2007 HYUNDAI SANTA FE Complaints

CHECK ENGINE LIGHT TO COMES ON DUE TO INTERMITTENT FUEL GAUGE READINGS CAUSING THE CAR TO FAIL NY STATE SAFETY INSPECTION. FUEL LEVEL SENSORS MUST BE REPLACED WHICH APPEARS TO BE A COMMON PROBLEM WITH HYUNDAI. PROBLEM SHOULD BE INVESTIGATED FOR RECALL ACTION. *TR

WHILE DRIVING ON HI WAY 85 THE VEHICLE WENT INTO LIMP MODE BECAUSE OF A FAULTY THROTTLE POSITION SENSOR. THE VEHICLE QUICKLY DECELERATED AND CAUSED A LARGE TRUCK TO HAVE TO BRAKE AND NEARLY JACK KNIFE. THE FIX WHEN THIS HAPPENS IS TO TURN OFF THE VEHICLE FOR SEVERAL MINUTES AND RESTART THE ENGINE. THERE ARE MANY BLOGS ON THIS ISSUE WHERE THIS HAS HAPPENED TO OTHER OWNERS OF THIS VEHICLE. NORMALLY THIS IS A $50 PART 3.3L ENGINE, HOWEVER WITH A 2.7 LITER ENGINE HYUNDAI IS ONLY SELLING THE ENTIRE THROTTLE BODY WHICH IS A $500 PART. THIS FAILURE ON FREEWAYS AND MAJOR ROADS CAN AN MOST LIKELY WILL CAUSE SERIOUS INJURY AND DEATH IF IT HAS NOT ALREADY. *TR

WAS AT DEALER HAVING WARRANTY WORK DONE ON CRANK PULLEY THAT FLEW OFF OF FRONT OF CAR. WHEN I PICKED UP CAR NOTICED GAS GAUGE WAS ERRATIC BOUNCING UP AND DOWN BETWEEN FULL AND EMPTY.TOLD SERVICE MANGER AND HE SAID MAY BE FUEL SENDING UNIT IF IT DOES NOT STOP BRING IT BACK. WEEK LATER CHECK ENGINE LITE CAME ON AND GAS GAUGE WENT TO EMPTY.NOW I HERE I HAVE TO REPLACE TWO SENDING UNITS IN TANK AND ITS NOT UNDER WARRANTY. WOULD LIKE SO HELP WITH THIS PROBLEM. *TR

THIS IS NOT THE 1ST TIME. MY PASSENGER SUNVISOR ARM BROKE WHILE I WAS DRIVING AND HIT MY PASSENGER IN THE HEAD. SEVERAL YEARS AGO MY DRIVER SIDE SUNVISOR BROKE AND HIT ME IN THE HEAD WHILE DRIVING, VERY DANGEROUS. I HAVE RESEARCHED THIS AN APPARENTLY THERE IS A DEFECT AND A RECALL FOR THE 2007 SONATA, BUT NOT THE SANTA FE. NOT SURE WHY BECAUSE IT IS THE SAME PROBLEM AND A KNOWN DEFECT. THIS IS VERY DANGEROUS AND EXPENSIVE TO REPLACE. PLEASE ADVISE. *TR

