This recall was issued a while ago but I figured it should be posted for all to see for the foreseeable future.

Full Recall Information - If you apply for this recall and have yet to take action, I strongly suggest you do so as soon as possible.

HYUNDAI / SANTA FE 2001-2003
Manufacturer: HYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY Mfr's Report Date: APR 14, 2009
NHTSA CAMPAIGN ID Number: 09V123000

EA08023
NHTSA Action Number: EA08023

Component: SUSPENSION:REAR
Potential Number of Units Affected: 85036

Summary:
HYUNDAI IS RECALLING 85,036 MY 2001-2003 SANTA FE VEHICLES ORIGINALLY SOLD IN OR CURRENTLY REGISTERED IN THE STATES OF CONNECTICUT, DELAWARE, ILLINOIS, INDIANA, IOWA, MAINE, MARYLAND, MASSACHUSETTS, MICHIGAN, MINNESOTA, MISSOURI, NEW HAMPSHIRE, NEW JERSEY, NEW YORK, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA, RHODE ISLAND, VERMONT, WEST VIRGINIA, WISCONSIN, AND THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. DURING WINTER MONTH, LARGE QUANTITIES OF SALT ARE USED TO DE-ICE ROADS IN THE SALT BELT STATES. ROAD SALT MAY RESULT IN INTERNAL CORROSION OF THE REAR TRAILING ARMS, WHICH COULD LEAD TO THINNING OR PERFORATION OF THE REAR TRAILING ARM STEEL. THE CORROSION IS PROGRESSIVE AND OCCURS OVER TIME. YOU MAY SEE OR FEEL SLIGHT TO MODERATE CHANGES IN VEHICLE OPERATION WHICH WILL INCREASE IF THE VEHICLE IS NOT REPAIRED. THESE CHANGES INCLUDE A LOWERING OF VEHICLE HEIGHT THAT CAN LEAD TO TIRE MISALIGNMENT AND STEERING PULL. YOU MAY ALSO NOTICE A CREAKING SOUND. IF THE CORROSION IS ALLOWED TO PROGRESS, THE REAR TRAILING ARM MAY FRACTURE WHILE DRIVING.

Consequence:
THE DEFORMATION AND LOSS OF STRUCTURAL RIGIDITY OF THE REAR TRAILING ARM MAY INCREASE THE RISK OF A VEHICLE CRASH.

Remedy:
DEALERS WILL INSPECT THE REAR TRAILING ARMS FOR INTERNAL CORROSION DAMAGE. IF SPECIFIED LEVELS OF CORROSION DAMAGE ARE FOUND, THE REAR TRAILING ARMS WILL BE REPLACED. REAR TRAILING ARMS THAT DO NOT REQUIRE REPLACEMENT WILL HAVE DRAINAGE HOLES ADDED AND WILL BE TREATED WITH RUST-PROOFING MATERIAL TO ARREST THE CORROSION PROCESS. INSPECTION, TREATMENT AND REPLACEMENT PROCEDURES WILL BE CONDUCTED AT NO COST TO OWNERS. THE RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN DURING APRIL 2009. OWNERS MAY CONTACT HYUNDAI AT CUSTOMER ASSISTANCE CENTER AT 1-800-633-5151.

Notes:
HYUNDAI RECALL NO. 090. OWNERS MAY ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S VEHICLE SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), OR GO TO HTTP://WWW.SAFERCAR.GOV .

When I start my '02 SF (w/ 152,000 KM) there is a rumbling sound that lasts for about 15 seconds. If you stop and restart the engine, it doesn't do it -- only when the engine has been off for 10+ minutes.

The car does a lot of idling because of my job.

Any suggestions? It starts perfectly every time, and the sound isn't extremely loud, but it is noticeable.

Hi Guys, I would welcome your advice on a simple and inexpensive code reader with the ability to cancel the CEL symbol which is showing every time I fill up with gas. It's getting embarrassing to go to such as pepboys and have it reset every time.

Purchased my Sante Fe about 3 months ago. I live in Edmonton Ab. and with the winter weather decided to purchase rubber car mats to protect the interior from water/mud etc. Today I removed the rubber mat on the driver side and noticed that the factory mat and flooring underneath are saturated with water. Has anyone else experienced the same problem or have any idea what the problem might be? I purchased a pant saver style rubber mat with deep grooves so it should have protected the underneath from moisture.

