by itself rev down only to immediately rev way back up. Could smell my brakes burning by the time I got home. What ever is going on here is very dangerous.
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    maria888maria888 Member Posts: 1
    Just a few days ago, my mom was parking her Santa Fe 2008 when the vehicle suddenly accelerated causing her to brake her forearm and bruise the right side of her face. Unfortunately because this happened in South America I have no way of reporting this. If you were to see the pictures of how the car ended up you would think the worst. If anybody has any information on where I can post this so some action is taken please let me know.
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    santinafeysantinafey Member Posts: 1
    My 2001 2.7 awd auto 158,000mi had unintended acceleration today.
    Cracked IAC causing a vacuum leak. Brakes wouldn't hold it at a stop and in N,P would rev to 5000rpm.
    After cooling down it would idle lower then after 15 seconds rise back up.
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    MuskogeeMuskogee Member Posts: 1
    We have a 2008 Hyundai Santa Fe. On March16 of this year I pulled into the Handicap lanes in front of my Health Care building and suddenly the motor raced and I thought I had stepped on the gas instead of the brake. I did $9,000 damage to the building. My insurance paid. Then on September 9th of this year I pulled into a handicap lane again but this time I ran into the building and dumped the window down on the hood of the Hyundai. This time I knew that it was not my foot on the gas that caused it. I found this site and realized it was the manufacturers fault. Of course the dealer could not find the cause. We reported it to the National Safety organization and now I wonder if Hyundai has ever owned up to the problem. As I am 88 years old and with these two building damages my insurance is about to double. my advice...Don't buy a Hyundai SantaFe and if you have one sell it. An Angry Reverend.
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    Shari2766Shari2766 Member Posts: 3
    Omg! No! I really wish I knew about this discussion earlier bc I just bought another one after a mysterious accident w my 08. I mean, how on earth does someone total a car from a parking space!? I couldn't figure it out. Even if I accidentally hit the wrong pedal I couldn't have hit the gas hard or fast enough to do that! And I couldn't stop it. I didn't put that together till I just saw this, so as of 3 months ago I own an 09. Not, not good. I want to thank you guys for posting all this bc I have been terrified to drive since that day n now I know why. It's the car, not the accident. I couldn't stop that thing. My foot was on the brake w all my might just yelling ," no no no no no"  while the car jumped the island and then, a tree (about 4 ft away when it happened). I never even had enough time to react or at least avoid the tree. The steeringbwas unresponsive and I was gripping the wheel to get leverage on the brake. I had just pulled into a parking space n it rocketed fwd. Since its an older car (albeit pristine) they totaled it bc the suspension was toast. And now? So scared now that I know what really happened and it could happen again. And now I'm in DC for a few months. Sonic fireball in this traffic where there is constant stop/go and as many pedestrians? Gonna call about the TPS maybe, even though I haven't had an issue w this one yet. Thank you so much!! I'm officially un-crazied. So sad. I love love the car. Sweetest turn radius ever.

    Do you think the replacement parts could be equally as risky? They are manufactured the same way/same place, specs. Your thoughts? 
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    Shari2766Shari2766 Member Posts: 3
    santafescared said:
    I too live in Canada, in Peterborough Ontario. Last Friday night, October 19, 2012 I was traveling a County road to go and pick up my dog from the breeders. My 23 year old daughter was with me. The unintended acceleration happened when I made a right signal change to veer to the right on a ramp and then when I accelerated to get back up to driving speed I could feel the foot petal leave my foot, accelerating quickly. It felt like cruise was on. I pushed the cruise on and off. Nope it wasn't the cruise. I thought maybe the floor mat was stuck, I tried to tap the pedal with my foot and I couldn't even reach it. It had been pulled so far forward I couldn't even reach it. My daughter looked over and she could see the pedal at the far front of car and no floor mat was pushing it nor was my foot. It was just accelerating by it self!??? At 160 kmh I dropped into neutral and braked to the shoulder. While sitting on the shoulder we could smell plastic burning and the cab was beginning to fill with smoke, the gauge was showing 7000 rpm, the sound of the engine was deafening, when the rpm's reached 8000 I decided that the vehicle was going to blow up and I moved the shift into park and it was like I had turned a switch, rpm's started falling, speed on Odometer was falling, smoke in cab was lessening and in approx 15 seconds everything was back to normal and the foot pedal had returned to where I could reach it!! I called the dealership and had it towed. This morning they called and said nothing showed up on their computer but the mechanic thought that it was probably the floor mats because I had 2 and they were up on the gas pedal! I reiterated my story once again to him and he told me he couldn't do anything because nothing showed up on their computer. He gave me the name of Hyundai Head Office which I will be calling and I will be calling Transport Canada. After hearing all the horror stories on this forum, I'm afraid to drive it! I think we should form a class action law suit so Hyundai takes us seriously. IF you are interested, I can be reached at uskeats@cogeco.ca My name is Gwen