FUEL GAUGE WAS NOT REGISTERING CORRECTLY THE AMOUNT OF FUEL IN THE TANK. WE WOULD FILL UP THE TANK AND THE GAUGE WOULD READ EMPTY. INVESTIGATED AND FOUND THAT GM VEHICLES HAD THE SAME ISSUE IN MANY MODELS FROM 2005-2007. THEY WERE RECALLED, THERE IS NO RECALL TO DATE FOR HYUNDAI VEHICLES WITH THE SAME PROBLEM. THIS ISSUE COULD BE EXTREMELY DANGEROUS, PEOPLE DON'T HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MUCH FUEL IS IN THEIR TANKS AND THEY CAN INADVERTENTLY RUN OUT OF FUEL ON THE HIGHWAY OR ON RURAL ROADS. I HAVE THE SENSORS THAT WERE REMOVED FROM OUR VEHICLE. I AM GUESSING CAR MANUFACTURES PROBABLY BUY THESE PARTS FROM THE SAME COMPANY. SO WHY WEREN'T ALL VEHICLES WITH THIS SENSOR RECALLED? OR IF THEY DON'T BUY THEM FROM THE SAME COMPANY THEN AROUND THE 2007 TIME FRAME A LOT OF SENSORS WERE BAD. WE PAID AROUND $500 TO GET OUR VEHICLE FIX BECAUSE WE HAD TO TRAVEL 400 MILES AND DID NOT WANT TO RUN OUT OF FUEL ON THE INTERSTATE, THAT HAS MANY SEMI TRAILERS TRAVELING IT. *TR

WHILE DRIVING MY HYUNDAI SANTE FE 2007 I NOTICED THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT CAME ON... I NOTICED THE MILES AT LITTLE OVER 95000 SO I THOUGHT IT JUST NEEDED SERVICE. THEN THE GAS GAUGE LIGHT CAME ON INDICATING I HAVE NO GAS AND WAS EMPTY WHICH I KNEW IS IMPOSSIBLE SINCE I HAD FILLED UP A DAY PRIOR AND HAD NOT DONE MUCH DRIVING. THE CHECK ENGINE LIGHT THEN WENT OFF ABOUT A 2-4 MILES LATER. I WENT TO THE GAS STATION AND FILLED UP AND THE LIGHT WENT AWAY... BUT WILL ALWAYS COME ON OR AFTER HALF TANK OF GAS. I TOOK THE CAR TO THE DEALER FOR SERVICE AND THEY INDICATED ITS THE FUEL SENDERS. THEY INDICATED NO WARRANTY ON MY CAR SINCE IT HAS PASSED THE 5 YEAR 60,000 MILES WARRANTY AND THE COST WOULD BE PAID BY ME TO FIX. I INQUIRED IF THIS WAS A SYSTEMATIC PROBLEM WITH THIS VEHICLE AND THE SERVICE REP INDICATED HE HAS SEEN A FEW ON THIS VEHICLE, HOWEVER NO RECALL MADE. IM COMPLAINING SINCE I HAVE VIEWED THIS TO BE AN ISSUE WITH THIS MODEL CAR ONLINE AND SHOULD BE CORRECTED BY THE COMPANY AT NO COST TO THE CONSUMER. *TR

FUEL GAUGE INCORRECTLY DISPLAYED AMOUNT OF FUEL IN TANK. FUEL LEVEL SENSORS NOT WORKING. *TR

SUN VISOR ON PASSENGER SIDE BECAME DETACHED/BROKEN FROM MOORING. HANGS IN VIEW OF DRIVER FROM ELECTRICAL WIRE. SAME ISSUE HAPPENED ON PASSENGER SIDE 2 YEARS PRIOR. I HAVE SEEN NUMEROUS COMMENTS ON WEB FROM OTHER OWNERS OF THIS VEHICLE DEALING WITH THE SAME ISSUE. *JS