Thanks,

Hi again.
I need to lay up my newly bought '04 Santa Fe GLS/LX from mid June to about November/December, while I am out of the country.
It will be garaged and partially insured for this period.
It will be in a 'non air conditionned' garage attached to my house in Florida; so it will be hot.
I will disconnect the battery and connect a battery maintainer onto it.
I need it to be instantly available when I return (within 5-10 minutes of arrival).

Does any one have knowledge of laying up a vehicle and what to do for this length of time.
Should I do anything else other than battery, what about fuel (gas), tyres or other things????

Any help and advice would be very welcome.

Hi all

On my last car I had door sill plates, and when I opened the door a small light came on under them.

Now I have seen similar on fleabay for the Santa Fe but I was just wondering if they are worth it, and more importantly how easy would they be to fit?


cheers

[FONT=Geneva][SIZE=7][COLOR=blue]After 3 years of trying to track down this smell, (mostly present in the summer months) I finally tracked down the culprit. IT IS NOT THE AC OR HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE AC/HEAT VENTS. THE SMELL seems to come from the vents but IT IS NOT THE VENTS -- THE PROBLEM IS 1 or 2 DEFECTIVE FREEZE PLUGS IN THE REAR OF THE AUTO. Look underneath the trunk (IF SANTA FE it's 2 RUBBER PLUGS UNDER THE REAR CABIN, next to spare tire) you will see rubber plugs in the sheet metal body. When you remove the rubber plugs you will see the ground through the inside of auto. These plugs leak and water is getting into the cabin. The Santa Fe has sound insulation that is absorbing the water & turning moldy. You will have to completely disassemble the plastic storage compartments in rear, many screws & plastic snap on fasteners. Once you get to the FOAM it will be soaking wet & IT SMELLS LIKE ****. TEAR the wet foam out completely and spray the remaining fabric with lysol or fabreeze. Then USE High grade RTV silicone to SEAL the plugs. Make sure you coat the entire rubber plug - I even glued a thick piece of plastic over the silicone coated plug as back up to prevent water from getting back inside the REAR cabin. I chose not to replace the foam but you can put any similar material in its place. Email me if you have questions. aralight@netzero.net GOOD LUCK. ROB

Hello all,

My 2001 Hyundai Santa Fe V6 is giving out a P0118 code, and the "freeze-frame" data reports a -40F for the coolant temperature. That doesn't make sense so perhaps the sensor is faulty or perhaps the sensor connector is loose?

I'd like to take a look at the coolant temperature sensor but for the life of me I cannot find it. I have scoured hmaservice.com, hyunda-forums.com but all the various pics are still not clear enough for me to actually find the sensor. I have seen all the online pics from Hyundai but I can't get my head around exactly where the sensor is - the pics are either too zoomed in or so many things have been disconnected for the purposes of taking the picture I can't get my bearings.

I would really appreciate it if someone could take a super-obvious "for dummies" type pic so can know where to look. What do I have to remove or move? How do I disconnect the temp sensor? Does it just unplug? Does the sensor part unscrew from a cable?

Please, any help is greatly appreciated. I'd love to replace this on my own if I could without spending a fortune at the dealer.

Thank-you!

Acy

I have 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe with 65k miles on it. As of early this week, while driving around the town to take care of errands, my brake feels off. Whenever I put my foot on the brake to make a completely stop at the light, I feel a grinding and my car shook a little. This never happens before and to be on the safe side, I had my boyfriend driving the car around the neighborhood for a little bit. He felt the same thing and heard it (I’m hearing impaired and couldn’t really hear well). He thinks the problem is just that the rotor is warped and I probably will need it turned or replaced.

My plan as of right now is to go to Brake Max on Monday to have it look at. If it is what we thought it is—I’ll buy parts from Pep Boys and the boyfriend will fix it. (He’s genius when it comes to cars) But I don’t know if my car is 2 Wheels Drive or 4 Wheels Drive? All I know it has AWD and I was told that it’s 4?

So in that case, I will need to buy I'll need 4 total rotors for each wheel? Any advices/suggestions are very much welcomed.

