Hyundai Santa Fe “Stalling While Driving” Class Action Should Gain Speed

Stalling Engines in the Santa Fe years 2010-12
What’s causing the Hyundai Santa Fe 2010–12 engines in these SUVs to stall at any time? Hyundai is only letting out dribbles of admissions.
This SUV has an engine with a nasty reputation of stalling at any speed, any time, without any warning. That means no acceleration. No power steering. No power brakes. And one change of pants. That’s the type of adrenaline only pure fear can provide. Goodbye, Red Bulls! So what’s the deal? Owners have been bringing their cars in for service to find out. So far, the overwhelming response has been “sorry, we can’t replicate the issue.” That’s kind of like your doctor saying “Maybe you passed out and hit your head at home, but you’re awake now so I’m sure you’re fine.” Make no mistake, however, even if they can find some codes, dealer mechanics are more than willing to replace your throttle body or reprogram the ECM  and sending you on your merry back to stall town. Sure, those repairs sound like a good idea but owners report they do nothing to fix the problem.

Then came Hyundai’s “service campaign” in August 2014. Despite denying the existence of the problem to any owners who called, Hyundai started warning dealers these SUVs are stalling.  The campaign mentions that a heavy load on the alternator is resulting in a sudden drop in RPMs but only at low speeds. The “service campaign” suggested a fix in the form of a software update. Amazingly, the automaker denied the problem to consumers while at the same time collecting evidence by installing monitoring devices on the vehicles brought in for service. Of course none of that was mentioned to the owners, which is creepy. Furthermore, the “service campaign” is a crock – not only does the stalling issue happen at all speeds, but the “software update” doesn’t fix anything.

The Hanson Law Firm, well before the new “service campaign,” had brought a class action against Hyundai for this epidemic of dangerous stalling while driving. Hyundai’s new service campaign audaciously labels stalling while driving as NOT a safety issue, and they will only admit this is a defect at low speeds! Putting aside the ridiculous notion that stalling while moving at any speed isn’t a huge hazard, how dare they turn a blind eye to cases where this happens at city or highway speeds! Clearly, Hyundai is trying to fool NHTSA and the public and is engaged in a PR “damage control” issue.  They should be more interested in real “damage control” for their customers! Check out the Hanson Law Firm’s lawsuit Eisley v. Hyundai, San Diego Superior Court Case No. 37-2013-00069445-CU-BC-CTL, or call the firm directly at 858.451.0291.