As a maker of inexpensive vehicles, Hyundai has come a long way. They started as the maker of the Excel, an almost universally hated automobile (right up there with the Yugo), to being on American consumers’ buy list in the last few years. With recent releases like the Genesis and Genesis Coupe, and then the 2011 Sonata, you’d expect Hyundai to be riding high. Not so fast. It started a few weeks after the 2011 Sonata went on sale, and continues today, with the NHTSA investigating steering problems with the redesigned family hauler.
From what The Detroit News is saying, there’s a universal joint in the steering linkage that can come apart, causing a total loss of steering control. Hyundai says it hasn’t heard of any accidents or injuries caused by this issue, and in fact they say they’ve only received two complaints.
Two cars out of over 16,000 doesn’t sound bad, but the problem happens without warning, which is bad. Both cars were reportedly built during the same month (although which month it is hasn’t been released) and had less than 600 miles on them when the issue occurred, so if your Sonata has over 600 miles on it, chances are you’re OK.
by John Suit
Source: The Detroit News