I just got new brakes put on a 2004 Santa Fe (60K) -- both front and rear. The rear required new rotors because of how badly they were corroded due to 4 winters in a salt state. The problem is that the rear passenger side brake is now making a loud clunking sound on every brake. I believe the clunk is happening every rotation of the wheel while braking. The dealer says to just let it go for a couple days and see if it goes away. They supposedly disassembled and checked everything but didn't see anything wrong. The car had no noise problem with the original pads/rotors.

Should I be optimistic that this will go away or is it more than likely I'll be returning the vehicle to them again? And what would a clunking sound be?

[edit]
Clunking is actually happening on both rear brakes -- just more noticeable on the passenger side for some reason.

Hi Everyone, I just got my 2001 AWD and found that the driver side rear running light doesn't work. I have changed the bulb with a 1157 with no success, the rear passenger side running light works fine. The brake lights also work fine when the brake is depressed. I have a tester and I get no power at the socket. Today I took apart the rear panel to check the connection and there is no power there. I proceeded to take apart the front fuse area as the fuse was not burned out. I used my tester at the fuse box and I did get power there but I am not sure if the brake lights also got thru that fuse. I am not sure what to look for next as I don't have the wiring diagram. Any help would be greatly appreciated as I will end up at the dealership if I can't find out where the problem originates.

Just wondering if anyone has been able to change the plastic engine cover, I have a 2001 and like the look and the protection the bigger ones have. Are the screw down positions the same or is the engine block different?

I seem to have two issues:

The first is that by the shifter I no long see lights under the DPN.. I am guessing that maybe a light bulb may have burnt out? Does anyone know how to fix the problem ie gain access to changing the bulb?

The 2nd issue is regarding setting cruise ect those buttons on the wheel. Do those normally glow because right now they don’t. So I cannot tell if I also have an issue there or if it’s just painted on and you can only see them in the light of day. If they do glow or are backlit does anyone know what the issue could be?

My 2002 Hyandai Sante Fee will not start up everytime I put gas in it. The mechanics cannot find the problem. I had to change my starter two times in 6 months because I keep flooding the starter to start it up. Does anyone know what this might be?

Is there a way I can tell if my 2003 Santa Fe is an amplifed or non-amplifed stereo?

2003 Santa Fe - has a Monsoon CD stereo. No cassette - has the ability to run a CD changer to it (but there is currently no CD changer equipped).

Thanks!

I need help I am wondering how to remove the dashboard on a 2002 Santa fe so i can get to the stero.

Hi, Have a 2004 Santa FE AWD. 115,000 miles. The Transfer Case has started to leak at right side half shaft seal. Had seal replaced, still leaks. Had it replaced a second time, leak slowed down a bit, but it still leaks. I've reseached subject and there have been a number of TSB"s regarding this leak. Unfortunitly I can only view a simple overview not the complete descrption and fix. Some said: new seal, vent leak, etc. Can someone post these TSB's? TSB' on this span 2003 - 2007 model years. Does anyone have any ideas what's causing the leak. Thanks for your help.

Hi,
I have just discovered my recently bought '04 SF has different tires on front and rear, is this OK

Front tires are: Good Year Tracker 2 P235 / 70 R16 104 S M+S
Rear tires are: BF Goodrich Tubeless P225 / 70 R16 101 T M+S

I don't know much about tires/vehicles is this correct, my owners manual only talks about 225 / 70 R16

Got the Santa fe on jackstands, removed left front tire, tried reaching in with 17 mm tubing wrench to loosen lower P/S hose connection and could not position wrench any way that would accomplish this.
Is there a special wrench or technique that can remove lower hose connection?

Cc

Hi everyone, I'm hoping someone can help me out here.

I live in Alberta Canada and our winters get quite cold here (below -40C not counting windchill).

Anyways, I have an 05 Santa Fe GLS 2.7L AWD that has some very strange, infrequent starting problems.

It never happens spring, summer or fall. During a mild winter it may only happen once or twice. During a colder winter, maybe 4 to 6 times.

Anyways, here are the circumstances under which it happens.

Hop in the vehicle and drive only about 3 minutes to the local grocery store (I live in a small town so everything is only a few minutes away). So in this circumstance the engine doesn't get much of a warm up. But it seems to start fine from ice cold.