5/14/14 31,509MI AIR BAG LIGHT REMAINED ON AFTER MULTIPLE IGNITION OFF-ON CYCLES. DEALER FOLLOWED DIRECTIONS IN BUL.07-090-003. CODE B1332 WAS SHOWN BUT "NOT DEFINITIVE". CODE WAS ERASED AND AIRBAG LIGHT HAS REMAINED OFF FOR 2 DAYS. AT THE OUTSET, DEALER REP SAID THERE WOULD BE A 119$ CHARGE FOR DIAGNOSTICS (OUT OF WARRANTY). I OBJECTED STRENUOUSLY BECAUSE OF THE LOW MILEAGE, AIRBAG SAFETY IMPORTANCE, AND 2 PREVIOUS UNEXPLAINED AIRBAG-RELATED INCIDENTS (REPORTED BELOW). HE ALSO SAID THAT IF THE LIGHT CAME ON AGAIN THERE WOULD BE A $900 COST FOR REPLACING THE JUNCTION BOX (WITHOUT MENTIONING ERASING THE CODE AGAIN AS AN OPTION). PREVIOUS AIR BAG ISSUES: 4/22/13, 28,289MI, PERFORMED RECALL 105 UPDATE PASSENGER AIRBAG SOFTWARE; 3/26/12 25,606MI 103CLOCKSPRINGREPLACEMENT TSB#11-01-053 COMPLETE CAMPAIGN DOES NOT APPLY(?) EVENTUALLY THE 119$ WAS WAIVED AFTER I STRONGLY OBJECTED TO ANY CHARGES FOR SAFETY RELATED ITEMS, AND PARTICULARLY FOR THOSE THAT HAVE A DEMONSTRATED TRACK RECORD OF PROBLEMS. I STRONGLY BELIEVE THAT HYUNDAI AND ANY MANUFACTURER SHOULD STAND AIRBAG SAFETY AS A SEPARATE NON-WARRANTY ISSUE. ON THE 2007 SANTA FE, WHICH HAS HAD NUMEROUS COMPLAINTS RE AIRBAGS, I WOULD EXPECT HYUNDAI TO FIX THE PROBLEM ONCE AND FOR ALL AND AT NO CHARGE. AS AN ELECTRICAL ENGINEER, THIS SOUNDS LIKE A CLASSIC CASE OF "BUGGY" SOFTWARE AND/OR HARDWARE. THEY HAVE SIMPLY DODGED THE ISSUE AND CONTINUE TO DO SO, AND THEIR PERFORMANCE SUGGESTS THEY DON'T CARE FOR CUSTOMERS' SAFETY OR FEDERAL OVERSIGHT OF SAME. *TR

WHILE DRIVING IN THE HIGHWAY AT A SPEED OF ~60 MPH, I NOTICED THE ARM ON MY FUEL GAUGE START TO DIP. IT DROPPED FROM ABOVE A HALF TANK TO WELL BELOW A QUARTER TANK OF GAS. AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, THIS CAUSED IMMEDIATE PANIC AS I WAS AFRAID THERE WAS A FUEL LEAK OF SOME SORT. AS I WAS PREPARING TO MOVE OUT OF TRAFFIC I NOTICED THAT THE ARM ON THE GAUGE BEGAN TO RETURN TO ITS ORIGINAL SPOT. THIS CAUSED SOME COMFORT AS I WAS SURE THERE WAS ENOUGH FUEL IN THE TANK BECAUSE I HAD FILLED UP THE TANK JUST A FEW DAYS PRIOR AND HAD NOT DONE MUCH DRIVING SINCE. EVER SINCE THAT INCIDENT, THE FUEL GAUGE HAS CONTINUED TO 'ACT UP' AND NOW I AM IN A SITUATION WHERE I CANNOT RELY ON THE FUEL GAUGE TO ACCURATE INDICATE THE AMOUNT OF FUEL THAT I HAVE. THE NHTSA HAS RECOGNIZED THIS TO BE A SIGNIFICANT SAFETY HAZARD FOR GM ... "AN INACCURATE FUEL GAUGE MAY RESULT IN THE VEHICLE UNEXPECTEDLY RUNNING OUT OF FUEL AND STALLING, INCREASING THE RISK OF A CRASH," THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION (NHTSA) SAID ON ITS WEBSITE. AS OF YET THERE IS NO RECALL ISSUED FOR THE SANTA FE. I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT WITH THE NUMEROUS COMPLAINTS THAT I HAVE SEEN RELATED TO THE SANTA FE THAT THE NHTSA MAKES THE SAME CONCLUSION. *TR