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    Shari2766Shari2766 Member Posts: 3
    We should. Mine was totaled by an unintended acceleration... into a tree...from a parking space no less!  That hurt enough but I don't want to kill myself or anyone else for that matter. If I wasn't currently job seeking I'd go out this wk and trade it in. Hyundai has to be obligated/responsible for these incidences. I'm out thousands, have 4 points on my drivers license,  have PTSD- terrified to drive now bc I unknowingly signed up for this again- just bought another one 3 months ago. Then, came a cross this thread. We really should do something. 
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    MarySantaFeMarySantaFe Member Posts: 1
    Thank you for your comments! This happened to me yesterday for the first time in my 2009 Santa Fe on the expressway and it scared me terribly - thank goodness there is this forum that i could read about others experiences! I haven't called for service yet because I wanted to educate myself first! I was merging onto the highway and my car accelerated and did not stop.... I tried braking and the car would not slow down - I smelled burning - I assume my brakes or my transmission and realized that my gas pedal was stuck since the car was not slowing down so tapped the gas pedal and was able to release the speed of the car. It was terrifying.... I was going to hit the cars in front of me... if I couldn't slow down. My car has over 100,000 miles on it. Perhaps I need a new part... I've never experienced anything like this before in my life and knowing that some of you are experiencing this at 35 mph on city streets! I don't want to ever experience this again. I think this took years off my life!
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    Steve1843Steve1843 Member Posts: 1
    Literally had this happen 10 minutes ago making a right at a stop light. Put me halfway in the middle of on coming traffic. Freaked my girlfriend out of her mind. My Santa fe is a 04. Never had this happen before. Just turned 201000 on it with no problems with until now. What gives.?
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    patrickgledhillpatrickgledhill Member Posts: 1
    An exciting forum to find. I have a 2009 crdi santa fe with the unintended acceleration issue, much like what i am reading above. When idling, the car will rev up to 4000rp on its own, then back to idle, repeating. When in gear the brakes can only just hold it. On the highway, cruise control on or off the car will be fine, then will jerk a little, then full power on and off rapidly.
    Huyndai could not fault it here, but it happend to the service tech when he shifted the car, unfortunatly this was while it was'nt plugged into the computer. $400 later nothing.
    The throttle position sensor is easy to unplug, the car runs with it discconnected and it stil goes crazy. So its not the TPS in my case.
    I see these reports in this forum are years old so im keen to know of any developments into the cause of this.
    Im in New Zealand.
    Thanks in advance, Patrick
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    rickdonrickdon Member Posts: 123
    A faulty PCV can cause the engine to surge.
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    Haleyscomet9Haleyscomet9 Member Posts: 1

    This happened to me today.I drive a 2009 Santa Fe. It was terrifying and I could have gotten into an accident. I hit the gas to accelerate and merge onto the interstate and my car didn't stop accelerating. Got up to about 95 and had to zoom by people in traffic on the part of the road that’s not a lane and my brakes didn't work. My car shifted down once but then wouldn’t shift at all after and my gaslight came on even though I had a quarter of a tank 3 minutes before that, right before I left my house. My car started dying and slowing down and then eventually just died and wouldn’t turn on for like 5-10 minutes. There was hella traffic and I really thought I was going to hit someone or crash into a gutter or have to rear off the side of the road. I’m scared of my car and experienced the exact same thing today. Taking it in this afternoon to the shop- expecting the same response they gave you.

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