Go into the store, shop for about 15 minutes or so and come out and try to start the vehicle and the problem happens (like I said, very infrequently)..


So I turn the key, console lights and everything illuminate as usual, starter turns the engine no problem, but the engine never fires or kicks like it's got gas and is trying to start... So I'll try again and again and again to start it in frustration from anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes.

Then, just as I'm ready to give up, I'll try it again and it fires up and starts like there was never anything wrong with it (no hesitation at all).

I've taken it to the dealership and sent several emails to Hyundai Canada and they don't know of any pre-existing problems that could cause it... They're going to give me a data logger to plug into the port for the winter to hopefully catch data when it happens.

I did read the following post (very last post in the thread) which caught my eye, but it didn't describe in detail how the vehicle behaved so I'm not sure if it's the same problem I'm having or not.

http://www.hyundai-forums.com/t8548-unusua...art-problem.htm

I appreciate any help you all can give me.

Thanks!

Eman.

Leaving School Car Turns on and I feel No Air. I can hear the engine revving up as i switch it on, Also I hear everything else working Fine Just No Air at all. I know R-134's Good.

Can Someone Help Me find the Blower Motor on my 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe 2.7 V6? And How Do I replace?



Thanks,

Steven B

Has anyone tried/ or is it even possible to put the kit from ngm supercharger stage 0 onto the 2.7L v6 automatic?

E-mail with tips or just post them up here.

I really wanna do this.


Has anyone tried?

After doing a rear brake job on my 05 Santafe I found that on the drivers side the brake shield the goes around the back of the rotor was rusted out and had a large hole in it. The other side is questionable as you can flex it and hear it cracking. I am in an area that they call the rust belt where large amounts of salt on the roads is used. My neighbour has an 04 and his is not rusted at all. I have 37k on mine and he has 65K on his. My question is has anybody else found this and has hyundai covered it under the 5 year bumper to bumper warranty, I called the dealer and they said to bring it in and the service manager would make the judgement call. This part is welded to the backing plate where the emergency brake shoes are and would require the hub pulled apart to get at it.
Thanks
Chris

I have a 2005 Santa Fe 2.7
My cruise control on the steering column began to work only intermittantly.
Now it doesn't work at all.
It will turn on but won't set.

Has anyone had this issue and how was it repaired.

Thanks,
Rick

Hi All,

I own a 2001 Santa Fe 2.0D. I have had a couple of instances while driving that the engine just cuts out and stops. When trying to restart it will crank over but not fire. The only way I have found to re-start it is to remove the ignition key set the alarm then un-set the alarm put the key back in the ignition and hey presto it starts and runs fine!

Has anybody got any ideas? As I say it has only happened a couple of times but it's quite off putting that it cuts out while your driving and worse of all it's happened to the wife which made her panic a bit!

Regards

I am in the middle of a rear shock replacement on a rust belt 04 Santa Fe, 2.4l. The rear shock bolt appears to be a sleeved bolt with the rubber bushing vulcanized on. I am wondering if/how anyone replaced the rear shocks on their Santa Fe.

TIA,

Was using biodiesel in my 2002 CRDi Santa Fe for about 3 months (note the past tense "was"!)

I never used biodiesel on its own, always mixed it 50/50 with diesel, just to be safe. One morning the jeep wouldnt start and it turned out that the injector pump was not working. I said nothing to the garage about biodiesel but they rang me and said that the pump was choked with grease and goo and asked me was I using veg oil or biodiesel. The biodiesel I used was home made but I was making pretty good quality and had run a Toyota for about 9 months without trouble on 100% biodiesel. Result for me was a bill of €500 to replace the pump.

I think the CRDi is too refined an engine to cope with biodiesel. My advice is dont risk it!

Hi All,

I was wondering whether it is possible to swap my 2003 Santa Fe tail lights with the facelifted ones. Does anyone know if there are interchangeable? Or is it more complex in which case I won't bother!

Part no.

Current R 92402-26010 / L 92401-26010
Facelift R 92402-26500 / L 92401-26500

All replies / views welcome.

Steve

with a weak alternator will it do damage to the headlight bulbs when not enough voltage = less wattage output there for causing the bulb to wear out faster or dull somewhat?

Hi, hope you're all doing well.... I've looked over my 2004 Santa Fe trying to figure out how to access the Fog Lamp Bulbs to replace them but nothing sticks out to me other than removing the bumper.... if anybody has any experience with this I would love to hear from you.
Thanks for your help and time.
Garrin

I am a new Santa Fe owner. It is a 2002 V6 LX. I had the spark plugs, wires, oil and air filter replaced as recommended by the dealer. However, I noticed that it will sometimes idle really slow when it is in drive like the transmission is engaging more than it should while sitting at a stop light. If I put it in neutral or park, it instantly goes back to normal. Also, this slow idling situation only happens rarely. Most of the time it is fine. However, I had it stall out on me the other day as I was about to park in a parking lot. This is when I took it to the dealer. They identified a few cylinder misfire error codes, which is why they recommended changing the plugs and wires. This cleared all the codes and it had a clean bill of health after that, but it still slowly idles sometimes. Does anyone know what might be causing this? Is it a transmission problem?

Thanks,
Rick

Just phoned my local Hyundai dealer in Worcester to get a price on SPIII to do a transmission fluid change, and I've been told by the parts manager (who is also the service manager) that they don't do SPIII, and that I need DexronIII. This is what they put into all Santa Fe's during servicing!
So what do I do? Obviously I'll get my SPIII somewhere else, but now I've faith in my local dealer to do any work on my car, if I needed some speicalist work done which nivolved draining the ATF, they'd shove Dexron III back in without me knowing!
Before I write to the Dealer Principal and to Hyundai, I just want to get the facts straight. SPIII is the only fluid recommended by hyundai for the Santa Fe? and if anything else is put in, does that validated warranty?
thanks for your help

Newbie! I have been told I have error codes P0171 and P0325.The problem is a repetitive misfire.Starts Ok but problem seems worse when warmed up.Any help appreeciated. UK

Hi Everyone,
This is my first post to this forum. I need a little advice/opinion on a new noise that has developed after a routine, preventive Timing Belt/Water Pump replacement. The noise can be heard readily from inside the cabin of the car. It seem to be coming from the engine bay from the passenger side. It is a buzzing noise that becomes higher as the enging RPM's rise. It sometimes stops when one stops accelerating.

The indy thinks it is the new parts being tight and will go away after a break in period. has anyone else experienced this? The vehiche is a 2005 Sante Fe, 3.5 engine. Thanks. Kevin.

Hi all i was going to order one of the Flip Key cases from Ebay. The one i have seen comes with a key blank. Anyway today i ask the guy in the key cutting shop if he could cut the key from mine he said yes but it would be no good as mine has the chip in it, What i would like to know is he telling me the truth. My Santa Fe is a 2004 model? Regs Andy

Had my 2002's alternator replaced yesterday by the Hyundai dealer.... it was on its last legs, complete with a whirling sound and dimming headlights. It made a huge difference...everything is brighter, and sounds quieter.

With parts and labour It cost $567 Canadian. Sound about right?

Hey guys,

I have a 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe with ~96k miles and the 2.4L engine that has been working fine up until the last month. What's started happening is, while driving (typically within the first five minutes of starting the engine), the engine pauses and the RPMs drop to zero. This has happened both during normal acceleration as well as while maintaining speed.

It started out only happening for a second or two, but yesterday was the worst when it happened for right about 5 seconds. Yesterday was also the first time the CEL came on (but only for a moment, then went back out).

Based on the research I've been doing for other cars with similar issues, it seems like this could either be related to the fuel relay, fuel pump, or crankshaft position sensor. Fair warning, I just bought this car a few months ago and haven't yet replaced plugs, wires, or much of anything else really.

Has anyone had/seen issues like this before?


TIA,

Brian

Does anyone else get a draft from the floor area on the passengers side of their Santa Fe? Mine has had a draft of outside air since I've had it.. and on the highway it gets really bad. Passengers complain that they're freezing when I drive on the highway. I've sat in the passenger seat while someone else drove and it is a pretty serious draft. I've checked under the floor area and cannot find any reason for it.....

My Santa Fe recently started dying at random times. It was first doing it when I was slowing down/stopping and very rarely. It actually happened twice over a week and a half period, but today I was 3 hours from home and it started doing it. The first two or three times it was when I was stopping. I would just wait a few minutes and then it would drive fine. At first today I was able to go about 20 miles between times. Normally it was as I entered the next small town and had to slow down it would die, but as the day went along it would only make it about 10 miles and it even died a few times driving down the highway.

I would also like to note about two months ago I took it in for a problem and the mechanic had a horrible time finding the problem. He replaced the fuel pump, pretty much every sensor and finally fixed it with the PCM in think it is called (computer). Anyway I did not know if any of that information would be important. Thanks for any help.
John

Hi all i was parked beside the same car as mine yesterday but it was a year older and ut had the air inlet thing on the bonnet i have also seen a few others like it. Mine is a 2004 GSI CRTD some of the others where also CRTD's Im i missing out on somthing or have they changed the designe by then? Regards Andy

to weeks ago my car would not start after fill up

i had to pump a few times the gas pedal to start up

then i don't had no problem in till i had to make a full fill up again

one time i left the car running on the fill up time to see what is going on

when the tank was close to full my engine start acting up like was lookig for

gas........


any one can give me a hint......

thanks

I have an 02 Santa Fe with the 6 cyl. It runs great, starts great and over all is just a great truck unless I put gas in it. When I try to start it up after fueling up it will just turn over a bunch of times then finally will start but run rough and you have to tap the gas and feather it for about 20-30 seconds then it will idle normal and run great again untill you have to put gas back in it.
Any ideas on what this might be? The gas cap is on tight and it is not showing any codes. It's driving me crazy, thanks for any help you can offer.

I have a 2003 Santa Fe and cannot find out where to refill the rear windshield washer fluid.

I have a 2003 santa fe and the blinkers are not functioning but the hazard lights are working fine. I checked the fuse and that is fine. Is there someway I can take apart the handle assembly where the switch for the blinkers are? Also, sometimes they would work and other times they wouldn't so that seems like a loose connection somewhere. The indicators for the blinkers on the dash do not work either so there has to be a problem giving power to the switch.

My 2004 Santa Fe seems to have an odd AC problem. The air temperature remains cold when running the AC, but periodically the air flow becomes restricted. You can hear the blower still working, the bit of air that comes out of the vents is still cold but you can feel very little air flow. Changing the vent knob to different positons (feet, defrost, etc) does not help. Turnig on High for a few minutes an the air will start to blow again. Turning the system off for some time, then back on will fix the problem. any suggestions?

This past summer, the front and back cats, and the reasonator crapped out on my 2.4L '02 Santa Fe. We punched out the front cat and had a straight pipe installed from it to the muffler. We got a CE light and took it into autozone for a code read. The after cat O2 sensor was going haywire and now our fuel economy is not good. We took the car into our local Hyundai dealership to have a 38 pt check done. Of course it was recommended that we replace the front cat. I have found an OE replacement that is high flow for $200 and I am wondering if I need to take off my warm air intake and replace it with the original stock intake. The mechanic @ Hyundai said that the original prob was the fact that we took off the factory stock intake. Any suggestions??

I am using the sylvania silverstar ultra headlights right now.. but recently a new product came about the GE Nighthawk Platinum headlights, are they the same and just as good or better and has anyone used either brand?

Hello all whixt there is a open topic on which transmission well i would like to know which engine i have in my Santy.. and by that i mean Make? Its a 2004 CRDT Does anyone know or do we need more information? Regards Andy

! have a 2.7l engine with 72000 miles. The A/A started blowing warm air, I would turn it off turn it on and it would go cold for 4-5 minutes then go warm again. I live in central Florida so I need it cold. Went tp Patrick AFB AUTO hobby shop and they said it could be a sticking a Expansion Valve.Replaced with new one and new freon but problem seems to be getting worse. Can someone advise. Can't afford to replace complete A/C unit. Thanks

Curious if there is any way to re calibrate the speedometer. I went from 225-70-16 to 225-60-16 cause the tires were brand new and $50. No w the speedo is off though by about 4 at 35mph, 5 at 50mph and 7 at 70mph. Is there anything out there that I can use to recalibrate the speedo or am I just out of luck?